Claiming uneven enforcement and unfair targeting of Lancaster County kennels, a Pennsylvania dog breeder association filed a civil lawsuit this week against some of the state's top dog-law officials.

"Unfortunately, there are times when the courts must intervene to stop the abuse of the executive branch of government," said Robert G. Yarnall Jr., president of the American Canine Association Inc., a member group of Pennsylvania Professional Dog Breeders Association.

The lawsuit, filed by an advisory council of PPDBA in the Eastern District of U.S. District Court, alleges the state Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement special team of kennel inspectors targeted Lancaster County kennels for inspection, "without any basis in the law, unfairly, arbitrarily and irrationally favoring all other kennels located in counties other than Lancaster County and nonprofit kennels."

The lawsuit alleges the Bureau issued 76 citations to Lancaster County kennels from Jan. 1, 2006, through May 31, 2008, but none to kennels in neighboring Allegheny, Bucks and Montgomery counties.

The lawsuit alleges that kennels operating in Lancaster County are three times more likely than kennels in other counties to be inspected by the Bureau and "far more likely to be cited for violations, and over 100 times more likely to receive a warning. There is no rational basis for such a disparity."

The lawsuit, which seeks only $1 in damages — but could sully Gov. Ed Rendell's enforcement efforts — stems from the alleged practices of a specialized team of kennel inspectors hired in recent years at Rendell's direction.

In 2006, Rendell undertook an aggressive campaign to change the state's reputation as the "puppy mill capital of the east," which included appointing Jessie Smith to the newly created position of special deputy secretary for dog-law enforcement.

However, Rendell and Smith are not among those named in the lawsuit.

Yarnall said Donmoyer was singled out in the lawsuit because of a November 2007 inspection at the Ephrata kennel of Ervin Zimmerman, during which kennel volunteer Carl Gilgore videotaped the inspection.

The lawsuit alleges Donmoyer "blatantly" violated Gilgore's rights when she allegedly threatened him with arrest for videotaping the inspection. However, Yarnall confirmed Gilgore was not arrested and was permitted to videotape the inspection.

Yarnall criticized Bureau inspectors for not giving warnings before citing breeders for kennel violations, adding that inspectors don't tell kennel operators what they need to do to avoid citations when warnings are issued.

"That's not how it should be," Yarnall said. "The Department of Agriculture has always been looked at as a trusted arm of the government. Now they're not looked that way at all."

An indication of why some people might feel that way can be found in the Bureau's inspection reports, which are uneven, often showing no violations or citations for years at even the largest commercial kennels before Rendell's crackdown took effect.

Rendell showed little confidence in the Bureau's pre-crackdown efforts. In 2006, citing "ineffectiveness," the Governor dismissed the entire Dog Law Advisory Board that guides the Bureau on issues.He replaced them with 16 of his own people, saying, "These appointments are intended to give the board a fresh start and new direction."

Records also bear out that before Rendell's crackdown, Lancaster County's two dog wardens rarely gave unsatisfactory marks on kennel inspections or issued citations against kennel operators — facts that didn't go unnoticed by Rendell.

According to state officials, in 2006 Rendell ordered one of the two dog wardens off kennel inspections, paring his duties to little more than than transporting strays to shelters.

Yarnall said funding for the the lawsuit comes from donations from 335 members of the Dog Breeders Association, which has hotly opposed a slate of proposed changes to the state dog law aimed at improving the lives of breeder dogs who live out their lives in commercial kennels.

The advisory council that filed the lawsuit is a nine-person panel elected by PPDBA to address legislative and legal issues.

Both Smith and Department of Agriculture spokesman Chris Ryder declined to comment on the lawsuit Wednesday.

The Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement's inspection records can be viewed online at http://services.agriculture.state.pa.us/KennelIn....

E-mail: slindt@lnpnews.com