Guard dogs: the sign, the registry and the follow-up visits

This is a licensing law with two faces. One looks at the business: who may sell, rent or train guard, security, drug- and explosive-detection dogs, and guide dogs, and what records they must keep. The other looks at the street: the signs warning that a guard dog is on a property, and the duty to go check how that dog is doing while it works. For a neighbor, a visitor or an employee, the second face is the one that matters.

The law addresses owners, operators and trainers of businesses dedicated to the sale, rental or certain training of dogs. Its definitions matter because they bound which dogs it covers. "Guard and security dogs" means those dogs also known in English as "sentry dogs", specially trained to work, without any human supervision, in the protection and security of duly fenced property, whether industrial, commercial or residential. "Dogs trained to detect drugs, narcotics and explosives" means those specially trained in the security work of detecting and locating drugs, narcotics and explosives through the senses of smell and hearing, or both. And "trainers" means those persons duly trained in the various dog-training techniques to control and modify dogs’ behavior. For the general public, what is relevant is that the signage and follow-up visit obligations fall on those businesses and on the establishments using these dogs.

• For the business: obtaining, by paying the corresponding fees, a license authorizing and accrediting it to offer specialized dog training. The law clarifies this license is in addition to any other license, certificate or diploma issued under the criteria of a professional entity located in the United States.Verified against the official source
• For the industrial or commercial establishment open to the public that keeps guard dogs: signs posted at every entrance of the building or its surroundings, of a size and graphic design reasonably sufficient to warn the general public.Verified against the official source

• The individual record of each dog the business owner must keep, including purchase, sale and rental dates.
• The sale or rental notice, which must include the buyer’s or lessee’s name and address, a description of the dog and its registry data; and in the case of rental, the period covered.

1. 1

   Step 1: The sign where rented guard dogs are used

   Article 11(a) is the most useful for anyone walking past. It shall be the business owner’s or operator’s duty, in cases of guard dog rental, to install at the entrances, walls or fences of the property where the dogs will be used, signs of a size and graphic design reasonably sufficient to warn the general public that such dogs are used on that property. And the law says what else that sign must state: it shall also carry the renting business’s name, the business’s physical address and **a phone number accessible 24 hours a day**. That phone number is what turns the sign into something useful rather than just a warning: it is who to call if the dog is loose, if something happened, or if the animal’s condition needs reporting.

2. 2

   Step 2: The prohibition in establishments open to the public

   Article 11(b) is aimed at the business itself, not the renting company: it is prohibited for any owner of an industrial or commercial establishment open to the public to keep guard dogs in that establishment or its surroundings, unless signs of a size and graphic design reasonably sufficient to warn the general public that such dogs are used in that establishment and its surroundings have been posted at every entrance of that building or its surroundings. Note two things. First, the word "prohibited": without signs, keeping the dog there is not allowed. Second, the reach: it says "at every entrance", not one, and covers the establishment **and its surroundings**.

3. 3

   Step 3: The follow-up visits to the rented dog

   Article 10 is the animal welfare part and it is written as a concrete obligation. Where guard dogs are under a rental contract, it shall be the duty of the owner, operator, trainer or employee trained in handling and caring for the dogs to ensure that follow-up visits are made by that staff to the places where the dogs are performing their security work, in order to verify the dog’s physical condition, the surrounding environment, and that the water and food supply are as needed. And it adds the duty to act: should any of the mentioned conditions not be the most adequate for the dog’s safety or health, it shall be that person’s duty to **immediately correct the adverse condition**. Article 9 completes the picture for transport: every owner and operator who must transport dogs for rental shall ensure all reasonable safety measures are taken to prevent the animal’s possible escape.

4. 4

   Step 4: The license and who issues it today

   Article 5 requires every owner, operator or trainer of preventive surveillance and personal protection guard dogs, or narcotic drug or explosive detection dogs, to obtain — by paying the corresponding fees — a license authorizing and accrediting them to offer specialized dog training; and clarifies it shall be an essential requirement, additional to any other license, certificate or diploma from a professional entity located in the United States. On who issues it, precision is needed. The text of Articles 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 names the Department of Agriculture and its Secretary, and OGP’s compilation annotates at each of those points that they were **substituted by the Puerto Rico Police** and by the Police Superintendent, respectively, under Plan 4-2010, Article 25. We reproduce that note as the compilation carries it; we did not read Plan 4-2010 and do not describe its contents. When issuing the license, the agency must verify that the applicant has complied with the corresponding tax laws on business licence, with the State Insurance Fund and with the Department of Health.

5. 5

   Step 5: The records: fifteen days and seventy-two hours

   Two deadlines order the paper trail. Article 6 says the agency shall be responsible for keeping and maintaining an up-to-date registry of all dogs required to register, including the entire sale and rental history; that the business owner must keep an individual record of each dog in their possession, including purchase, sale and rental dates; and that they **must register each dog in their possession within the 15 days following acquisition**. Article 7 adds the second clock: it shall be the duty of every owner or operator to report every sale or rental of dogs, and certain training, **within the 72 hours following** the moment of the sale or rental, including the buyer’s or lessee’s name and address, a description of the dog and its registry data; and in the case of rental, the notice must specify the period covered. And Article 8 closes: every duly registered dog must be identified at all times as required by the regulation adopted under this law.

6. 6

   Step 6: The fine

   Article 12 is short: any violation of this Act’s provisions shall be punished as a misdemeanor and shall carry a fine of three hundred (300) dollars or imprisonment of no more than six (6) months, or both, at the Court’s discretion. It applies to any of the provisions, including the signage and registry ones.

The law places implementation, oversight and license issuance with the Department of Agriculture, and OGP’s compilation annotates at five separate points in the text that those functions were substituted by the Puerto Rico Police, and the Secretary’s by the Police Superintendent, under Plan 4-2010, Article 25. That is the pointer we can give with the source in hand. What we do not publish: a phone number, form, specific division or complaint procedure, because Act 157-1995 does not name them and defers to a regulation that Article 4 ordered filed with the Department of State within ninety (90) days of the law’s approval and which we did not read. If what you saw is animal cruelty rather than a breach of this licensing scheme, that is another path and it has its own guide.

• Assuming one sign at the main entrance suffices: Article 11(b) says "at every entrance" of the building or its surroundings.
• Not reading the sign’s details: it must carry the renting business’s name, physical address and a 24-hour phone number.
• Believing the duty to care for the rented dog falls on the lessee: Article 10 places the follow-up visits on the owner, operator, trainer or trained employee.
• Looking for the Department of Agriculture without knowing OGP’s note says those functions passed to the Police under Plan 4-2010.
• Confusing this law with the animal cruelty one or with a general dangerous-dog law.
• Hiring a trainer without the license Article 5 requires, which is in addition to any certificate from a United States entity.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Policía de Puerto Rico

  Policía de PR

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov

• Puerto Rico Police

  Policía de PR

  www.policia.pr.gov