Ohio Code 956.10 – Inspections
(A)(1) At least once annually, the director of agriculture or the director’s authorized representative shall inspect a high volume breeder that is subject to licensure under this chapter and rules adopted under section 956.03 of the Revised Code to ensure compliance with this chapter and rules adopted under it, including the standards of care established in rules adopted under that section.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 956.10
- agriculture: includes farming; ranching; aquaculture; algaculture meaning the farming of algae; apiculture and related apicultural activities, production of honey, beeswax, honeycomb, and other related products; horticulture; viticulture, winemaking, and related activities; animal husbandry, including, but not limited to, the care and raising of livestock, equine, and fur-bearing animals; poultry husbandry and the production of poultry and poultry products; dairy production; the production of field crops, tobacco, fruits, vegetables, nursery stock, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees, flowers, sod, or mushrooms; timber; pasturage; any combination of the foregoing; the processing, drying, storage, and marketing of agricultural products when those activities are conducted in conjunction with, but are secondary to, such husbandry or production; and any additions or modifications to the foregoing made by the director of agriculture by rule adopted in accordance with Chapter 119 of the Revised Code. See Ohio Code 1.61
- Animal rescue for dogs: includes an individual or organization that offers spayed or neutered dogs for adoption and charges reasonable adoption fees to cover the costs of the individual or organization, including, but not limited to, costs related to spaying or neutering dogs. See Ohio Code 956.01
- Animal shelter for dogs: means a facility that keeps, houses, and maintains dogs such as a dog pound operated by a municipal corporation, or by a county under Chapter 955 of the Revised Code, or that is operated by a humane society, animal welfare society, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or other nonprofit organization that is devoted to the welfare, protection, and humane treatment of dogs and other animals. See Ohio Code 956.01
- Boarding kennel: means an establishment operating for profit that keeps, houses, and maintains dogs solely for the purpose of providing shelter, care, and feeding of the dogs in return for a fee or other consideration. See Ohio Code 956.01
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Dog broker: means a person who buys, sells, or offers to sell dogs at wholesale for resale to another or who sells or gives one or more dogs to a pet store annually. See Ohio Code 956.01
- High volume breeder: means an establishment that keeps, houses, and maintains six or more breeding dogs and does at least one of the following:
(1) In return for a fee or other consideration, sells five or more adult dogs or puppies in any calendar year to dog brokers or pet stores;
(2) In return for a fee or other consideration, sells forty or more puppies in any calendar year to the public; or
(3) Keeps, houses, and maintains, at any given time in a calendar year, more than forty puppies that are under four months of age, that have been bred on the premises of the establishment, and that have been primarily kept, housed, and maintained from birth on the premises of the establishment. See Ohio Code 956.01
- Humane society: means an organization that is organized under section 1717. See Ohio Code 956.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Veterinarian: means either a veterinarian licensed in this state under Chapter 4741 of the Revised Code or a veterinarian licensed out of this state by an applicable state entity. See Ohio Code 956.01
(2) The director or the director’s authorized representative shall inspect a boarding kennel when the director or the director’s authorized representative has received information that the boarding kennel is breeding dogs and may be subject to licensure under this chapter and rules adopted under section 956.03 of the Revised Code.
(B) The director or the director’s authorized representative may do any of the following:
(1) Upon receiving a complaint, inspect a high volume breeder that is subject to licensure under this chapter and rules adopted under section 956.03 of the Revised Code to ensure compliance with this chapter and rules adopted under it;
(2) Upon the request of a member of the public, a public official, or an animal shelter for dogs, inspect any facility at which a person is acting as or performing the functions of a dog broker to ensure such compliance;
(3) Upon receiving a complaint, inspect an animal rescue for dogs to ensure compliance with section 956.06 of the Revised Code and applicable rules adopted under section 956.03 of the Revised Code;
(4) Conduct an inspection under this section during regular business hours without providing notice in advance.
(C) Inspections shall be conducted in accordance with rules adopted under section 956.03 of the Revised Code. A record of each inspection shall be made by the director or the director’s authorized representative who is responsible for the inspection in accordance with those rules.
(D) The director or the director’s authorized representative, upon proper identification and upon stating the purpose and necessity of an inspection, may enter at reasonable times on any public or private property, real or personal, to inspect or investigate and to examine or copy records in order to determine compliance with this chapter and rules adopted under it. The director, the director’s authorized representative, or the attorney general upon the request of the director may apply to the appropriate court in the county in which inspection will occur for an appropriate court order or search warrant as necessary to achieve the purposes of this chapter and rules adopted under it.
(E) No owner or operator of a high volume breeder, person acting as or performing the functions of a dog broker, owner or operator of a boarding kennel, or owner or operator of an animal rescue for dogs shall interfere with an inspection or refuse to allow the director or the director’s authorized representative full access to all areas where dogs are kept or cared for. If entry is refused or inspection or investigation is refused, hindered, or thwarted by a high volume breeder or dog broker, the director may suspend or revoke the breeder’s or broker’s license in accordance with this chapter.
(F)(1) The director may enter into a contract or agreement with a veterinarian to conduct inspections under this section. The veterinarian shall be considered the director’s authorized representative for the purposes of this section.
(2) A veterinarian with whom the director has entered into a contract or agreement under division (F)(1) of this section may inspect a high volume breeder with whom the veterinarian has established a veterinary-client-patient relationship as described in section 4741.04 of the Revised Code only every other year.
(3) If the director determines that a veterinarian with whom the director has entered into a contract or agreement under division (F)(1) of this section has falsified any information submitted to the director pursuant to an inspection, the director shall inform the veterinary medical licensing board created by Chapter 4741 of the Revised Code of the falsification.
(G)(1) If entry that is authorized by division (D) of this section is refused or if an inspection or investigation is refused, hindered, or thwarted by intimidation or otherwise and if the director, an authorized representative of the director, or the attorney general applies for and obtains a court order or a search warrant under division (D) of this section to conduct the inspection or investigation, the owner or operator of the premises where entry was refused or inspection or investigation was refused, hindered, or thwarted, if found guilty of violating this chapter or rules adopted under it, is liable to the director for all of the following:
(a) The reasonable costs incurred by the director for the regular salaries and fringe benefit costs of personnel assigned to conduct the inspection or investigation from the time the court order or search warrant was issued until the court order or search warrant is executed;
(b) The salary, fringe benefits, and travel expenses of the director, an authorized representative of the director, or the attorney general incurred in obtaining the court order or search warrant; and
(c) Expenses necessarily incurred for the assistance of local law enforcement officers in executing the court order or search warrant.
(2) In the application for a court order or a search warrant, the director, the director’s authorized representative, or the attorney general may request and the court, in its order granting the court order or search warrant, may order the owner or operator of the premises, if found guilty of violating this chapter or rules adopted under it, to reimburse the director for any of the costs described in division (G)(1) of this section that the court finds reasonable. From money recovered under this division, the director shall do all of the following:
(a) Reimburse the attorney general for the costs incurred by the attorney general in connection with proceedings for obtaining the court order or search warrant;
(b) Reimburse the political subdivision in which the premises is located for the assistance of its law enforcement officers in executing the court order or search warrant;
(c) Deposit the remainder in the state treasury to the credit of the high volume breeder kennel control license fund created in section 956.18 of the Revised Code.
(H) A dog warden appointed under Chapter 955 of the Revised Code or an agent of a humane society entering on public or private property to make investigations and inspections in accordance with Chapter 955. or 1717. of the Revised Code, as applicable, shall report any violations of this chapter and rules adopted under it to the director or the director’s authorized representative.