New Book on Canine Law Is Unleashed

Everyone knows it’s a dog-eat-dog world, especially in the courtroom, where lawyers like to chew on each other’s words.

And now the law is really going to the dogs, with attorney Mary Randolph’s new book, “Dog Law,” a legal guide for dog owners and their neighbors.

It’s a creative, informative, legal analysis of dog do’s and don’ts. In fact, that was one of the names considered by the book’s publisher, Nolo Press, along with such other delights as: In Pro Pup, Put Your Paw on the Law, Dog Law Unleashed, The Straight Poop on Dog Law, Bites and Rights, and Bone Up on Dog Law.

Helpful Guide

But the book is much more than a novelty item for the owners of the more than 50 million dogs in the United States. It is a well-researched, helpful guide to many common legal issues and related problems faced by dog owners--from dog bites and dogs barking in the middle of the night, to improper veterinary care, traveling with dogs on airplanes and planning for the care of your dog after your death.

The book even offers a short legal history of dog law. Under English common law, dogs had no intrinsic value, unlike “useful” domestic animals like cows or chickens. It wasn’t even illegal to steal a dog. Under modern law, however, dogs are treated like most other kinds of property, but still have no legal rights of their own. So, for example, they can’t inherit property or sue in their own name.

Randolph’s breezy style and common sense advice make for easy reading, such as when she compares owning an unlicensed dog to driving a car without a license.

“If you’re never stopped by the police or hit by another car, no one will be the wiser. And if your dog is never lost, stolen or nabbed by the dog catcher, never bites anyone, and never bothers someone’s livestock, you may get away with not having a dog license. But if any of these things happens, having a license can make a big difference, because licensed and unlicensed dogs are often treated very differently under the law.”

Randolph’s advice includes how to resolve disputes with neighbors by using a mediator, what you can collect in court if your dog is injured or killed by a careless driver or incompetent veterinarian, how leash laws work, an explanation of an airline’s liability for damaged cargo when it happens to be a dog, and even a summary of health insurance available for dogs.

In most cases, she explains the legal rules by describing actual cases or hypothetical examples, rather than relying on boring legal analyses.

There was the Van Nuys dog owner who convinced a judge that she shouldn’t be fined for walking her Labrador retriever, Rex, without a leash. Rex, who showed off some of his training in court, was holding the end of the leash himself, in his mouth.

Left in the Sun

And then there was the man who sued American Airlines for $900,000 because his seven racing greyhounds died in their cages when a baggage cart was left in the 97-degree sunlight during a stopover. The court awarded only $750, the airline’s baggage liability limit, stated in small print on the back of the ticket. Why? Because the man, who the court said was a sophisticated and experienced traveler, did not declare a higher value on the baggage.

And finally, there was the California case of Thelma Russell, who had a will in which she left everything she owned to “Chester H. Quinn and Roxy Russell.” Only problem was that Roxy was her dog. So, instead, her nieces, who had been left out of the will, convinced a court in 1968 that they deserved Roxy’s share.

It’s too bad “Dog Law” wasn’t available back then for Thelma--and Roxy.