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DOG LAW REFORM Submission to the Government during its Review of the Dog Control Act 2000 TOPIC: Dog Registration Fees The registration fee for dogs has always been very low. The authorities have the view that increasing the fees will provoke even further defiance by owners. The Paper Noxious Barking elaborates further: It is proposed that council fees for dog registration be at least doubled, and preferably tripled or quadrupled, with the breed, size and behaviour of the dog being taken into account. In these times of affluence it is perfectly reasonable for the annual registration fee to average $150 per animal, plus or minus the usual variations for the usual reasons. This amounts to a mere $3 weekly. Councils will benefit from the extra income and will be better able to educate the community and enforce the dog laws. A higher registration fee will diminish, perhaps substantially, the common misconception that registration is optional and unimportant, and it will induce at least some owners to better evaluate the fair worth of their dog and the level of responsibility they are prepared to provide their local community in controlling it. The expected increase in non-registrations can be extensively combated by the instant impoundment of every animal found unregistered. This impoundment should be mandatory wherever this is practicable. When owners become aware that this can happen they will more responsibly conform to fair requirement. Although many owners will initially resent the extra financial imposition, owners in general must be made to realise that they are often obtaining their selfish and sometimes questionable owner satisfactions by commonly destroying the rights of their neighbours, those who are entitled under the current Dog Act and the no-noise provisions in s53 of the Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1993 (the EMPCA) to be free from any disturbing noise not listed as acceptable, particularly while they are in their own homes but also while they are in any public place. Expected positive consequences of this proposal include a substantial diminution in dog numbers everywhere, a significant reduction in the average size of suburban dogs, and a popular movement favouring the smaller dog kept indoors. Recommended: 1. That council fees for dog registration be at least doubled, and preferably tripled or quadrupled, with the breed, size and behaviour of the dog being taken into account. |