All American puppies and dogs, as well as their owners, need to be aware what is happening on the other side of the pond in Austria. Houdini Clarke, American Maltese, has traveled to Austria several times and keeps up on the latest dog or,"hundefuehrschein" news.

Now for all you non German speaking dogs out there, hundefuehrschein is a new fangled German word meaning a "dog walking license". It seems that the Austrians … more than 80 percent of them in Stadt Wien "Vienna" alone, feel that tougher laws should be enacted to keep certain breeds along with their dog walking owners under the watchful eyes of the government. The breeds that are being put on the watch list are the pit bull, American Staffordshire terrier, Mastiff and the Rottweiler and, of course, all of the mixed breed / cross bred cousins.

We have all heard about the awful stories of children and older people being mauled or killed by vicious dogs. It seems that those particular breeds on the Stadt Wien "hit list" and their mixed breed cousins turn out to be the most common felons in these scenarios. On the other hand, most dog lovers understand that it is usually the dog owner and not the dog that is to blame in these situations. How the dog was trained to behave in certain situations or whether he was trained at all.

Even the Austrian Dog magazine Wuff has gotten involved in the action by posting flyers all over Stadt Wien showing two cute puppies sitting next to each other with one of them labeled evil. This, along with the vote NO to the referendum, is a pretty clear indication where they stand on the situation.

Well, in February, the dust settled on the "hundefuehrschein in Stadt Wien" … beginning July 1, 2010 the "evil dogs" and anyone who will be walking the dog over 16 years of age will have to complete a 30 page, yes, I said 30 PAGE test. This multiple choice exam will include everything from tail wagging to barking at strangers and will cost 25 Euros.

There are many other provisions in this new legislation i.e. the dog must be at least six months old, the dog and owner may take the test up to 3 times, there will be a transitional period for those who currently own a dog on the "hit list" and so on … the real kicker here is that if you are not hundefuehrschein compliant, the fines are tremendous, from a small administration fine of 100 euros up to the big kahuna fine of 14,000 euros … YIKES!

You can take a look at the hundefuehrschein test and see what you think … could you and your bowser pass?

Fortunately for Houdini Clarke, who, while he has the heart of a Rottweiler, the Maltese breed has not made the Stadt Wien hundefuehrschein ‘hit list". So, Houdini will be allowed to roam the streets of Vienna freely reading and sending p-mails to all his Viennese puppy pals.