So, you need more information on the new dog training rule in Oregon? I couldn’t put it better than my colleague on the Dog and Raptor Training Advisory Group Bob Bullard has, below. Thanks Bob.
The ODFW Commission met last Thursday and Friday and heard the proposal for the new administrative rule covering the Use of Wildlife for the Purpose of Dog and Raptor Training. After an attempt to torpedo it by The Audubon Society and a few minor tweaks by some of the Commissioners, it was passed!
Hooray! It is now official!
So, after over a year of turmoil, two rejected disastrous attempts by ODFW to produce a rule, a round of public hearings, thousands of hours of wrangling and 7 full-day meetings around the State by the advisory group, surely over $100,000 (and possibly twice that) of you-know-who’s money, and a mountain of letters and testimony, we can now go back to doing what we have all been doing for the past 75 or more years without a rule or any government interference. Wow! Don’t we love it when the government steps in to help!
OK, seriously, here’s what you need to know:
The rule is official but it will take at least 3 weeks for ODFW to get all the forms in place and have the process ready to go. In the meantime, we’re still operating under the temp rule and permit system until July 25th, at which time our current permits will expire. Before training after 7-25-11, you will need to log onto the ODFW site and get a new permit. Be sure to read the new rules! They will be a little different than the last published draft you have all seen (but not much). That next permit will then be good until the end of the year.
Each year, you’ll need a new permit. They will start issuing them in December but will be good for the calendar year. They will be free and available on-line. Easy. You’ll just need to remember to do it.
None of this would have been possible if several hundred dog trainers had not showed up at all those public meetings last November and December. Hats off to every one of you! Also, a very special thanks to everyone who wrote a letter, showed up at an advisory meeting and testified, took a Commissioner out to lunch or dog training, or called or wrote your local Senator or Representative. Every one of those contacts helped us get where we are today.
The bad news is that we’re not finished. Next up is the Sauvie Island Management Plan. There is a strong group of “conservationists” (as if we aren’t!) who want dog trainers off the island. Unfortunately, they have the ear of ODFW. It’s another long story but we’re in danger of losing access to the Island even though we have a 60 plus year history of running trials out there and it was purchased with Pitman-Robertson money. I know we’re all getting fatigued, but that is the game plan of the opposition. They will wear us down until we go away if we let them. It is unfortunate, but if we want to keep using our public land, we have to keep fighting for it.
Sorry to close on a note like that, but smile and enjoy. This time, we succeeded! Again, we should all take satisfaction that we have an easily workable plan that we can all live with and that keeps our public lands accessible year round so we can pursue training our dogs and enjoying this great country.
Now go back to dog training! Have fun, and thanks for the good times!
Bob
“All that’s necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
-Edmund Burke
-Edmund Burke
Scott Linden Outdoors 
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