Evening star., 1923-12-30

Every morning the motor truck OF
the dog police force leaves it's South
Capitol street headquarters for it's
| rounds of the Washington thorough
fares. All dogs found on the streets
that are not accompanied by their
owners or which do not wear license
tags on their collars are captured in
special nets and placed in the canine
patrol wagon. The screened truck
is divided into number Of ANAL
. compartments so that tho. dogs Of
different sizes, breeds and sexes may
be separated during their ride to the
canine jug"
X X
4 S a rule, there are usually forty
: to fifty dogs on hand at the
pound awaiting ths appearance OF
new owners. Some of these may be
under special observation. Others,
perhaps, are being treated for skin
diseases or other complaints. There
are two special hospital pens. where
the animals suffering with distemper
are treated Mr.. Smith does every
thing possible to cure the sick and
The District veterinarian visits the
pound daily, inspects the animals and
recommends curative measures and
medicinal treatment for the animals
that need such attention.
Fifty per cent of the dogs that are
house pets that are picked up be-
cause they have violated the local
laws in one way or another. The
rest of the animals are tramp and
streets dogs and slop hounds that
orowl from house to house and from
alley to alley in search of food
: The dogs are held in duress for
forty-eight hours at the pound, pend
ing the arrival of their owners. If
the owners appear during that Pc
riod they can obtain their pets by pay
paying 81 redemption fee per ami
NAL. If the dogs are not licensed
| the owners. first of all. have to OBJ
tain license tags at a cost of 50 an
animal
If, on the other hand, nobody ap-
! pears to claim the captive dogs at
the end Of forty-eight hours they
become the property of the District Of
Columbia. Then, at the discretion of
the poundmaster. the dogs may either
be destroyed or else sold for So apiece
to people who will treat them hu-
| namely. BY law the District pound-
master is prohibited from selling any
dogs for scientific, experimental or
vivisectional purposes.
When the dogs arrive at the pound
they are separated in pens according
to their sizes. ages, breeds and sex.
The vicious, biting dogs are placed in
separate individual cages. where they
are carefully watched. The dogs are
bathed and disinfected as the need
for such care and attention arises
The pens are most sanitary, being dis
infected regularly and cleaned out
daily. Shavings and bedding material
are placed in the pens daily. The
dogs are kindly and humanely treat
ed while in the charge of the pound
| master. Many OF them are handled
more kindly at the pound than they
are at their regular homes. valu-
able dogs that are NANCY or suffering
from distemper or other diseases tina I
take some time to cure are placed in
special hospital pens and painstak-
ingly doctored until they recover
There is no other pound in the
ington establishment in cleanliness,
sanitation and all-around efficiency.
Generally speaking, the better
class of people predominant among
the patrons Of the pound who pur-
chase pet dogs at that unusual source.
Poundmaster Smith devotes special
attention to the matter of securing
the best possible homes for the $500
70 5000 dogs that he sells annually
He will not sell dog to any person
who he thinks will not feed the ami
NAL properly or who will otherwise
abuse the dumb animal.
\ *4s x
GENERAL years ago Mr. Smith ha
an interesting experience with a
wealthy woman who came regularly
to the pound to buy dogs. To begin
with, she would purchase but one or
two dogs at time, saying that she
was going TO give them to her nieces
and nephews and their friends and
guaranteeing: in each case that the
dog would have good home. Gradu-
ally she increased the size of her
orders.
After she had purchased about fifty
dogs the poundmaster found out thai
she was merely purchasing liberty for
the animals. She would carry the
dogs away from the pound and either
give them to the first boys she. met
on the street or else just turn them
loose. This feally increased the work
of the dog, catchers, as usually sew
eral days later they would have to
recapture the same dogs that the
woman liberated. The poundmaster
ended this annoyance by refusing to
sell any more dogs to this particular
lady.
J The neat and clean kennels at the
District pound are handled jail style.
Each dog receives a number when
it arrives, and is placed in spe
cially numbered pen Thereafter. as
long as the animal remains in Mr..
Smiths care, a daily record of the
dogs history and responses to kind
ness and whatever medical treat
ment may be followed Is maintained.
The scientists of the national bureau
of animal industry here in Washing
ton perform post-mortem examina-
tions on the carcasses Of all rabid
dogs to supplement the findings and
, reports of the District veterinarian
Fresh. pure water is available to
the dogs at the pound at all times.
while their meals are specially pre-
pared. The dogs are fed twice daily,
the average allowance being hetwae en-