By Tony Romeo

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) — Pennsylvania has a new law aimed at protecting service dogs.

Appearing at a suburban Harrisburg center for service dog training, Gov. Tom Corbett held a “mock” signing ceremony for a bill that he officially signed this past June.

The governor notes that guide dogs for the blind and other service dogs are trained not to fight back.

“They are trained only to serve the people to whom they are entrusted. That’s what makes doing harm to a service dog, in my opinion, one of the lowest forms of human behavior.  Doing harm to any dog is a low form of behavior, but particularly to a service dog,” he said.

The new law stipulates that a person can be fined up to $5,000 plus the cost of treating or replacing a service dog if they knew or should have known their dog had the inclination to attack and they recklessly failed to restrain or keep their dog away from the service dog.