Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia told a City Council budget hearing on Friday that her office has issued 4,100 dog licenses this year. The city has an estimated 650,000 dogs, or about one licensed dog in 158.
The line has fallen for a decade. Chicago issued 8,000 licenses last year, 18,000 in 2017 and 40,896 in 2013, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Price is not the obstacle: the fee has been frozen at $5 a year for a spayed or neutered dog, $50 for an intact one and $2.50 for seniors.
Valencia blames awareness. “People don’t know,” she said, and her office has no marketing budget to tell them. Ald. Brendan Reilly noted that the city’s Animal Care and Control hands about 10,000 dogs a year to adoption partners without a license attached.
What this means for your dog
Wherever you live, the tag does two jobs. In Chicago, and in most cities that require a license, you cannot get one without proof of a current rabies shot. That makes the tag a public health record, and it is the cheapest part of owning a dog.
The second job shows up when a gate gets left open. A license number is a phone number for your dog. It is why most lost dogs come home on the strength of a tag and a chip rather than a poster on a lamppost.
Chicago’s fine runs $30 to $200 for an unlicensed dog, though the city has rarely enforced it. Enforcement is not the reason to buy one. Getting a call from a neighbor instead of a night at the pound is.