La Broquerie Council has given some teeth to an old bylaw on dog ownership.

La Broquerie dogs living in developed areas must be licensed every year.While failing to license a dog or having more than two dogs has always been frowned upon by the municipality, the penalties were vague at best. During their most recent meeting, however, Council voted to amend that. Monetary fines can now be imposed for non-compliance.

Effective immediately, the first time fine for failing to license a dog is $25 for a first offense, $30 for a second offense, $40 for a third offense, and $50 for every subsequent offense. Dogs in residential neighborhoods must be re-licensed every year.

Meanwhile, the initial fine for having more than two dogs is $150 for a first offense, $300 for a second offense, $500 for a third offense, and $1,000 for every subsequent offense.

Reeve Lewis Weiss says it is important to keep control of the municipal dog population.

“Every two weeks when I look at the report, dog concerns are, by far, the biggest time-consumer of our bylaw officer and that is unfortunate. If they wouldn’t have to do that they could probably do a lot of other things that need to get done.”