“A dog could be sneezing because of allergies,” Rosenberg said. “All in all I think this bill is a good thing, but in order for it to be successful there needs to be more language in it.”

Amy Hillis, chair of the Professional Animal Care Certification Council, a third-party certification group for pet care providers, said she also understands where lawmakers are coming from by wanting owners to have better information to protect their pets.

But the current version of the bill is too vague, Hillis said, and would be hard to enforce.

Hillis also pushed back on the idea that the respiratory disease that spread this fall was mysterious or even novel.

Respiratory illness outbreaks are not uncommon, though state officials and veterinary experts are still determining why cases increased and dogs experienced worse-than-usual symptoms this fall.

Experts like Scott Weese, a professor at the University of Guelph Ontario Veterinary College, have suggested that factors like fewer pet vaccinations and less exposure to other animals during the coronavirus pandemic spurred the outbreak.

Other factors could include more dogs overall and changes in the types of vaccines used, Weese wrote in a December post on his website.

At the end of the day, getting sick is sometimes just part of being alive, Hillis said.

“If you send your kids to school they’re probably going to get sick at some point, and that’s the nature of being a living thing,” she said. “That’s not a result of a building or a place, it’s a result of leaving your house.”

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