February 18, 2009

Maryland senators voted on Tuesday against a bill that would have restricted dogs' movement in the backs of trucks on highways. (ZT Pet News Photo Illustration)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Dogs can continue to cruise unrestrained down Maryland highways, as a result of a bill passed Tuesday in the state senate.

Maryland senators voted 30-17 against a bill that would have required owners to harness or cage their pets when transporting them in the back of open trucks.

Voting on the controversial bill, which was introduced by Sen. Norman Stone Jr., (D-Baltimore) in the Senate and Delegate Kevin Kelly (D-Allegany) in the House, had been delayed several times in recent weeks. It would have stipulated that violators of the "pet policy" pay a fine of up to $500.

Though allowing one's dog to roam free in the back of a pickup truck would not have resulted in points against a driver's license, many senators still opposed the bill.

Last year, the measure passed in the House almost unanimously, 127-7; the Senate floor battle, however, was a different story.

"Of all the things we think are misdemeanors, now if you have a dog in the back of the truck, you're going to be charged with a misdemeanor crime?" said Sen. E.J. Pipkin (R-Cecil), according to The Associated Press.

Pipkin also argued that the bill meant "serious business" for his constituents.

Sen. Lowell Stoltzfus (R-Somerset) said the measure could cause an unnecessary divide between "the urban and rural" populations of the state.

"If this bill passes, Rover won't go for a ride," Stoltzfus said. "You're going to have a lot of unhappy dogs."

Yet Kelly and a minority of other senators argued against that notion, saying that a dead or injured dog wouldn't be a happy camper, either.

According to Southern Maryland Online, Kelly helped draft the bill after a dog flew off the back of a pickup truck in front of him on a highway; he was able to avoid hitting the dog, but only barely.

Stone said warding off potential accidents could benefit animals and humans alike.

"It's a problem for animals and it's a problem for motorists," Stone said. "I thought the bill made good sense, but the majority of the Senate didn't think so."

"It's not radical," said Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery), backing up Stone and Kelly. "It's common sense."

The bill's failure, Kelly explained, felt like a personal attack against his own dog.

"I lost my dog," he said. "My dog got hit by a truck on the Senate floor."

Proponents of the bill cited a Humane Society of the United States report that shows 100,000 dogs are killed each year after jumping out of, or being thrown from, the backs of open vehicles.

Yet Sen. Delores Kelley (D-Baltimore County) discounted that the problem was that universal, or actually a pressing one in the state of Maryland.

"A single, unique incident occurred that involved someone's pet, and because of all that we will constrain all dog owners who want to take their dogs for a ride," Kelley said. "And the relief that you seek seems unreasonable ... in order to avoid something that probably will not happen for another 500 years."

In the end, that notion prevailed, leaving Maryland one of 25 states that do not have any provisions regulating animals traveling in cars or trucks. No state, though, requires pets to be constrained in a harness or any other apparatus while riding in a vehicle.

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The Washington Post, The Associated Press and Southern Maryland Online contributed to this article.