Lobby group to bark for dogs

The Victorian Pet Dogs and Novice Breeders Association (VPDNBA) has been created with Australian Television icon Don Burke heading the organisation as its patron.
The necessity for the VPDNBA’s creation has been found following a review of the Latrobe City Council 2013/2017 Domestic Animal Management Plans (DAMP) by Alan Guthrie, Ba, CCJ Consulting Criminologist.
The Domestic Animal Act 1994 and in particular Section 5A and Section 10A referred to “applicable organisations” as being the list of organisations that were responsible for dogs in Victoria.
Members of applicable organisations were protected from the mandatory de-sexing regulations that local governments were able to introduce under their DAMPS.
However there has never been an organisation in Victoria to represent pet dogs.
As such some 80 per cent of all dogs have never had an avenue for protection should their owners wish to breed them.
After 23 years of many councils having mandatory de-sexing, Victoria now has something in the order of 600,000 unregistered dogs.
Many of those dogs are unregistered due to their owners wishing to breed them.
The VPDNBA will allow all dog owners to be treated equally while requiring them to also register with their local council and ensure the dogs are microchipped.
This legislative oversight has been directly brought to the attention of the current Shadow Minister for Agriculture Peter Walsh.
The VPDNBA seeks to have the Coalition acknowledge this oversight and assist in promoting the VPDNBA to the current Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford advising her of the need to address this legislative oversight.
Mr Burke has taken the mantle as patron of the VPDNBA and with his vast knowledge of the dog world will assist in steering the non-pedigree dog world to be responsible in best ownership practices and regulated breeding of all crossbred and boutique-bred dogs as is the case with Dogs Victoria and all pedigree dogs.
It is also equally important to recognise the need to de-sex non-breeding dogs.
With the introduction of the VPDNBA, all responsible dog owners will now have a code of conduct to abide by with a strict enforcement regime.
Therefore, the organisation entrusted with managing compliance and enforcement in Victoria, such as the RSPCA and all 79 local government by-laws departments, will be freed from many of the administrative imposts that are currently being discussed in Parliament as self-regulation of all responsible dog owners will now be available.
This will therefore allow those authorities to concentrate their resources on enforcing all current regulation in an effort to close down dog owners who are breeding dogs purely for financial gain without giving due consideration to the welfare of the dogs in their ownership.
The VPDNBA will provide an educational and inclusive structure for all dog owners to register with the association and seeks the support of all political parties and all organisations with an interest in dogs in Victoria to recognise that this organisation is an opportunity for best practices for the breeding of all dogs irrespective of them being pedigree or non-pedigree.