With the case of Abby Toll, the former Boulder woman convicted of taping her boyfriend’s dog to a refrigerator, fresh in the headlines, Governor Bill Ritter signed a bill into law last week allowing judges to intervene in domestic violence cases to protect the interests of animals.

Under the new law, suspected abusers may be given restraining orders to stay away from family pets—even livestock, writes 9News. A similar bill is being considered in Boston, reports the Boston Herald.

It seems a wise idea, based on the expertise of Frank Ascione, a University of Denver psychologist whose studies on women in domestic violence shelters found that a high percentage of pets in the relationships were also abused.

Meanwhile, hundreds of dog lovers gathered Sunday for a jaunt around the Boulder Reservoir for the 10th-annual Canine Classic to raise money for Boulder’s Moving To End Sexual Assault, or MESA, notes the Daily Camera.