A Short Rant

Last summer, about 4 days before we moved with the dogs to Norway, I got Honey's dog license renewal in the mail. Partly due to the insane stress I was under, and partly due to the fact that Honey was leaving the country later that week, I kind of forgot/ignored the letter. About a month in to our stay in Norway, I received a summons to go to court with a fine of $200 for failure to renew Honey's dog license (and a nasty letter about how failing to vaccinate my dog against rabies is a threat to public health). At this point, I saw red...you would not believe the veterinary hoops I jumped through to get the dogs to Norway. Not only had Honey (and Kermit) had their 3 year rabies shots less than 10 months before, but they had also had another 1 year rabies vaccine the previous month, in addition to having their rabies blood titer levels drawn (at $200 a test). I called the town clerk in my little village, slightly hysterical. Our town was tiny, only about 720 residents, and she immediately knew who I was and that I had moved to Norway. She was very reassuring on the phone, explaining that the local dog control officer was a tad overzealous, and that she would just explain to the judge and get the case dismissed. I thanked her profusely, breathed a sigh of relief and, assuming the dogs records would be expunged from the village computer system, forgot about the whole ordeal. A couple of months later, in December, I received a letter regarding Kermit's license renewal, along with a second, more threatening letter. (Our mail is forwarded to Kevin's company's U.S. office in Auburn, and then at the end of the week, forwarded on to us in Norway. Apparently the dog control officer fired off the second, more menacing letter after she heard no response from the first, but the 2 letters arrived together at our house.) Since we were planning to go back to New York for Christmas, I decided to drive down to our former town and straighten the whole dog mess out in person. Again, the town clerk remembered exactly who I was and laughed about how ridiculous it was that I would keep getting these license renewal letters. She also apologized for the nasty tone of the second letter, saying that the power-crazed dog control officer would sit in the office, firing off these letters and laughing to herself, saying "Gotcha!" The clerk promised me all would be taken care of, and wished me a merry Christmas. Again, I blithely assumed this whole fiasco was over, that everyone in my teeny village now knew that my troublesome dogs and I lived on a different continent, and that we would never hear from them again. I was wrong...I just got another letter in the mail regarding Honey's dog license renewal. I suppose I should call the village hall immediately and hopefully avoid another court summons. That should take care of the situation until, oh, about December when Kermit's license will again be due. (I know that being a dog control officer is a tough and very necessary job, but my little village is full of unlicensed dogs who run freely through town. I think this particular dog control officer's priorities should be a little more about educating all the irresponsible dog owners about proper canine care, and a little less about trying to collect $2.50 in licensing fees from dogs who live in Norway...I'm just saying.)