ASHLAND — Ashland County commissioners and the deputy tapped to perform dog warden duties answered questions about the dog shelter Thursday, ranging from euthanasia to trucks to licensure.
Ashland County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Curtis Hall — the man tapped to perform dog warden duties in the absence of an official, appointed warden — said he has helped resolve 179 dog licenses since taking the extra workload on July 1.
“I believe the shelter is vital to our community and our community’s values,” Hall said. “But it needs money to operate.”
One of the shelter’s primary revenue stream — 84% — are dog license renewals. In May, an Ashland Source investigation found 943 dog licenses hadn’t been renewed in 2024, which amounts to a $33,948 shortfall.
Since July 1, Hall said he has resolved 179 of those dog licenses. That number, he said, includes duplicate licenses, deceased dogs and renewals.
Hall said he worked with officials to send 919 letters earlier this month out to dog owners who appeared on the list of 943. There are 8,354 registered dogs in Ashland County as of Thursday, according to figures provided by the county auditor’s office.
That means 11.1% of dogs are unlicensed today.
Since sending the letter, Hall and the auditor’s office — the entity that tracks dog licensures across the county — have received multiple calls.
Ashland County Auditor Cindy Funk said her office keeps track of all dog ownership across the county. Dogs that die also need to be recorded, she said. So as officials have tackled resolving the list of 943 licenses, they’ve found that some dog owners’ pets have died.
And they didn’t know that death needed to be reported to the auditor’s office, Funk said.
Sometimes duplicates happen, too. Funk said one year a wife may renew a license. The next year, the husband might do it. The county’s system counts that as two renewals, even if it was for the same dog.
Hall said he’s responded to 55 calls since July 1, and he’s investigated one animal-abuse case. None of them have resulted in citations.
Euthanasia — an update
The Ashland County Dog Shelter Advisory Committee sent commissioners policy amendment recommendations in early June. The policies up for debate are found in a controversial policy handbook commissioners ratified without public input in January.
The 29-page document, entitled the Ashland County Dog Shelter Rules and Regulations, contains policies meant to guide operations of the shelter. One of the rules, however, sparked public outcry because it requires dogs to be euthanized when they’ve been housed at the shelter for more than a year.
Advisory recommendations and amendments include:
- deletion of the clause “dogs that have been at the shelter for more than one year will be euthanized
- require dog owners to show proof of ownership when picking up a stray
- establish a schedule or guidelines for administration of dewormer medicine
- establish a list of drugs the shelter would use in certain medical circumstances
The above recommendations have not been voted upon by the commissioners.
When asked when or if the commissioners would vote on the advisory’s recommendations, commissioner Denny Bittle said they would in August.
“I felt we needed to get the dog warden situation taken care of … I didn’t feel that I had enough information at that point,” he said. Bittle said he’d like Deputy Hall to be in his new position for a month before policies are discussed.
Is the Ashland County Dog Shelter a ‘no-kill shelter?’
Bittle said the term “no-kill shelter” is deceiving, because it doesn’t mean the dog shelter abstains from euthanizing.
“That has never meant and will never mean that no dogs have ever been euthanized at that facility,” he said.
Instead, Bittle said, “no-kill” means a dog shelter only euthanizes 10% or less of its population in a given year.
Commissioner Jim Justice said housing animals for years in cages is not humane.
“I don’t know of any government-operated shelters that can do that,” he said of never euthanizing a dog. Especially considering the occasional presence of nuisance or vicious dogs.
“I’m sorry. It sounds great that you can keep dogs forever. But there are certain dogs that have to be put down. And I don’t believe it’s fair to the dogs to keep them in cages forever and a day until they die. For the taxpayer dollar and the dog,” he said.
Justice said the “most humane thing to do” would be to euthanize a dog rather than let it be caged forever.
Having said that, he doesn’t want to see any dogs euthanized. He said the main goal should be finding it a new home.
“We will do our best as a shelter to make sure that those dogs find a home. And if we cannot find them a home, we are left with no alternative in my mind,” Justice said.
Truck proceeds
Justice addressed a concern that commissioners sold the dog warden truck and kept the funds.
“The sheriff picked up the truck. It’s a pickup truck that’s bigger and we’re using the money to equip the truck for the deputy to cage the animals and get the appropriate lights and signs,” he said.
Empty front space update
The new dog shelter has 3,600 square-feet of unfinished space at the front of the building. Commissioners have said they hope a veterinarian or other related entrepreneur will move into the space.
Moving in, however, would require investing thousands of dollars — and then renting from the county. Bittle said a veterinarian moving into that space would likely spend up to $500,000 to renovate it up to spec to run an animal hospital.
Despite the hefty upfront costs, Bittle is confident the right veterinarian will move into the space.
“We can lease that at way-lower market rates with an agreement they will help us take care of our dogs. That’s the whole intention. I will tell you that they can lease that over a 20 to 30 year period way cheaper then they could build a building today,” Bittle said.
Commissioner Justice said he’s open to anybody renting the space, now that it’s sat empty for months. He said they are working with Tiffany Meyer, a real estate broker, to find a tenant.
Meyer was not immediately available to comment.
Growing pains
Discussing the dog shelter took the majority of Thursday’s meeting.
Before concluding, Justice said he appreciates people’s comments.
“We’re always trying to make this a better situation, not worse,” he said. “There are growing pains and I hope people will accept that as growing pains, not a complete insult and that we don’t care about the dogs.”
Bittle agreed.
“If we didn’t care for dogs we wouldn’t have built a multi-million dollar facility,” Bittle said. “Taking care of the dogs is an important part of the economic and the wellbeing of our county and the constituents.”