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A different attitude regarding stray dogs

Look Back: Historical newspaper excerpts from the Wood County Historical Society

Photo provided by Bernie Dowler The circa 1899 photo above shows a side of beef hanging at the grocery store beside the Single Tax Shoe House on Market Street. Displays of meats such as this were surely a draw for the apparent, numerous dogs that ran loose in Parkersburg.

The dog pelter and his wagon

The city of Parkersburg is going to have another wagon. It will be a dog wagon, not a wagon with dogs as locomotive power, but a wagon for the collection of untagged pups that are so merry and numerous in the city, and which much discussed legislation is trying to rid the city of.  The wagon is to be an ordinary affair with a wire screen in place of a top.  There will be a tailgate to the wagon, in the shape of a door through the screen, the dog pelter, as the spotter of untaxed canines is called, will shove his trophies through the door and drive on for more dogs.

The dog wagon will not be operative until next Monday morning.  It is intended that all dog owners shall have the chance to get licenses for their dogs to live within the city limits, and the time for the effectiveness of the new ordinance has been delayed in order that there will be further opportunity to those who have been slow in fixing up this discrepancy as between their dogs and the city collector.

Therefore, when next Monday morning rolls around and the dog pelter grabs the pet pug or the beloved mastiff, as the case may be, there will be no valid excuse that there had not been time to pay the tax and get a tag for the dog.

Who the dog pelter is to be is an unsettled question. There have been no bidders for the job up to date. One of the qualifications for the job will be ability to scrap. For there are some folks who say they will not pay the tax, and further more that their dogs will not be taken. That is a question that must be settled by force, as the law is on the side of the pelter. He will be expected to take untaxed dogs, no matter if he has to fight to do it. The men who say they will not pay the dog tax are the kind of folks who will fight for their dogs, so it is reasonable to suppose that the pelter will have several affairs on his hands. Professional knockers out of a job have a chance to find temporary employment.

The city authorities have been very lenient in this dog business.  All the notice possible has been given the tardy and objecting ones to the dog law. They must recognize that the law is a law whether they like it or not.

What disposition is to be made of the dog pelter’s collection has not been decided. It is possible that the dogs caught will be kept for a certain number of days, to allow the owners to get them by paying the tax and an additional impounding fee, and then the canine batch slaughtered by some method yet to be devised. Anyhow, it is to all come about a week from to-day.

The Parkersburg Daily State Journal

May 28, 1900

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The Wood County Historical Society works to preserve yesterday for tomorrow. For more information, contact P.O. Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102

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