If you have a dog and a computer, you’ve probably heard that the NYC Dog Licensing System has moved online.  Well, it’s about time!!  What most of the press releases failed to mention is how the old manual system in complete disarray… 

Oscar’s Dog License expired in March - when I hadn’t received my renewal form by the beginning of March, I called 311 to check on it.  I was informed that they were 3 months behind schedule and not to worry about it - but of course, my overactive imagination had Oscar being dragged away by the dog-catcher…long story short - I sent O’s dog license form back the day after it arrived and finally got his new license at the end of July.  And of course, it doesn’t expire in July ‘09 - but Mar ‘09.   So, I get to do it all over again in 8 months…

Hopefully this new online system will solve the backlog and make the process a whole lot less annoying. 

I have one other pet peeve about NYC Dog Licensing - a few years ago, I had it in my head that I wanted to open my own Dog Bakery (even though I had no experience in either baking or running my own business).  I contacted the NYC Department of Health, who own dog licensing for the city, and requested information on dog ownership by neighborhood (so that I could decide where I should locate my bakery) and I was politely told that they don’t give out the information. 

A friend later pointed out that something called the Freedom of Information Act should require them to provide that information upon request - does anyone know what if that’s true?  Not that I’m still contemplating the dog bakery…