There are 1,355 dogs in the City of Manteca.

Based on the national average of dog ownership per household, there are likely more than 13,000 dogs in Manteca.

And if you have an unlicensed dog and it happens to run off and ends up at the animal shelter, you’re probably going to wish you had the dog licensed.

A license costs $20 a year for a spayed or neutered dog. With a two-year license, it drops the annual fee down to $15.

Getting a dog license has value.

First, and foremost, the city knows who to contact so you can retrieve your pet.

At the same time, your hit in the pocketbook will be significantly less.

There is a $40 impound fee. You have to pay the license fee — plus a $20 penalty. The license fee for unsterilized dogs is $50.

And every day beyond the first the dog is impounded there is a $10 daily charge

That means with a fixed dog in the shelter for a day or less there is a $40 charge to retrieve them. If the dog is not licensed, it jumps to $80.

Interim Police Chief Stephen Schluer noted there is another advantage for having your dog licensed if it gets loose and is picked up by an animal control officer.

“First they will scan the microchip when they pick up the dog in the field,” Schluer said. “They will then make an effort to return the dog to their owner by going to that address.”

If you are home when they do so, there are no charges.

Dog licenses are also a way for the city to get compliance with a potentially serious health issue — rabies.

In order to be licensed, dogs need to have proof of having received the rabies vaccine.

Worldwide, 69,000 people a year die from rabies. In the United States that number is down to one to three people a year from being in the hundreds back in 1900.

Rabies virus infection, regardless of whether it is from a dog bite of from wildlife bites is fatal in over 99% of cases.

As such, it is one of the world's most deadly diseases.

Given there is no treatment once signs or symptoms of the disease begin, and the disease is fatal in humans and animals within one of two weeks of the onset of symptoms after  someone is bitten by a suspected rabid animal they are advised strenuously to start treatment.

The post bite rabies treatment alone costs more than $3,000

Between 40,000 and 50,000 people get such treatments after being bitten by potentially rabid animals based on data collected by the Centers for Disease Control.

There are roughly 5,000 animal cases of rabies annually in the United States.

Stepping up public education such as the importance of getting animals fixed and licensed is part of a re-commitment the City of Manteca has undertaken in recent months to work with the community to improve the lot of animals thanks to impetus from the nonprofit Better World Animal Rescue.

The group in making their case to city leaders and volunteering at the shelter have gotten a number of new initiatives started.

They include:

*A fostering program for dogs so that when the animal shelter reaches capacity and a rescue organization can not be secured to take a healthy adoptable animal they will have a place to stay temporarily to avoid having to be euthanized due to a kennel space shortage.

*Implementing a volunteer program where people can take dogs out for walks to avoid developing kennel stress that can make them unadoptable.

*Working on a trap and release endeavor where feral cats are captured, fixed, and released back into the neighborhood they were taken from.

*Arranging for low-cost neutering and spaying services.

*Increasing the hours for a part time kennel assistant to provide some time that they can work with rescue groups to take healthy dogs that are in danger of being euthanized when the length of stay at the shelter runs up against space needs.

In a typical year, the animal shelter receives 1,519 calls for services regarding loose animals and such.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com