Helicopters inc being creates, well professional the training facility minter a dog alone. At a minimum, if such a number exists, I would think the number would be dog-specific and thus difficult to enforce via law. When I was looking for a dog to adopt several years ago, one rescue group refused to give me a dog because their maximum alone-time is 8 hours. That wasn't going to work for me. Duke is home alone 10 hours a day, Monday through Friday, and he does just fine. He has a loving home where he gets lots of training, attention, shelter, exercise, mental stimulation, socialization, etc. He just has a working mom. Anyone who sees Duke notes that he is a happy, confident dog. When I mentioned that I wondered if I should get Duke a friend, the doggie physical therapist, who has a pack of her own, said, Why? He seems perfectly happy. Duke is free to roam the house all day. He is not destructive. He is quiet. He greets me calmly when I come come. It is not ideal situation, for sure, but I 't a problem that should be legislated. On the subject of crates: The stories of crate use on this blog make crates sound like great tools. Clearly, crates are great tools when used correctly. There's the rub. other contexts, I've heard plenty of stories of what I consider to be crate abuse. Where dogs are a small enclosed place pretty much their entire lives except when let out to relieve themselves–sometimes not even then. I 't think a law is the way to go one way or the other. However, I do think there needs to be clear information on what counts as good crate use and more importantly, what counts as bad crate confinement use. I've seen lots of literature on how to train a dog to a crate. And I've seen lots of information on when a crate can be helpful. I have not seen anywhere a clear description of what counts as crate abuse. For those people who live places where crating is legal: I think it would be helpful to have a pamphlet that people could freely download from the internet which clearly defines both what is good use of a crate and what is bad for dogs of type A, B, C… And then maybe we could use such a tool to really educate people not just how to use a crate, but how not to use a crate. Great topic. I live Renton, which is the city just south of Seattle. Seattle is far more dog friendly than the outlying areas. We 't have SBL here, but some of the other cities do, and as far as I know, those are restricted to pits. Ugh. We can have dogs off leash public if they're voice controlled and they walk beside you. I've only known one dog that could do that, I doubt any of mine would ever be well trained. We finally did build a dog park, but that's really the only area our city where dogs can legally run off leash. three girls have crates. As puppies, they were trained to go into their crates during times of stress, they their crates, and except for the baby, the doors remain open. All it takes is a happy, Oh! I wonder who can jump her crate first! and they dive into them for a treat. I do watch them on a web cam from work. All of these other areas that 't allow crating is interesting, it never even occurred to me that it was a possibility. This brings me to wonder: Is there also legislation about the types of collars you can use on dogs? For example, prong collars and slip chains are legal here, it kills me when I a prong collar on a dog with a handler that has no idea how to use one. When previous batch of dogs were I was taught school to use a prong collar and I did, carefully, with all three. This is one of those cringing moments for me, although the boys were happy enough to use them. I can't imagine the girls putting up for a minute with a prong collar. No doubt they'd just sit and