Doghouse debate remains unresolved | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

Without finding answers, the County Council considered such questions as: should every dog owner be required to erect a doghouse? If not, how do you decide who is exempt? And how else can you save dogs from owners who leave pets outside without shelter?

County Animal Control officers argued the county's little-known doghouse rule protects pooches from careless owners, while other residents argued it puts an unnecessary burden on responsible owners.

Councilman Ed Middlebrooks, who suggested changing the law after a well-known citizen activist was cited and then found not guilty of the charge, asked Monday night for another month to hash out a suitable change.

"I think there's a lot of sentiment that the laws need to change, but we still need to give animal control the tools they need," said Mr. Middlebrooks, R-Severn.

The debate stems from the story of Anne Pearson, a long-time local environmental activist who was issued a civil citation when her collie Siri was seen in her yard without a doghouse. Ms. Pearson said animal control officers threatened to take Siri away and that the episode was traumatizing, even though the Animal Control Commission eventually found her not guilty.

Monday night, she became visibly shaken as she recounted her brush with the doghouse law.

"I beg you to resolve this situation so that the officers have to obey the meaning of the law," Ms. Pearson said.

Ms. Pearson had lobbied Mr. Middlebrooks to clarify the rule so that it only applied to owners who left home and put their dogs outside without shelter.

The council mulled the proposed change against the backdrop of a 2-foot by 3-foot color photo of the departed Bogus, brought in by animal control officers to argue against the change. Bogus, a Rottweiler mix from Brooklyn Park, dropped dead of heat exhaustion in his front yard last summer while his owner napped indoors.

Animal control officers and animal advocates say if Bogus' owner had a doghouse as required by law, the dog could have survived another few hours, perhaps long enough for the owner to wake up.

Capt. Pam Davis told the council animal control uses the law as a way to educate owners about the danger of leaving animals outside, and that most owners are given several warnings before they are issued a citation.

Changing the law to only apply when owners are not home would make the rule more difficult enforce and harder to use the doghouse rule to educate owners, putting dogs at risk, she said.

"I think it is a mistake to change the law that's worked," Capt. Davis said.

At the urging of resident Joseph Lamp, an animal advocate, Mr. Middlebrooks decided to call a meeting to come up with a compromise that protects dogs, gives animal control an enforcement tool, but would not force responsible owners like Ms. Pearson to construct a doghouse.

The meeting will be informal, and Mr. Middlebrooks intends to have a solution by the council's June 16 meeting.