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Article 2. Dogs Divsion 2. Leash and Confinement Requirements. Section 4-9. Leash requirement. PaEe 5 (a) No person shall bring or permit any dog in any roadway, County park, public or private school ground, airport, or in any other public place unless it is held under control by a suitable leash, not more than six feet long; provided, however, that dogs even under control by a suitable leash shall not be allowed in any County beach park. (b) Licensed dogs, when accompanied by and under the control of their owner, while lawfully on public or private hunting grounds and engaged in the act of hunting, will not be subject to the leash requirements, however, at all other times, the dogs are subject to the requirements of this section. These paragraphs would make it illegal for Hilo Obedience Training Club or Kona Cost Kennel Club to continue training classes that have been historically held at public facilities or private school grounds. In addition they would no longer be able to have their competitive events at County facilities. (Obedience and Rally Trials are currently held at Edith Kanakaole Stadium, Konawaena School, and Waimea Park in the past.) Specifically, Hilo Obedience Training Club conducts Saturday morning classes in three sessions, almost year round at St Joseph School. This has been going on for many yeazs, and classes were previously held at Kapiolani School, Kalakaua Park, and the grass parking azea at the Afook Chinen Civic Auditorium. This goes back to the 1960's. These obedience classes fill a public need by providing education and guidance to encourage well-behaved dogs and responsible dog owners. Classes are provided at a minimal cost as opposed to private training. One of the basic goals of obedience training is to be able to have a dog that will be steady, responsive, and under full control of the owner or handler when OFF LEASH. This is accomplished by teaching a dog to be controlled with either voice command or hand signal. To accomplish this, the initial step is to utilize a "long line" (much longer than six feet), with training culminating in a controlled dog working totally off leash. Dog owners that train, participate, and compete in this type of training and dog shows such as Obedience Trials, Rally Trials, and Agility Trails, are the most responsible dog owners in our community. All of these events require the OFF LEASH training of our canine companions. Why should we be penalized for being responsible dog owners? My Labrador Retriever was recently used in a public service commercial filmed for the Department of Environmental Management HI 5 program. I donated my time and his, to train and have him photographed and filmed holding and retrieving various empty plastic bottles and cans for this commercial. It was filmed at a public park, and had Bi114, Draft 6 been in place, we would not have been able to legally complete the filming as he had to be OFF LEASH! 2 of 4