Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-10
Every Day Is Bargain Day at the Pound
For Those Who Are Shopping for Pets

IF you want a dog for a family
pet, YOU can sometimes get
pure-bred animal worth perhaps
Il % times the price you will pay at
the District pound, near the end
of South Capitol street.
Occasionally WashinGtonians have
obtained pedigreed pets from the
poundmaster at So apiece. If YOU
visit animal stores and dog farms
and inquire the prices of registered
bulldogs, poodles, Airdales, Pekingese,
fox terriers, settlers and other elite
members of dogdom society, you will
find that it takes at least a. $50 bill
to purchase much of an animal. The
range is from around $50 or $40 to
several hundred or even 81 900.
Every day is bargain day in dog
sales at the pound. The price of 81
an animal is arbitrarily established by
District law for the sale of lost and
stray dogs to new masters. If you are
lucky, you may happen to visit the
pound in search of a dog pet at a
time when there are several pure bred
specimens in duress, awaiting reclama
ton by old masters or purchase by
new owners.
Washington is one of the best
policed cities in the world, so far as
the care, confinement and disposal of
stray dogs is concerned. You can
search National Capital boulevards
and alleys until you tire and even
then you will not find any ownerless,
unlicensed dogs prowling around. The
laws and regulations are efficiently
enforced. The city on the basis of
its size and dog population, is com.
paratively free of canine sufferers
afflicted with rabies, which run amucl5,
biting school children and adults. An
effective street patrol system combs
our highways and cross streets daily,
rounds up the wandering "bowsers,"
and transports them to the pound
The nets of the dog catcher are in
discriminate. The champion collies
of congressman, the prize settlers of
Senators, the bulldogs and Airdales
of cabinet members and even the
Presidents pet puppy, on occasion,
are shared by the stray-dog police
men and incarcerated in the District
prison for wandering pups" Agi-
tated owners are subsequently, sum-
| moned to the gaol to bail out" their
pets. Canine bondsmen there are
none such. If the owner does not
appear within As hours after his pet
is caught by the District dog hunt
ers. the animal becomes the property
of the District of Columbia. The
poundmaster is then authorized by
law to find a new home for the ami
NAL or TO destroy it as he sees fit.
The legal restrictions prohibit the
sale of these animals for scientific,
experimental or vivisectional pur-
| poses.
If the owner appears to claim his
| pet before the redemption time limit
has expired. he, can secure possession
of the dog by paying fee of 81 and,
perhaps, an additional tax of another
| 81 bill for license, If the animal
| is not already registered on District
records for that year
| 1t is indeed a strange procession
| which Scurries to the pound in quest
Of pets which have been stolen or
| lost, or which have strayed from
| home. Children in tears come to re-
claim their faithful four legged play
mates. Chauffeurs of WashinGton's
social set, national lawmakers and
Federal leaders, social secretaries of
wealthy employers and even secret
service men from the White House
municipal dog kennels. All have
| travelled that way, rescuing the lost
l dogs of the great and great.
! The poundmaster's records are
filled with interesting. pathetic, conf
cal and even romantic tales of lost
| pets found again." The telephone at
| the pound is busy most of the time.
| Calls come from all parts of the Dis
trict. from anxious owners who have
lost dogs, cats, goats, horses, mules
and even grunting representatives of
the porcine species. Washington's
! lost and found" department for pets
J is replete in anecdotes and amusing
| experiences.
| 1t is not sinecure to round up
$40 lost and wanderiry "boWwoWs"
and other stray animals a year, to
find new homes for about one-half
that total, and to destroy the rest.
Once q valuable Mexican chufoo,
pint size dog that weighed less
than one pound. was caught as
| stray On another occasion, a
| st. Bernard, weighing as much as
the average man, occupied a pen for
a day or so, until his owner appeared
! to claim the heavyweight"
| Today there are more than 5000
dogs licensed as pets in the Wash
! tngton section. Many of these lose
their tags in fights or play. The
animals rank as legitimate prey for
the dog catcher's truck when 1t
passes that way. Then there are the
ALLEY rats and ordinary 'slop
hounds lance Adventures of
dogdom. They live by their wits