It's a dog's life.

• Position: TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS - Brief article

Concerned that animals were not being treated as well as they should in some shelters, several state legislatures in the past few years have passed measures to improve shelter practices.

California lawmakers passed the Hayden Shelter Reform Law in 1999 that started the trend. It lengthens the state's previously short holding time--the period before an animal can be euthanized--from 72 hours to six business days. It recommends healthy, nonsuffering animals should be euthanized only if they cannot be placed in a suitable home; these would include vicious dogs or those that pose a public health hazard. It also required shelters to release any requested animal to a qualifying nonprofit rescue center or adoption group as an alternative to euthanasia.

In 2010, Delaware passed a bill similar to the Hayden Law, making its shelter regulations some of the most comprehensive in the country. The Delaware law requires all shelters to immediately inspect animals for identification and to wait at least three days before putting animals up for adoption or transferring them to...