Gone to the Dogs

Los Angeles officials say they don't know how many unlicensed dogs the city has. But if the owners of each one pays the $15 fee for a sterilized dog or the $100 to $220 mandated for an unfixed dog, they say the city could reap millions of dollars. So they have ordered the Department of Animal Services and the Department of Water and Power, which keeps a database of homes with dogs for meter readers, to team up and ferret out as many unlicensed dogs as they can and get their owners to pay up.