Two New Canaan dog owners face $150 in fines they fail to re-license their dogs prior to deadlines set by Animal Control after multiple requests to get it done, officials say.
Three NewCanaanite.com newshounds, L-R: Wilbur, Marvin and Russell Dinan. Credit: Michael Dinan
Now eight months late, the owners—one a Wellesley Drive woman with two Labrador retrievers, the other a Valley Road woman who has a Jack Russell terrier and toy poodle—will be fined $75 per dog if they don’t re-license by Feb. 13 and 19, respectively, said Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt.
Dog owners are to renew their pets’ licenses each year by July 1 (new residents who have dogs get 30 days after moving in to obtain a license). Dog owners can renew licenses online and it costs $8 per spayed or neutered animal.
The town assesses a $1 per month add-on fee for each month a dog owner is late in renewing. Kleinschmitt and the Animal Control unit’s officers now are going door-to-door in New Canaan, to those homes where they’ve had dog licensed in the past but haven’t renewed.
As of this week, 65 dog owners were on the delinquent list, Kleinschmitt said. If they’re unable to contact homeowners, the officers leave notices on their door, she said.
Kleinschmitt said she may pursue the more substantial fine if she sees a resident’s unlicensed dogs (as she did in these cases) and repeated written requests to renew go ignored.
For example, in the case of the Labrador owner, Kleinschmitt said she left a postcard reminder for the resident on Jan. 6 and nearly a full month later, on Feb. 3, the dog’s license still had not bee renewed.