Have bylaws gone to the dogs?

Toronto's taxes can influence the way way we live and work. Kristofer Baker reports on how dog-walking is heavily influenced by city bylaws and fees.

By:Kristofer Baker
Running a professional dog handling business is no walk in the park.

 Many dog walking companies, such as Dogtown Inc., will tell you there is a lot of red tape when it comes to handling pets professionally.

 Judy Frutado is a professional handler who helped start Dogtown.  She believes The City of Toronto created a set of unnecessary challenges for those looking to launch and maintain a dog walking company.

 According to Frutado, permits, insurance and legal fees are bylaws are all hurdles in maintaining a walking business

 City bylaws prohibit anyone from walking more than six dogs at time. Frutado believes this cap is unnecessary.

 “A dog walker is only allowed to walk six dogs at a time, which I think is pretty ridiculous. If you’re an experienced handler, you can handle more than six in my opinion.”           

 Any handler who wishes to walk more than three dogs at a time must have a permit. Frutado said acquiring one is a costly process.

“You have to be registered by the City in order to walk six dogs in a public park, which is a 200 dollar annual fee.” Frutado said In order to get registration, you have to be insured by an insurance group and have at least 1 million dollar liability.”

 Mike Gorman has worked in waste management and customer service for the cities of Toronto and North York for 25 years. He said City Hall establishes permit requirements for necessary reasons.

“Most laws and bylaws especially are put in place not necessarily for the tax increase or the purpose of it or to gain a fee from something,” Gorman said. “They’re typically there because of an issue that has happened and the city has to bring that in.”

 The representative for 311 said incidents with dog walkers happened in the past and the city responded by implemented requirements to make the job safer.

 “Maybe they weren’t taking control of the dogs, somebody complained, by law officers went out and investigated and over certain amount of time found that individuals were walking up to maybe 10, 12 dogs at a time.” Gorman said.

 Frutado said Dogtown has access to a private park and has never had an incident where their dogs have ever been a danger.

“If you are an experienced handler, you know how to control your dogs,” Frutado said.

 Many dog walking businesses use a screening process to ensure they are not handling dogs who threaten the safety of animals or humans around them.

 “As a walker you are going to do an assessment period with your clients,” Frutado said. “So you’re going to do your due diligence. We’re not taking a dog with aggression and if I do encounter one, my first recommendation would be for the person to see a trainer.”

 Walkers have to ensure every pet they accept is registered with the City of Toronto.  Frutado said walking an unlicensed dog has consequences.

 “If you get caught by a bylaw officer walking dogs that aren’t registered with the city, the walker can take a charge for the dog not being registered,” Frutado said. “That can start at about 200 dollars a fine.”

 Frutado doesn’t understand the rationale behind dog walking and pet licensing fees.

 “I don’t particularly think I agree with them,” Frutado said. “Governments are already taxing us through the teeth.”

 Many pet owners like Frutado question where the licensing money goes.

 “I guess in my mind I can hope that the money is going for a good cause like animal services helping abused and neglected animals,” Frutado said.

 Eletta Purdy is a Manager at Toronto Animal Services. She says licensing and permit fees imposed by the City stay in the animal services sector.

 "It’s not put into the general city revenue accounts. It goes straight to animal services.” Purdy said. “So that allows us to do many things like returning lost pets to owners and supporting sheltering and sterilization of our adoption animals.”

 Purdy said licensing fees are necessary for the efficiency and effectiveness of Toronto Animal Services.

 “The primary purpose of licensing is for us to have an accurate database that allows us to connect you with your dog, should it go missing,” Purdy said. “So we can quickly and safely as possible get the pet back to you.”

 Purdy suggested more people would accept fees if they better understood their purposes.

 “Let me put it this way, there are many people out there that don’t recognize or are aware of where the funding goes and for what purpose.” Purdy said. “As we go along and inform people as to what it actually supports, the support for licensing increases.”