§ 4-68. License for dogs required, fees; issuance of dog license/tags; exception; records.

(a)

No owner shall keep, maintain or harbor an unlicensed dog over three months of age within the county except as provided herein. Tourists or transient owners keeping or maintaining a dog within the county shall not be required to obtain a license for said dog, if the dog does not run at large within the county and has a valid current license from a city, town or another county and is not kept or maintained within the county more than 30 consecutive days of each calendar year, and has a rabies vaccination certificate signed by a licensed veterinarian showing the vaccination of said dog has a useful term for at least the license period for which it shall be kept within the county.

(b)

The board of supervisors shall from time to time establish fees for dog licenses and terms of expiration. Dog licenses shall be deemed delinquent and subject to a late fee 90 days after the expiration of a previously valid license, after the owner has established residence in the county, or after the dog has attained the age of three months. No license fee shall be refunded nor shall the dog tags issued therewith be transferable to another dog.

(c)

It shall be the duty of each owner keeping or maintaining a dog over three months of age within the county to obtain a license from the county department of animal control upon acquiring ownership or possession of any unlicensed dog or upon establishment residence in the county.

(d)

The board of supervisors may set license fees that are lower for dogs permanently incapable of procreation. An applicant for a license for a dog claimed to be incapable of procreation shall furnish adequate proof, satisfactory to the county enforcement agent, that such dog has been surgically altered to be permanently incapable of procreation.

(e)

Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, the board of supervisors does not charge an individual who has a disability and who uses a service animal as defined in A.R.S. § 11-1024 or an individual who uses a search or rescue dog a license fee for that dog. An applicant for a license for a:

(1)

Search or rescue dog shall provide adequate proof satisfactory to the county enforcement agent that the dog is a search or rescue dog.

(2)

Service animal shall sign a written statement that the dog is a service animal as defined in A.R.S. § 11-1024. A person who makes a false statement pursuant to this subsection is guilty of a petty offense, and a fine that shall not exceed $50.00. The statement to be signed shall be substantially in the following form:

By signing this document, I declare that the dog to be licensed is a service animal as defined in A.R.S. § 11-1024, and I understand that a person who makes a false statement pursuant to A.R.S. § 11-1008 is guilty of a petty offense, and is subject to a fine that does not exceed $50.00.

(f)

No person shall fail, within 15 days after written notification from the county enforcement agent or deputies, to obtain a license for a dog required to be licensed, or counterfeit or attempt to counterfeit an official dog tag, or remove such tag from any dog for the purpose of willful and malicious mischief or place a dog tag upon a dog unless the tag was issued for the particular dog.

(g)

In the event that a metallic license tag issued for a dog shall be lost, the owner may obtain a duplicate tag upon the payment of the specified fee.

(h)

Upon the payment of the license fee, the county enforcement agent shall execute a receipt in duplicate. The county enforcement agent shall deliver the duplicate receipt to the person who pays the fee and retain the original. The county enforcement agent shall obtain a sufficient number of metal dog tags which shall be inscribed with the name of the county, the number of the license and the year for which it is valid, and shall deliver one such tag to the person when the license fee is paid.

(i)

The owner shall cause the tag to be affixed by a permanent metal fastening to the collar or harness of the dog so licensed, in such a manner that the tag may be easily seen by the county enforcement agent or deputies. It shall be the duty of the owner to see that the tag is constantly worn by the dog.

( Ord. No. 1994-01 , art. III, § 3, 11-15-1994)

State law reference

License for dogs, A.R.S. § 11-1008; anti-rabies inoculation required, A.R.S. § 11-1010.