Daily Dog Question #11 10/8/07?

Question

I'm going to shift gears a bit. I know that people using YA live all over the place so the legal issues in your area are different.

Are your dogs licensed? Are there any community or state requirements for owning a dog in your area? Do you follow them? If so, why? If not, why?

The friends of mine that I talk about often who have dogs are probably supposed to license their dogs by their state and local laws. I know that none of their dogs have a license. Mainly, because I believe my friends think it's no one's business how many dogs they have. But then I'm not exactly sure since I'm not answering this question myself... YA doesn't like it if you answer your own question.

Please share your experience with the group. I shall choose a best answer to this question (which is OBVIOUSLY not a poll) in a day or two. Inquiring minds want to know.

Answer 1

Yes, my dogs are licensed... but I have mixed feelings about licensing.

1) At one point I was ticketed and had to go before a judge to fight the fine for having barking dogs. The animal control officer at the hearing said "I didn't hear any dogs barking, but these are the only licensed dogs in the neighborhood and she has 3 of them and puppies so I put the ticket on her door." Funny thing was, I was out of town for 2 weeks and returned home to the ticket stuck on the door... thank heavens for show entries and hotel reciepts to prove I was out of town and it could NOT have been my dogs. The judge dismissed the ticket ($500).

2) I do not feel ANYONE should have the right to tell me what to do with my dog's reproductive system. I've been more than responsible and if I feel that licensing my dogs will bring animal control to my door (should a mandatory s/n law pass) I will no longer liscense my dogs... which is really crummy because I pride myself on being a law-abiding citizen.

Answer 2

Mine are licensed by the county. The State of Ohio requires a license for any dog or puppy 3 months or older. Licenses must be purchased before January 20 of each year. The cost doubles (from $14 to $28 in my county) if you buy it late.

Of course, I could leave my dogs unlicensed, but there's a fine if I'm caught. Also, if one of my dogs is picked up by animal control (and I'm lucky enough to find it!) they won't release the dog until you buy one on the spot (at the county pound). That's in addition to the recovery fee.

But the single most important reason I license my dogs is this: If an unlicensed dog lands in the pound, it can legally be destroyed in 3 days and the pound is not required to contact the owner, even if the dog is wearing other identification. If the dog is licensed, the county pound is required to hold it for 14 days, and required to try to contact the owner. This is the reason my dogs never, EVER leave the house without the license tag.

Answer 3

I live in the UK. There hasn't been a license in force for decades.

When it was first brought in, the dog license was a set fee, which would have made up a large part of most families' disposable income. As time went on, the cost of the license remained the same, i.e. it did not rise with inflation. As such it became a very nominal fee, that cost the Post Office (the people who dealt with it) more than they were raising. It eventually became ineffective and the system was abandoned.

Personally, I'd like to see it return, but under a different guise. It would be awarded more on people's suitability to own a dog, rather than being of any great financial cost.

Answer 4

When I had dogs, I did get them licensed. I guess the reason I did it was that in my hometown, they have a huge problem with dog and cat overpopulation, and there are feral animals running around and destroying property, harming or killing livestock, and even threatening to harm people. My town instituted the licensing thing to try and control this problem. The dog (or cat) had to be vaccinated against rabies to obtain a license, so this increased the number of animals that were vaccinated. Also, when the animal is taken in to get licensed, the owner is encouraged to get the animal spayed or neutered if it is not already, and educational material about the benefits of spaying and neutering and the potential problems of not having this procedure done are given to the owner. If a stray dog is found not to be licensed, the owner would be fined and made to license the animal before they could take it home, and if no owner could be found, the animal would be destroyed (after a reasoble period of waiting for someone to claim the animal). This strategy will hopefully reduce the number of animals the contract rabies, and also will ideally reduce the population of feral and stray animals.

Answer 5

I am living in Michigan, USA.

In our state it is against the law for any person to own a dog over 6 months of age without having the dog licensed. It is also against the law for the dog not to wear a collar and tag at all times, except when hunting with the owner. Also, a female dog in heat is not allowed off the owners property unless it is kept on a leash under supervision of the owner

Licenses are distributed by the treasurer of the township in which the dog lives.

I do follow these rules both out of my duty to be a law abiding citizen and to protect my dog and the people around me. Licenses are not only the law, but they aid in locating a lost dog and identifying him with the owner. I also take my dog to a dog park on a regular basis and they require that the dog is current on all vaccinations and that the dog's license is kept current.

Everyone can help protect their animals and their community by obeying the laws of dog ownership.

Answer 6

Both of my dogs are licensed through the city. Around here, the vets are required to turn in rabies vaccinations on a monthly basis. If the city gets a report you have a vaccinated dog that is not registered with the city, you face huge fines. Plus, for neutered dogs, the city registration is only $2 per dog...so I really don't see a point in not doing it.

We are supposed to have their city registration tag on the animal at all times, but I don't follow that rule. My dogs don't wear their collars inside. And when we go out, their collars have their rabies tag and an identification tag. I guess it would be a good idea to attach the city tag, now that I think about it...

Answer 7

Both of my boys have tags from last year does that count?
i have been putting it off for what 10 months now? thats sad i live a hop skip and a jump to the court house. Plus I know the only dog catcher so he won't be stopping here. although the fine is hefty one. all dogs over 6 months should have a license. it's only $8 for altered animals. $6 if ur a senior, and $15 for unaltered animals no matter your age

thats what we need by the way a smaller limit on the dogs one has....right now u can have 25 dogs and not need a kennel license.

Answer 8

We live outside of a very small town. In fact we are outside and sort of in the middle of 4 small towns.
None have a humane society or any type of regulatory agency that covers dogs or cats. There are no rules about how many or anything that I have been able to find out about.
I am not even sure if they require rabies shots. I think they do but I have no clue about who would check up to see if you had it done. They were trying to get a county wide shelter going but are no having much luck on a volunteer basis.
I have three dogs who are all microchipped in case they are lost.
I have a foster dog in from time to time and those come and go for training and such.
We have one cat as well.

Answer 9

Yes, in case they got loose, at least people would know their rabies shot was current as long as they had a city license on. Also the fee for springing them from jail would be less. Although, there isn't a limit of dogs per household in our area,
we follow the oridances so our dogs or us can't be accused of anything by our dog-hating new neighbors who seem to think that noone should have a large dog in town let alone three of them.

Answer 10

I have three dogs. One is a Lab mix, she spends some time outside playing in the yard and sometimes, neighborhood kids have opened the gate and let her out. Then she is running around the neighborhood. For that reason I have chosen to get the city license for her. The other two are chihuahua mixes. They are in the house almost 24 hours a day. We take them out to poddie and are with them the whole time. If we let them out in the yard alone, someone would help themselves to our dogs. That's how this neighborhood is. I do not have them licensed. I personally do not want to give the city any more money than I have to. I also have two indoor cats that the city thinks they need to have money for licensing. I know that there are some crooked things going on in our city government, I do not choose to fund them anymore than I am forced to. I'm in Great Falls, MT