Pets in Pickups Still Bounce Around

Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus (R-Somerset) shared the kind of personal information with his colleagues yesterday that is hardly common during fierce debates in the Maryland Senate: His family portrait includes his dog.

"I love dogs," said the senator from the lower Eastern Shore, minutes before he joined a majority of the chamber in voting to kill legislation that would have required pets to be caged or harnessed when riding in the back of a pickup truck.

The lopsided 30 to 17 vote, hailed as a victory for the rural way of life, put to rest one of the most controversial issues to emerge during the first month of the 2009 session of the General Assembly.

Yesterday's floor debate had been delayed several times in recent weeks for senators to draw up amendments to the bill, which would have applied to most Maryland roadways.

"Okay, folks, the moment has arrived," Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) announced as the bill came up on the agenda.

During the debate, bill supporters pointed out that they, too, love their dogs and want to keep them safe.

"I've owned a number of dogs over the years, and I just got a new one," Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr. (D-Baltimore County), the bill's sponsor, told his colleagues.

Stone and other proponents pointed out that 25 other states have similar laws, according to the pet advocacy organization Bark BuckleUp.

"It's not radical," Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery) pleaded. "It's common sense."

Frosh argued that the bill was as much about the safety of other motorists as it was about protecting untethered dogs. The dogs, he said, can "fly out of these trucks, whether they have wings or not."

The interests of unsuspecting motorists did not carry the day, however.

"If this bill passes, Rover won't have a ride," Stoltzfus said. "You're going to have a lot of unhappy dogs."