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Pet stores would be held accountable for the health of the animals they sell, and animal abusers could be forced to pay for the care their victims require under bills proposed in Maryland.

Republican Del. Nicholaus Kipke, of Anne Arundel County, is the lead sponsor of House Bill 131, which would require pet stores to post information on cages about where the animals were born.

In addition,the law would require pet stores to provide a warranty for consumers who buy puppies who become ill. A pet store could be required to reimburse veterinary fees up to three times the purchase price of the dog.

Some pet store owners say that could put them out of business. Some animal advocates wish the proposed law was stronger — and would ban pet stores from selling dogs from breeders entirely.

“A lot of the the pet shops say they only buy from registered USDA breeders, but it doesn’t take anything to become a registered breeder,”  Jen Swanson, the Baltimore Humane Society’s executive director, told Patch.com. “The rules set forth by USDA are not enforced.”

The only way to stop the “cycle of abuse” is to shun pet stores that sell animals from breeders, she said.

“Quality pet stores and quality breeders are the norm, and not the exception,” said Michael Maddox, general counsel for the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, which represents pet retailers. “They abhor the substandard breeders as much as anyone else; it gives them a bad name. We want these bad folks out of business.”

Maddox said his organization supports the concept of the proposed bill, and said many pet stores already post information about animals they’re selling.

Senate Bill 203, meanwhile, will allow judges to order people convicted of animal cruelty to pay the costs of caring for the animals during the trial. 

Animal welfare advocates say shelters are often stuck with the bill — both when it comes to veterinary care and for housing the pet until the trial takes place.

If you’re interested in learning more about the bills, Maryland Votes for Animals, along with the HSUS and ASPCA , are sponsoring a 2012 Maryland Humane Lobby Day in Annapolis. It’s Thursday, February 23, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., in Room 142 of the House of Delegates Office Building, 6 Bladen Street.

If you happen to be strolling around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor Sunday and run into a pack of pit bulls, fear not — they are there to make friends, influence people, and lick away any misconceptions you may have about the breed.

B-More Dog, the organization behind “Pit Bulls on Parade,” plans to make group walks like Sunday’s a monthly event, held in various parts of the city — all aimed at erasing the stereotypes surrounding the breed.

While all breeds are welcome, dogs must be signed up in advance to take part in the parades. So while it’s too late to get your dog into Sunday’s, you can find out about participating in next month’s by emailing bmoredog@gmail.com.

To check out Sunday’s parade, show up around the Inner Harbor at 11 a.m.

Pauline Houliaras, a founding member and current president of B-More Dog, came up with the idea for the parade after noticing how often she’d be stopped and asked about the dogs she was walking. Her own dog, Ravenopolis, she found, often got greeted on walks around the harbor by tourists and locals alike, who’d stop to ask questions and pet the dog.

Taking the concept to the next level, B-More Dog organized groups of pit bull owners to walk together and spread goodwill about the breed. Then they decided, rather than just do it once a year, to try and parade pit bulls every month.

B-More Dog is an outreach and education organization that formed in the fall of 2007 to speak out against breed specific legislation being proposed in Baltimore County. That legislation, which would have required all pit bull owners to muzzle their dogs and confine them in locked kennels, was not passed.

Since then, B-More Dog has gone on to focus on improving the breed’s image and promoting responsible ownership of pit bulls and all other breeds through education, mentoring, and outreach.

Its members work with local shelters to provide information packets about the breed to adopters. B-More Dog also offers a “Humane Education” program in which members take their friendly, trained and well-mannered pit bull to community centers and after-school programs.

The Atlanta Humane Society on Monday gave a $5,000 reward to the woman who provided the names of two people eventually charged with shooting and killing a Griffin police dog.

Jimi, a two-year-old German shepherd, apparently strayed onto a nearby property, where he was shot. The dog’s body was found last November dumped along the side of a rural Georgia road in Lamar County.

Lamar County investigators announced the arrest of Kevin Pippin, 37, last month.

Lamar County District Attorney Richard Milam said he plans to ask a grand jury in June to indict Kevin Pippin, 37, and his mother, 66-year-old Geraldine Pippin, for misdemeanor animal cruelty, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The Humane Society said the woman who provided the names was unaware of the reward at the time she gave the information.

