Brockton kennel owner says what happened to Ollie the puppy should never happen again

BROCKTON — Jeni Mather, owner of JM Pet Resort on Pearl Street in Brockton, is drumming up support for a law that would regulate her own industry.

On Wednesday, she held a rally in support of bill H.305, also known as Ollie's Law, where legislators, animal advocates and Brockton Mayor Robert Sullivan spoke in support of the bill and of the need to have "common sense" regulation of the boarding kennel industry.

"Did you know that when you go to a doggy day care or boarding facility that the person who owns it does not have to have any animal experience? ... Did you know that they don't have to have a relationship with a veterinarian? Did you know that it is not required that they have an emergency plan?" Mather asked the crowd.

"These are not things that are overreaching. These are things that should just be."

It all started in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, last October. Ollie, a 7-month-old puppy, was left by his owner, Amy Baxter, at a doggy day care for the day, when a group of dogs mauled him, leaving him horribly injured.

"He was attacked at a facility that was not required to have a kennel license and was not inspected or overseen by any municipal or state agency," Baxter said at the rally.

At the time of the attack, Ollie had been left unsupervised at the back of the day care yard surrounded by dogs much larger than him, which had allowed the attack to occur. Baxter said.

Baxter said that after the attack, Ollie was left on a bench unable to move because his legs were broken. She said Ollie wasn't brought to a veterinary hospital, despite there being one next door to the day care, because the day care had no emergency protocols in place.

"The one employee who was working at the time of the attack was injured severely enough to need treatment at a hospital," Baxter said. "She tells me she thinks of Ollie every day of her life and has PTSD from the incident."

Ollie survived for eight weeks after the attack and underwent three surgeries, but eventually succumbed to his injuries.

"There's no question that he suffered immeasurably," Baxter said.

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According to advocates, Ollie's story is not unique. Jeremy Cohen of Boston Dog Lawyers spoke at the rally, saying he's received over 30 calls about dogs who died in similar situations to Ollie's at doggy day cares.

Speakers at the rally also said Ollie's Law is more important than ever because so many pets were adopted during the pandemic, and now that people are going back to work, doggy day care services are more in demand than ever.

The day care at which Ollie was attacked has since been shut down, but Baxter, Mather and others are organizing around Ollie's Law to make sure what happened to Ollie never happens to another dog.

"There is no attempt here to regulate businesses out of existence. There is an attempt here to provide minimum standards that are sorely lacking in this industry," Allison Blanck of the Animal Rescue League of Boston said.

Rep. Brian Ashe, who is Baxter's legislator, led the effort to create the bill. He said that the biggest provisions of the bill are based on what they learned from Ollie's story.

First, the law would require boarding kennels to have an emergency plan in place so that when a dog gets hurt, the employees know how to respond.

Second, the law would require employees at boarding kennels be trained in animal behavior so that they don't put dogs in situations where they might get hurt the way Ollie was.

Third, the law would put in place a minimum employee-to-pet ratio to prevent a situation where only one employee is available to respond to an emergency.

Last, the law would require boarding kennels to report pet injuries to the state so that the state is better able to oversee the practices of individual kennels and to ensure the state gets the information it needs to better regulate the boarding kennel industry.

The law would put boarding kennels under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture. The law would apply to all existing kennels, though there would be a grace period, and require new kennels meet these standards before opening.

Mather said the lack of regulation of the boarding kennel industry made sense when she first opened in 1998 because doggy day cares were a budding industry. But now, she said, they are a commonplace business, yet the industry still lacks basic legal standards of operation.

"This bill is not a punitive bill. This is not a bill to strangulate any sort of small business," she said.

"What this bill is is a clear seat at the table for small business owners and for like-minded professionals that want the best for animals and the people that work in the facilities of those animals."

The rally ended with a call to action for pet lovers everywhere to contact their state legislatures to ask them to support Ollie's Law.

"Ollie's eponymous law not only for him, but for all the innocent animals that have needlessly died at unregulated kennels," Baxter said. "Please join us in demanding swift action of this long overdue legislation."

Enterprise staff writer Susannah Sudborough can be reached by email at ssudborough@enterprisenews.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @k_sudborough. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Enterprise today.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton pet resort gathers support for regulation of kennel industry