Two hundred forty-four commercial kennel owners got the invite. Now it's up to them to take the offer.

In a new initiative designed to improve compliance with state kennel regulations, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office is holding two free educational seminars to help kennel operators understand how to stay out of trouble with the law.

"We're putting them on notice that we're coming," District Attorney Craig W. Stedman said. "We know who you are. We're telling you what the laws are for free. Either they're going to take advantage of it or they aren't. And the next time we knock on your door to talk about a puppy, it could be with a search warrant in our hands."

The seminars will include overviews of kennel regulations; how to treat animals humanely; when animals should be examined by a veterinarian; and how to keep kennels, food and water dispensers clean — an area for which kennels are often cited for noncompliance.

Stedman's office notified 244 county kennel operators of the seminars by certified letter.

The seminars are scheduled for June 5 at Ephrata's Eicher Arts Center in Grater Park and June 6 at Solanco High School Auditorium in Quarryville. Both will begin at 7 p.m.

Stedman said he devised the seminars as a means to encourage understanding and compliance of state kennel regulations so that prosecution is a last resort for his office.

"These seminars are a unique opportunity for kennel owners to get person-to-person answers to their questions so they can be in compliance," Stedman said. "To me, it's worth a commitment to try, because everybody wins if we have compliance without prosecution — and the dogs win, too."

Stedman also asked two area legislators to host the seminars: State Rep. Gordon Denlinger will introduce speakers at the Ephrata seminar, and state Rep. Bryan Cutler will introduce speakers at the Quarryville seminar.

Stedman's initiative comes after Gov. Ed Rendell infused more manpower into the bureau for enforcement of laws regulating the state's commercial kennels. That additional manpower resulted in six kennel license revocations in 2006 and 21 revocations in 2007. Nine of the kennels were in Lancaster County.

Wilson began prosecuting county animal abuse cases at least three years ago. Since then, a more coordinated system for prosecuting kennel regulation violations and animal-abuse incidents has resulted in several high-profile cases, bringing attention to Rendell's crackdown on the county's unscrupulous breeders.

On top of that, television talk-show host Oprah Winfrey featured Lancaster County's puppy mills on her syndicated program last month, resulting in a nationwide outcry.

Jessie L. Smith, special deputy secretary for the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement, said all that attention has put breeders on notice.

"The seminars are a good idea. The bureau has increased enforcement, so people are more concerned about how to comply with regulations because there are more consequences now if they don't comply," Smith said.

Denlinger and Cutler said they will use the seminars to get feedback from breeders about proposed changes to state dog laws, which are expected to be introduced next week. The changes, which have been in the works for more than a year, have been hotly opposed by breeders, who say they are too stringent and impractical for compliance.

"Anytime you talk about changing the law, you have to get all the parties at the table," Cutler said. "This is a good opportunity to do that. It's educational, but a side benefit will be to gather information."

Denlinger said he also supports educating breeders so they can avoid prosecution. And he said Stedman's office has taken a "reasonable" approach in recent efforts to prosecute irresponsible breeders.

"Prosecution under current law is appropriate in some cases. The fact that some individuals have been prosecuted indicates the current law does work to some degree," Denlinger said. "But there is always concern that citizens can be railroaded because of emotions related to an issue. My goal is to make sure citizens receive justice in every case."

E-mail: slindt@lnpnews.com