To own a dog, you should have to pass a licence

Brain wrote this article - the counter argument about WHY is there an outcry about dog fees....

Animal champion Bob Kerridge is outraged that good dog owners like himself face a huge rise in Auckland Council dog registration fees, to help pay for the sins of bad dog owners.

Yesterday as I handed over $287.75 to license my well-behaved car, I wondered if the SPCA boss could be persuaded to broaden his campaign to include law-abiding motorists as well. After all, the biggest chunk of the car licence fee was for accident compensation. Why should I be paying to rehabilitate the hoons who smash themselves up any more than Mr Kerridge should pay for prosecuting errant dog owners?

(...)

For those about to lose their dog owner licence discount, the proposed leap in fees is huge. For a de-sexed dog, the fee jumps from $47 to $120, for an "entire" dog, $53 to $160. MORE reading in between the lines>>

What Brian forgets to think about is.... why do other countries NOT have FEES or have VERY LITTLE fees to own a dog.
For example, in Ottawa, Canada (my birthplace)

Description	Cost
for each dog/cat 6 months of age or older, which is sterilized and microchipped:	$17
for each dog/cat under 6 months of age, which is microchipped:	$17
for each dog/cat 6 months of age or older, which is sterilized but, not microchipped:	$23
for each dog/cat under 6 months of age, which is not microchipped:	$23
for each dog/cat 6 months of age or older, which is microchipped but, not sterilized:	$23
for each dog/cat 6 months of age or older, which is neither sterilized nor microchipped:	$40
for each dog whose owner has been convicted of permitting the dog to bite or attack, without provocation, a person or domestic animal	$103
for each service animal:	free
for each replacement of a lost identification tag:	free

HOWEVER,
I know that people will say, but Ottawa has a bigger population than Auckland. REALLY? Google it!


NOW,
What my beef is... is that when your dog does get lost, they put her/him in the pound, instead of giving you a ring and saying that they found your dog. I mean, they are all microchipped aren't they? They all have their ID on them, so why not just drive them home! 


You will say... BUT THEY AREN'T a TAXI SERVICE! 
For $150, what the hell do you get for your money?


* is there a percentage of your dog fees going towards research ?
* does the city council offer free dog talks by experts in the fields ? (using positive methods only.... take those dog rollers out of here Ie the alpha stance)
* does the city council give discount vouchers for doing the right thing and get dog owners out there doing a dog sport?
* dog education for kids?? using volunteers (educated ones) to conducts school programmes. Check out the Victoria Government dog education programme.


Oh, and by the way, Rodney Hide PROMISED dog owners at the Conference that he attended, that part of the money that is collected goes towards research in our DOG PoLiCiES around the country. The laws around dogs that they implemented in government-- ARE THEY WORKING? are the number of dog bites reducing?