Jimi’s handler, Griffin police Cpl. Chad Moxon, and his family also put up a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for killing Jimi, who was trained at detecting drugs and explosives and tracking people.

Hayes received that $1,000 reward earlier, though the case has yet to go to court.

(Photo: Jimi, on the right, with Moxon’s other dog, Yager)

The Humane Society of the United States is offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the persons responsible for injuring Christy, a one-year-old pit bull who was pelted with rocks and bricks in Baltimore.

A witness says children threw rocks and other materials at the dog who was tied up in the 3700 block of Greenspring Avenue near Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School.

The pit bull was taken to the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter where she is being treated for injuries that include wounds to her paws, head, snout and hemorrhages in both eyes.

The children responsible for the crime are believed to be about 12 or 13 years old.

The Atlanta Humane Society added $5,000 to the reward  for information leading to the arrest of the person who shot and killed a Griffin Police Department German Shepherd.

The dog’s handler, Griffin police Cpl. Chad Moxon, and his family had already put up $1,000 , according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Moxon discoverd Jimi, the police dog, and his own dog, Yeager, missing from their kennel at his home in Lamar County last week.

Moxon said he searched all Monday night and most of Tuesday night for the dogs, handing out about 300 flyers. On Wednesday morning he received a call about a German shepherd found dead in a ditch. It turned out to be Jimi. The 3-year-old dog was shot in the side with a shotgun and dumped there. 

“I just sat down in the ditch for the next 30 minutes. I didn’t have the energy to get him out,” Moxon said.

Shortly after he got home a neighbor called with the news that Yeager had been found, badly beaten, but alive.

“Hes still at home recovering,” Moxon said of his 2-year-old dog, also a German Shepherd. ” I’m hoping he’ll recover in the next few days.”

Ted Kennedy may be getting the credit for the Obama’s new pup, but if it weren’t for Vasco Bensaude, it probably wouldn’t have been a Portuguese water dog that wound up on the White House lawn.

In the 1930′s Bensaude, a wealthy Portuguese businessman and dog lover was introduced to the breed by friends. By then, the breed’s numbers were dwindling, and there were only a few still doing the job they were bred to do — fisherman’s assistant.

Once seen all along the coast of Portugal, the breed was prized by fishermen — for the companionship they offered, the security they provided on docked boats, and their ability to jump in the water and herd schools of fish into the nets.

They had other skills as well, such as retrieving lost tackle or broken nets, and to serve as couriers, delivering messages from one boat to the next.

The first written description of the dog dates to 1297, when a monk wrote about a sailor hauled out of the sea by a dog with a “black coat of rough hair, cut to the first rib and with a tuft on the tip of his tail.”

The Portuguese water dog — known in Portugal as Cao de Agua – is believed to be a blend of poodle, Kerry blue terrier and the Irish water spaniel.

Improved technology in the fishing industry lessened the demand for the Cao de Agua, and only a few remained in the 1930s, when Bensaude acquired one named Leao. Leao became the founding sire of the modern breed, the first litter of which was born in May 1937.

It took another 30 years for the dog to come to America. The first didn’t arrive until 1968, and was a descendant of Leao.

The Portuguese Water Dog Club of America was formed in 1972, and the breed was acknowledged by the American Kennel club in 1983.

(Source: Portuguese Water Dog Club of America)

Alley Cat Allies, a group that promotes humane care for cats — both those in homes and those on the streets — will conduct free workshops in Baltimore tonight and tomorrow.

Tonight’s session will be at the Maryland SPCA, 3300 Falls Road, from 7 to 9 p.m.

Thursday’s will be at Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS), 301 Stockton Street, also from 7 to 9 p.m.

The sessions are part of the organization’s “Every Kitty-Every City Program,” and is open to anyone interested in learning more about dealing with stray and feral cats.

Feral cats are outdoor cats that are unsocialized to humans and therefore unadoptable as pets. These workshops will provide information on how to best care for feral cat colonies through communication, mediation, and trap-neuter-return practices.