The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-03-23

somebody picks You up on some of |
these duties not performed
So far we have learned in general |
that dog laws have been laxly enforced, |
and specifically that dog not licensed
and eollared according to law shall be
killed. The law says, Section 6726,
that any person may, and all officers
shall, kill such dogs wherever found.
Now what is a legal collar? Not just
piece of rope or an old holdback
strap The collar must bear the name
of the owner or keeper of the dog, also
the license number. How many dogs
wear that kind of a collar2 Possibly
two or three out of every hundred.
Just one more little kirk in the
law that lots of you people are letting
slip by without your attention, and
it may cost you more sometime than it
would to pay for a license. The law
exempts from the license fee a dog
that is under four weeks of age on
April |, but-now dom miss that
"but when that dog gets to be four
| months old you must buy license for
him within ten days or else lay yourself
li4ble to fine for keeping an unli-
censed dog. Many of you have been
letting the pups get along without a
license until the next April l, but it is
! a dangerous practice. An amendment
to Section 6720 provides that the town
clerk shall report to the states at
torney on May 90 of each year I list
of all dogs licensed for the first time.
/ Whenever you want to post up on
the exact text of our numerous dog
laws read the various appropriate sec
lions in the General Laws, the big law
book, and then read the acts of the
last session and note the changes. 1t
will be time well spent. We are all
too prone to go by guess in whole
lot of important matters, such as those
appertaining to dogs, etc, but it is
better to be sure than to be sorry.
As | remarked before, Vermont has
, enough dog laws on hand already tt
| get along with without making add
tions for several years to come. espec
tally if all the town officials who have
duties to perform in connection there
, with will Just see that said duties arr
) performed but if they, as in some in
stances, continue to neglect said du
> ties. some of the people who are no
f town officials will begin. to feel lik
, doing some law enforcing themselves
Section 6,726, for one, gives the gen
eral public authority to act, and
| diligent search might reveal other sec
lions that could be brought into use.
/ There are still left few sheep
raisers who think more of their WOOL
o proteges than they do of dogs, espec
: tally unlicensed mongrels, and there ar
also, few humane people who dislik
to stand and see pack of ours pu
+ down deer in the season of dee
= SHOWS, when weather conditions a
favor the dog and are all against tn
f deer. If you own dog and thin
a enough of him to buy him right
# live. spend few cents more for a L
). gallv marked collar as a further PR
e lection. If you think enough of yor
70 dog to license him you should thin
1 enough of him to keep him at HON
. at least most of the time. Permittin
t him to wander about at win and RI
o with pack of ours is a sure method {
!. spelling him, and he may get into mi
re- chief and cost you fine or else ia
y to come home from some maraudir
h trip Bad company is as bad for do
in as it is for boys.
Il | remain, yours for good dog,
,e censed, legally collared, and giv'
if good care.
# E. H. METCALF.
pr Brattleboro. March %.