It sure is a dog's life...

[terbang]

We have a dog, a black labrador bitch called Cantik. She is a most esteemed and respected member of our family. Today we were out for most of the day and on arrival home (5:30pm) we noticed that she was missing. She is kept on a dog proof property and also doesn't roam, so it got some alarm bells ringing. A sweep around the neighbours only drew shrugs of 'havent seen her today' and various searches revealed nothing. On retrieving the mail I found a notification from the Franklin Council that she had been impounded for not being registered along with a number to ring. What, when was that due? Umm have we had a reminder or do they bill us or what? I ring the number and its an after hours one and they don't deal with dogs, 'ring back at 8am' is the lame reply. Kids and mum crying "Cantiks in jail" along with all sorts of crisis and stress. Try the number again and any other number associated with the council, either an answer machine or "sorry don't do dogs" and thats it, the brick wall! Dive into the records to see when she was due, can't find anything, no reciept, no reminder, no nothing. However it would be fair to say that we could have easily overlooked the registration fee. And being our responsibility that will be our mistake. However one certainly has to question the neighbourly and community spirit of a local council that will just pitch up to your property, unannounced when you are not there and impound a member of your family for an overdue payment. Perhaps a friendly (or even a rude one for that matter) reminder in the mail that you may have overlooked your dog registration. We pay out rates on time, ensure our cattle are drenced and tagged and just try to do the right thing. So am I being a little precious, in asking for at least a gentle reminder of our dogs registration being due (every one else seems to do so) or should I just harden up and be thankful for the priveledge of living in Franklin..?

[chanceyy]

feel for you Terbang,



when I was younger we had a dog ranger come to our house to uplift our dog .. I was only 11 & was scared shitless when he demanded the dog .. my brother was 14 at the time & slammed the door in his face said she was registered & he could damn well come back when my olds were home

Needless to say when my mother got home & found out wot went on she was on the phone double quick smart & had quite a few words to say to to the dog ranger & his boss .. our dog was indeed registered & they had no right in trying to uplift the dog when adults were not present

[98tls]

Bloody shocking,forget phone calls mate i would be pretty tempted to go break him out of jail,hard to believe they can lawfully do that i would have thought.I get a reminder about a month before its due in the mail.I would be at least having a bit to say to them.

[ynot slow]

Hope like hell the dog took a nip out of the ranger,as he/she was uninvited on your property they can't do jack shit about the dog biting(nip)the ranger,as that is what dogs do.

We had similar problem when our dog was napped by ranger,he was on our front lawn(not fenced)but still on our section,the ranger was in the area after another dog,saw ours outside our fence and gate open(kids playing outside),but still on our property as our fence is square along the house.They called to him and he came up to them and jumped into the ute.By the time wife arrived they were leaving,she rang the council and was told come down with $60 or so to release him,this was about 4.30 on a Friday,I had cheque book at work,they wouldn't accept eftpos,so by the time she got to the pound they had closed for weekend,much annoyed we had to pay for two days food or supply a donation for his food,gave them a 15kg bag of tux crap,then we found he had an ear infection $40 vet later,to which the vet did say every dog at the pound gets one,back to council and nope won't reimburse vet bill.In a word if your honest citizen and dog isn't registered tough shit,if your a gang member and dogs are annoying neighbours they won't do jack shit,along with fact said dogs are never registered,let alone chipped or neutered,moral is be a bad ass no hoper on the dole,no money to pay can't be fucked attitude works.

[janno]

Seems a bit heavy handed!

Don't know what it is about councils, they seem to throw the book at basically law abiding and responsible citizens and are fairly handsoff about the tough cases.

I had a Mongrel Mob guy live in the house behind me who left a dog tied to his drain pipe for days on end while he was out. Yes, she was fed and watered but this was Dunedin in winter and had no shelter. SPCA and council said "they were aware of the situation" but did nothing.

Dog mysteriously disappeared one day, and ended up at a lovely home several hundred kilometers away. A mate got sick of the dog's miserable crying and did a covert stealth operation one night. . . over 10 years ago now, the dog had a happy life after a pretty crappy start.

