Ideally, this breed-neutral scheme should include the following:

• <img>Enhanced enforcement of dog license laws, with adequate fees to augment animal control budgets and surcharges on ownership of unaltered dogs to help fund low-cost pet sterilization programs in the communities in which the fees are collected. To ensure a high licensing rate, Calgary, Canada—its animal control program funded entirely by license fees and fines—imposes a $250 penalty for failure to license a dog over three months old.
  
• Enhanced enforcement of leash/dog-at-large laws, with adequate penalties to ensure that the laws are taken seriously and to augment animal control funding.
  
• Dangerous dog laws that are breed-neutral and focus on the behavior of the individual dog, with mandated sterilization and microchipping (or another permanent identification) of dogs deemed dangerous, and options for mandating muzzling, confinement, adult supervision, training, owner education and, in aggravating circumstances—such as when the owners cannot adequately control the dog or where the dog causes unjustified injury—euthanasia. In Multnomah County, Oregon, a breed-neutral ordinance imposing graduated penalties on dogs and owners according to the seriousness of the dogs’ behavior has reduced repeat injurious bites from 25 percent to 7 percent.
  
• Laws that hold dog owners financially accountable for failure to adhere to animal control laws, as well as civilly and criminally liable for unjustified injuries or damage caused by their dogs. Calgary has reduced reported incidents of aggression by 56 percent, and its bite incidents by 21 percent, by requiring owners of dogs who have displayed dog aggression or human aggression to pay fines ranging from $250 to $1500.
  
• Laws that prohibit chaining or tethering, coupled with enhanced enforcement of animal cruelty and animal fighting laws. Lawrence, Kansas, has significantly reduced dog fighting and cruelty complaints by enacting an ordinance prohibiting tethering a dog for over one hour.
  
• Laws that mandate the sterilization of shelter animals and make low-cost sterilization services widely available
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