Canine Civics 101

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200 – April, 2025

By Caroline Coile

“Somebody else will take care of it…”

No, they won’t. Who knew when we embarked on this journey of dog showing and breeding that it would require so much knowledge in such diverse areas? Aside from direct dog skills, we’ve all become cross country drivers, home repair experts, and increasingly, legislative lobbyists. It’s the latter that’s probably the most important dog skill of all for the long-term well-being of dogs and dog people—and the one most of us are least prepared to handle.

I’m as guilty as any. I want to go to my dog shows, or hang out at home with my dogs, and the last thing I want is confrontation. But I also know if we all avoid doing anything, we’ll lose our rights to enjoy our dogs and our sport. So when an egregious bill was recently proposed in my state of Florida, I dutifully wrote my letter and prepared to send it to my local representative, as I was told to do. But it turns out there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it, and I was doing it the wrong way. Because I didn’t have the slightest idea how things work. So much for that high school Civics class. (To be fair, I skipped most of it. When would I ever need that?)

Turns out, we all need it. We can’t rely on “somebody else” to fight our battles. And we need to be as knowledgeable about legislation as we do about running in a circle.

How a Bill Becomes a Law

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200 – April, 2025

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