Florida city adopts new law that requires dog owners to give pets daily exercise

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DELTONA, Fla. - A Florida city has just adopted a new set of rules for dog owners – and it includes a slew of stricter mandates when it comes to animal cruelty and keeping pets healthy and safe.

On Tuesday, the City of Deltona Commission approved amendments to Chapter 14 of its ordinances, which pertains to animals, to include "more comprehensive regulations concerning animal cruelty."

Among these changes is a new requirement that requires dog owners to give their pets daily exercise.

"Animals must be given appropriate daily exercise. Subjective varies dog to dog dependent on age, health and breed," the ordinance read. The document did not go into detail about what qualifies as daily exercise, but according to the American Kennel Club, that varies depending on dog size and age. Some opportunities for dog exercise are: walking, hiking, swimming, running up and down the stairs and playing fetch or tug, to name a few.

Deltona also adopted several other changes to Chapter 14, including guidelines on animal enclosures, weather protection and car safety.

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For example, shelter for dogs must provide adequate protection from cold and heat. Specifically, when temps fall below 40 degrees, dogs must be moved indoors and when highs top 90, they must be provided a fan to maintain the temperature in their shelter at or below 90 degrees. This was upped from the previous 85 degrees.

There are also new rules for animal enclosures. They should be 25 square feet of open space, plus an additional 25 square feet for each additional animal kept in the same enclosed area, according to the ordinance. This was upped from the previous 20 square feet.

Dogs, cats and other animals should also always be "provided clean water, dry ground, shade for protection from the sun, thunderstorms, lightning, hail, hurricanes, tornados, tropical storms, flood waters, winds in excess of 20 miles per hour, and other natural manmade calamities," the ordinance continues.

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Furthermore, animals should not be confined in an unattended car without sufficient ventilation. The new ordinance also protects people who remove pets from cars and makes them immune from civil liability for damage to the car if there's no reasonable way for the pet to get out without help. There are exceptions to this law, which can be read here.

Anyone who violates this ordinance is subject to civil infractions.