[Goblin]

Miserable pricks. They prolly only impounded her to get more money out of you. Dont know what your local council is like there but here it was $90 to get your dog out of the pound. Money grubbing mongrels those bloody councils!

Hope Cantik gets home with no problems.

[terbang]

Hope like hell the dog took a nip out of the ranger,as he/she was uninvited on your property they can't do jack shit about the dog biting(nip)the ranger,as that is what dogs do.

.

Yeah I wish too, but with this dog she would at worst, lick him to death...

[Jerms]

You folk must be gutted...

They better not try that with our little boy...my wife would go absolutely mental on their ass. He's definitely one of the family; well, he gets more love and affection than I do anyway...

Hope it gets sorted pronto and you are re-united with your loved one!

[MisterD]

Welcome the the socialist paradise of "Clarkesville" compliance costs and hidden taxes for the law-abiding...bugger all done about the real problems...

[ynot slow]

:

They better not try that with our little boy...my wife would go absolutely mental on their ass. He's definitely one of the family; well, he gets more love and affection than I do anyway...

Most guys say that as well,might be the dog is neutered,ours gave me the real evil look when he was home,much like the dog on "married with children"when Al and peggy suggested castration.

[sAsLEX]

Don't know what it is about councils, they seem to throw the book at basically law abiding and responsible citizens and are fairly handsoff about the tough cases.

Welcome to Aeoteroa, land of the long dark dole queue.......

[terbang]

Well the saga continued. 8 am this morning I'm onto the the phone and after wading through a whole bunch of front line phone answering type people I get hold of the manager, or close to it, of franklin dog control. He wasn't a bad bloke and was openly encouraging me to make a bit of noise above his head about how we had been treated as he clearly sees a flaw in the plan. It seems that they are reluctant to send out notices of license renewal and instead they advertise it in the local rag, which I rarely read. This is because there is an element of society that goes underground (along with their mutts) at the very hint of having to pay $80 for dog licensing, and yes these are clearly the type of owners and mutts that are generating all the angst that we regularly read about. So they end up beating up the wrong guy and the void between citizen and council continues to get bigger. The people, well this bloke anyway, on the coal face see this often and our dog control man profusely apologized for our stress and even waived some of the fees as a friendly gesture. Big kudos to a real person called Peter, who followed procedure with discretion.
Marginally placated, though still fuming, I proceed to the customer counter to pay my dog license so that I can get poor old Cantik her 'get out of jail ticket'. I can't have passed go or something because I am now faced with the original cornered ferret (mid forties council office worker) who, showing signs of previous abuse, though not being the sharpest knife in the draw either, offers her unsolicited opinion about the real responsibilities of being a dog owner. Never mind the fact that the dog is chipped, well disciplined in a loving environment, has a full and up to date medical history and is kept in a secure property. We even pick her shit up though it seems that what its really all about is the annual $80 fee, or so she believes. Jees these people that we pay to manage our affairs in the supposition that it is for the betterment of the community! Hah its a joke and she (obnoxious bimbo) is now featuring in the 'noise' I'm currently writing to her employers about dog impounding protocol and just being worthy community leaders ETC. There also has to be a less antagonistic way to remind someone that they missed their dog license payment.
Anyway, spleen venting over with, the nice side of the story is that Cantik is sprawled out on the carpet beside me, not a care in the world and sporting a nice new yellow tag on her collar.

[tri boy]

I hope Cantik peeed on the Bimbos lunch box.

[steveb64]

You should box up a few of those dog toffees you've been collecting - drop them off under one of the seats in the reception/waiting area. With a bit of luck, they'll think it's a bomb and blow it up...

[Patch]

What a fuggin farce - thats BS not sending out a bill, we're only one council uphill from you and we get one (bill).

What next? The IRD coming to impound ya kids cause the tax bill hasn't been paid.


Fuggin goobermint BS run by a pack of egotistical bastages.