Pets win big with laws that save lives

Passing legislation to support dogs and cats can be an absolute lifesaver. And like anything else, sometimes attention and action are required to keep those good laws and ordinances in place and doing their job. Recently, two cities needed just that, and the Best Friends legislative team helped to make it happen.

The first was in Nashville, Tennessee, a city that passed a retail pet sales ban in 2018, thanks to the hard work of Best Friends advocacy team member Kathleen Murphy, who introduced and championed the ordinance when she was on the Nashville city council. Under the citywide ordinance, stores are not allowed to sell puppies or kittens raised in pet mills, places that churn out baby animals to sell in stores or online.

[Progress for pets: Looking back at a year of advocacy]

Even with the ordinance in place, though, Petland, one of the most notorious retail stores to sell puppies from mills, planned to open a location there. That spurred a request to review the existing ordinance and update it. Thanks to swift action and strong political relationships, both the Metro Nashville Health Department and the Metro Nashville Codes Department will enforce restrictions on retail pet stores in all of Davidson County.

The second lifesaving action was in Aurora, Colorado, where Best Friends, other organizations, and local advocates convinced the city council to repeal the dog breed ban in 2021. It was a significant win for dogs and the people who love them, largely because certain dogs would no longer be banned simply for how they look.

Shortly after the repeal, however, a judge struck down the law on the grounds that because the underlying law was passed by the voters as a ballot initiative (as opposed to the council members as representatives of the voters), it could only be repealed by the voters. So Best Friends and others got to work quickly, and in November 2024, Aurora voters went to the polls and repealed the breed ban. With the ban lawfully repealed, the council members quickly adopted a comprehensive breed-neutral dangerous dog ordinance for the city.

[New wave of animal advocates]

Both cases highlight the need for vigilance and advocacy to ensure that the voices of taxpayers and constituents are heard and that laws protecting pets and people are enforced. Diligence and advocacy are truly a winning combination.

This article was originally published in the March/April 2025 issue of Best Friends magazine. Want more good news? Become a member and get stories like this six times a year.

Our goal at Best Friends is to support all animal shelters in the U.S. in reaching no-kill in 2025. No-kill means saving every dog and cat in a shelter who can be saved, accounting for community safety and good quality of life for pets. 

Shelter staff can’t do it alone. Saving animals in shelters is everyone’s responsibility, and it takes support and participation from the community. No-kill is possible when we work together thoughtfully, honestly, and collaboratively.