§ 6-1.04. Dog licenses required.

(a)

First offense. Any person, other than a person referred to in subsection (b) of this section, who harbors an unlicensed dog shall be guilty of an infraction punishable as provided by statute of Section 6-1.205 Coalinga Municipal Code.

(b)

Subsequent offense. Any person having been convicted under the immediately preceding subsection who, within five (5) years after said conviction again harbors an unlicensed dog shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable as provided by law.

(c)

Exemptions. The preceding subsections of this section shall not apply to:

(1)

Dogs whose owners have been present in the City for thirty (30) days or less, but only so long as said dogs remain in the care and custody of a responsible person;

(2)

Dogs which are held for sale as the inventory of or patients in a properly licensed kennel, pet store, dog dealer, or veterinary hospital or clinic;

(3)

Guide dogs properly trained to assist blind persons if such dogs are actually being used by blind persons to assist them in moving from place to place;

(4)

Signal dogs properly trained to assist deaf persons if such dogs are actually used by deaf persons to aid them in responding to sounds;

(5)

Service dogs trained to assist in fulfilling the particular requirements of a physically disabled person including but not limited to minimal protection work, rescue work, pulling a wheelchair or fetching dropped items;

(6)

Dogs especially trained to assist officials or government agencies in performance of their duties and which are owned by such agencies.

Nothing in this section shall be considered so as to exempt any dog from having a current rabies vaccination.

(§ 1, Ord. 666, eff. April 6, 2002)