Urge the House Committee on Community Safety to VOTE NO on HB1716

✅  Arbitrary Limits on Dog Ownership

• Reducing the number of intact dogs a breeder can own from 50 to 20 is an arbitrary and unnecessary restriction. Many responsible breeders carefully manage larger numbers of dogs while maintaining excellent standards of care. This limit would force breeders to either shut down or drastically reduce operations, making it financially unfeasible to remain in business.

✅  Unrealistic Housing and Exercise Mandates

• The enclosure size and exercise requirements are excessive and fail to consider different breeding operations, climate conditions, and industry standards.
• Mandating a minimum of two hours of exercise per day per dog is impractical for breeders with multiple dogs, especially for facilities that already provide socialization, enrichment, and ample space.
• Prohibiting treadmill-style exercise devices (cat mills/slat mills) ignores their practical and humane use in conditioning dogs, particularly in working breeds.

✅  Increased Costs and Regulatory Burdens

• Breeders will be forced to overhaul their facilities to comply with arbitrary new enclosure size requirements, which could cost thousands of dollars per kennel.

• The requirement for fire suppression systems is another costly and unnecessary mandate, particularly for home-based breeders or small facilities.

✅  Threat to Purebred and Purpose-Bred Dogs

• Fewer professional breeders mean fewer well-bred, healthy, and temperament-tested purebred dogs available to the public. This creates a vacuum that shelters, rescues, and unregulated breeders will exploit.
• Consumers who want a specific breed for work, sport, or companionship will have fewer legal avenues to acquire a well-bred dog from a responsible breeder.

✅  Backdoor Ban on Breeding

• The bill’s cumulative effects—arbitrary dog limits, excessive facility requirements, and impractical exercise mandates—will effectively put breeders out of business.
• As seen in other states with similar overregulation, these laws do not improve animal welfare but rather eliminate legal breeding operations, pushing dog breeding into the shadows where there is no oversight.

HB 1716 is a stealth attack on lawful dog breeders, disguised as an animal welfare measure. If passed, it will destroy the ability of responsible breeders to operate, leading to a rise in underground breeding and increasing imports from puppy mills overseas. This bill is not about improving animal care—it is about eliminating professional breeders through regulatory overreach. Immediate opposition is critical to protect breeders, preserve consumer choice, and prevent the collapse of Washington’s lawful dog breeding industry.

Please click the link to send your email to oppose HB1716 directly to each member of the Committee. 

Be sure to make modifications to the boiler-plate letter to make it your own.