[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Saratoga as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 7-14-1997 by L.L. No. 1-1997; amended in its entirety 7-9-2001 by L.L. No. 2-2001]
It shall be unlawful for any person owning or harboring any dog in the Town of Saratoga to permit or allow such dog to:
A. 
Run at large anywhere other than the premises of the owner or custodian, unless said dog shall be on a leash, or unless it be upon the premises of another person with the knowledge and consent of such person. For the purpose of this article, a dog or dogs hunting in company with a hunter or hunters shall be exempt from this leash requirement.
[Amended 3-8-2004 by L.L. No. 1-2004]
B. 
Engage in habitual howling or barking or to conduct itself in such a manner as to habitually annoy any person other than the owner or person harboring such dog. For purposes of this section, a dog shall be considered to engage in "habitual howling and barking" when such dog howls or barks for repeated intervals of at least 15 minutes with less than four minutes of interruption, which can be heard by any person, including a law enforcement officer or Dog Control Officer, from a location outside of the owner's or custodian's premises.
[Amended 3-8-2004 by L.L. No. 1-2004]
C. 
Cause damage or destruction to the property of or commit a nuisance upon the premises of a person other than the owner or person harboring such dog, such nuisance to include, but not be limited to, the dumping, knocking over or tearing open of garbage bags or receptacles or the depositing of fecal matter or urine on such property of another.
[Amended 4-13-2009 by L.L. No. 4-2009]
D. 
Chase or otherwise harass any person in such manner as to reasonably cause intimidation or to put such person in reasonable apprehension of bodily harm or injury.
E. 
Habitually chase or bark at motor vehicles.
F. 
Habitually annoy or harass domestic animals.
Any dog found at large in violation of § 158-1A of this article may be seized by the Dog Control Officer of the Town of Saratoga, confined and impounded.
Any dog impounded under the provisions of this article shall be confined in accordance with the NYS Agriculture and Markets Law and may be redeemed by the owner upon payment to the Town Clerk or the Dog Control Officer of those sums set forth in the Agriculture and Markets Law. Any dog not so redeemed shall at the option of the Control Officer be made available for adoption or euthanized. Proceedings shall be in accordance with the provisions of § 118 of the Agriculture and Markets Law.
[Amended 5-8-2006 by L.L. No. 4-2006 ]
This article shall not apply to the types of guide and service dogs set forth in Agriculture and Markets Law § 110, during such time as such a dog is performing the functions for which it is trained.
A Dog Control Officer to be appointed by the Town of Saratoga pursuant to the Agriculture and Markets Law may enforce the provisions of this article. The Dog Control Officer, observing a violation of this article or receiving non-hearsay information concerning a violation, shall issue and serve an appearance ticket to the violator.
[Amended 5-8-2006 by L.L. No. 4-2006 ]
A violation against this article shall be deemed an offense against this article. At the Town's discretion, such violation may be prosecuted as a violation under the Penal Law or as an action to recover civil penalties, and any person convicted of a violation shall be punishable as set forth in § 119, Subdivision 2, of the Agriculture and Markets Law. Upon presentation of proof of payment of the fine or penalty, the Dog Control Officer is authorized to release any dog impounded to its owner after receipt of the redemption fee set forth in § 158-3 of this article.
There is hereby imposed an additional local enforcement fee of $2.50 to be added as a surcharge to the dog license fee as collected by the Town Clerk, which fee shall be used for enforcement of this article.
[Adopted 11-4-2010 by L.L. No. 3-2010]
All dogs in the Town of Saratoga must be licensed with the Town Clerk by the age of four months, and a current certificate of rabies is required to be presented at the time of licensing or the renewal of an existing license. All dog licenses will be for a period of one year and will expire at the end of the month one year from the date of issue.
The fee for a spayed or neutered dog will be $6 (which includes the assessment of a surcharge of $1 for the NYS Animal Population Control Fund), and the fee for an unspayed or unneutered dog will be $13.00 (which includes the assessment of a surcharge of $3 for the NYS Animal Population Control Fund). Such fees may be reviewed by the Town Board periodically and may be changed by a resolution of the Town Board, if deemed necessary. These license fees shall be waived for any guide dog, service dog, hearing dog or detection dog. When the Town Board determines the need for a dog enumeration, a fee of $5 will be assessed to all dogs found unlicensed at the time the enumeration is conducted. Should license tags be lost or stolen, there will be a replacement fee of $3.
The Town of Saratoga will not be issuing purebred or kennel licenses. All dogs will be licensee individually as per fee system stated above.
All dog licenses may be purchased or renewed by visiting the Town offices, or be renewed by regular mail. If renewing a license by mail, the appropriate fee must accompany the forms. There will be no refund of fees. The Town of Saratoga will contract with the Saratoga County Animal Shelter for the issuance of licenses for dogs adopted from the shelter by residents of the Town.
All fees collected will be used in funding the administration of this article and the enforcement of any other local law enacted pursuant to NYS Agriculture and Markets Law relating to dogs.
Any person convicted of a violation of this article shall be liable for a civil penalty of $25 for a first violation; of $50 for a second violation and $75 for each subsequent violation.