Dog Licensing- What is it Good For?

Dog licenses allow for a local registry that enables lost dogs to find their way home through animal control, while also ensuring that these dogs (and thus people) are protected with rabies vaccinations. A small fee helps to pay for the paperwork required and also pay the salaries of the people who round up the stray dogs, while also helping to feed and house the dogs in the pound. Well, that's how it is supposed to work.

Dog ownership has changed, and so has the licensing system. There is much variation in how it is done. In some places, including our own county, dog owners feel vilified, highly taxed, and are suspicious of the system. They avoid contact with any form of law enforcement for dog laws. They avoid the shelter altogether. They sometimes behave irresponsibly either because they are ignorant or because they would rather simply avoid extra expenses associated with compliance. In other areas, dog owners comply with care, dogs are licensed regularly with low fees, and pets are overall better cared for as a result.

Let's look at Calgary, Alberta. They have a 90-95% dog licensing compliance rate. According to this article, most North American cities are lucky to get 10-20% compliance. And they do this while charging $31-52 per year! If a dog owner gets caught not complying, they are generally be fined 10x the amount they would have paid if they had licensed their dog to begin with. Licensing is easy to apply for-- no searching for the little city/county office. Every dollar goes back to paying for animal control services.

Dog owners are always encouraged to be microchipped. But in Calgary, every AC vehicle has a scanner. They will take a dog directly home instead of to the shelter when they can. This reduces expenses and probably helps keep those dogs healthy. If a dog does get to the shelter, it is photographed and placed online within 15 minutes, and treated with veterinary care as needed. There are less tough decisions to make for strays, because there are less strays and there are funds to cover any necessary expenses. Dogs are typically only euthanized for severe illnesses or behavior issues. In other words, most true strays are adopted out, probably because people are more willing to work with such a shelter system to find new dogs there.

Calgary also focuses on educating dog owners, and children especially. They are actually included in the schools' curriculum to teach children to respect living things. They have 140--140!-- off-leash dog parks. This creates a much more positive, dog-and-people friendly community.

Over the past 18 years, they have cut the number of dog bites and chases by 50%, even though dog and human populations have doubled.

$31 may seem high when compared to our local $10 for spayed/neutered dogs. The fee for intact dogs is about the same. But how much would you be willing to pay for such a system? The system is helping dog owners find lost dogs, reducing the number of dogs in the shelter, educating children and keeping the community safe. They are working FOR the people and WITH the people instead of treating them like the enemy. This sounds like a pretty good deal. Why do we still have such high fees, but our community does not have the added benefits?