Dog Laws » Big Dog Blog

Your dog may be your best friend, your family member, and mean the world to you. However, he is the one family member you can’t sue for pain and suffering as dog’s are considered property, and only worth the value paid for him. That’s about to change thanks to the outrage of family members suffering as a result the contaminated pet food crisis.

“Lawsuits filed in the last week by owners of dogs and cats felled by contaminated pet food could press lawmakers and courts to upgrade pets’ legal status. The food, produced by Menu Foods of Canada, is believed to be responsible for the deaths of dozens of dogs and cats nationwide.” With a change in the legal status of pets, they’ll be seen not as property, but as “entities like humans.”

See the LA Times, A Dog’s Life: What’s it Worth? for the full story.

“Officials in Medfield are growling they’ll seize and potentially euthanize any lawless Labradors and criminal collies unlicensed as of Sept. 15.” according to the Boston Herald

Authorities there are trying to get 1300 dogs that were licensed the previous year to again re-license. It appears to be an annual right to keep your dog or, depending on how you look at it, “just a way to make money” according to McCloud. And the authorities are cross-referencing past licensing lists to find them.

Once they find you, the Boston Herald reports “[and if the] owner refuses to pay up within 10 days and no one is willing to adopt the animal, state law permits the town to execute the dog by any means “other than gunshot.”

Seems just a bit extreme doesn’t it?