Only 19 dogs are registered under the city's dangerous and vicious dog ordinance, officials recently said.
The ordinance, which was passed by Wheeling City Council in January 2006, requires a number of particular breeds of dogs to be registered with the city and to meet other requirements. The breeds include Canary dogs and any Staffordshire bull terrier or American pit bull terrier.
The cost of registering with the city is $5 per dog, yet according to the city's finance department only 19 are currently registered.
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All dogs considered dangerous or vicious under the city’s dog ordinance must be registered with the city. Only 19 dogs have been registered with the city since 2006.
"My guess would be that number is low," said Wheeling Police Chief Robert Matheny.
Matheny has called for heightened patrol and enforcement of the dog ordinance after two people were attacked by a pair of dogs from the same address on Wheeling Island in July. The incident was the second involving the owner of those dogs. She has been cited for the attacks and is going through court proceedings for the first attack.
Since that time, Matheny said his officers have issued six citations after hearing concerns from the community. He added the department welcomes information provided from residents if they feel they are in danger.
"We are having our community action teams identify dogs in their normal course of patrol," he said. "We also have received a number of call-ins of locations to check that may have unregistered dogs."
In addition to taking note of potential unregistered dogs, officers and community members are also on the lookout for other violations of the dog ordinance. The extensive list requires all vicious dogs to be kept on a leash and muzzled whenever they are outside a pen of walls that are at least 6 feet high. The owner must have proper signage informing the public of the dog at their home, and the dog must be spayed or neutered with proof provided to the city manager's office within 30 days of registering.
Owners must maintain $100,000 of liability insurance for any injuries the dog may cause. Fines of $500 per day are to be imposed on the owners for failing to register the dogs, and fines are to be $250 per day for the other violations. Matheny said he believes the ordinance is necessary and stressed the intention is not to restrict residents from owning dogs.
"There has to be some type of safeguard in place," he said. "We want residents to do the right thing and comply, and if they do that we have no problem with having these dogs in the city."
Matheny said the department wants to take a more proactive approach to enforcing the dog ordinance rather than waiting until the next incident occurs.
"Our main goal is to educate the public on it and make sure they are in compliance," he said.