Dog breeders converge at Capitol to save their industry just months after voters restrict them

Just months after Missourians voted to limit the number of dogs in breeding facilities, lawmakers already are attempting to change that restriction. Many breeders have converged at the Capitol to argue for more lax regulations to save their businesses. Hubert Lavy owns a large dog breeding facility in Silex, in Lincoln County. He sells many puppies but also donates some to organizations as companion dogs for people with special needs. He said under Prop. B legislation, he no longer will be able to sustain his business. "Please don't let these people take this away from me," said Lavy. "It's all I have. It's all I want to do." Lavy said Proposition B, which restricts breeders to owning only 50 breeding dogs, is flawed because its authors do not have knowledge of the breeding process. He said cage size dimensions specified under Prop. B are too big for puppies to survive in. "If you have this area for the mother when she has her puppies, the puppies will walk away and go into the corner and chill, and you will lose the puppies because it's too big," Lavy said. "You need a smaller area no bigger than a four by four (feet)." Columbia Second Chance founder Betsy Casteel said her no-kill shelter has had difficulties rehabilitating dogs from bad breeders. She said the current legislation might not be perfect but said it's better than nothing. "It is probably flawed, so people who are critical may have some weight, but to me it is flawed in that there is no funding to go with it," Casteel said. "If we had sufficient funding for the inspectors we already have, there probably would be no reason to have Proposition B." Both Senate Bill 113 & 95 and House Bill 131 would take away the 50-dog limit for breeding facilities and repeal other restrictions if passed.