last year my pickup truck was broken into 5 times. The police would never come to investigate. One time my truck was broken into twice in the same week. The first thief stole my California registration tags. Two or three days after the cops had no problem ticketing my car for not having tags. I eventually got out of the ticket w/ a reduced fine but still there is still a moral violation going on.
If taxes are payed to fund police and community protection and that protection does not take place IMO dog costs should be tax deductible at least at the state level.

Maybe I am missing something but I don't see the connection between your truck being broken into (which sucks, by the way) and dogs being tax deductible?

Sorry to hear about the truck though. I bet the insurance company is taking advantage of this, too.

Dog barks when someone get on the property. She would let me know when the thieves are around and maybe even bite one or two of them = )

Didn't seem to stop them yet! Your anger is misplaced. It's not the cops fault your plates got stolen. I can understand it's a PITA to have to replace them. Your particular cop that wrote you a ticket is a bit of a stickler, usually a police report number would have gotten you out of a ticket for a couple of days anyway. After a couple of days it's time to get duplicates.

DFrost

About 8 years ago when I was in high school, somebody stole or I lost my Tennessee plate somehow. I didn't notice until I got to a friend's house.

I didn't understand why would someone want to have my Tennessee plate because it was going to be expired in a few months. I was lucky that there were no cops while I was driving or I would have gotten a ticket too.

My husband has had your same opinion, but more on the side of "pets are expensive like children". He feeds them and takes care of them so they should be deductable as well

 Quote: David C.Frost

Didn't seem to stop them yet! Your anger is misplaced. It's not the cops fault your plates got stolen. I can understand it's a PITA to have to replace them. Your particular cop that wrote you a ticket is a bit of a stickler, usually a police report number would have gotten you out of a ticket for a couple of days anyway. After a couple of days it's time to get duplicates.

DFrost

Absolutely correct! It is not their fault my tags where stolen. I do not fault them for that. I fault the local government for collecting my high taxes and refusing to have the funds for the police to come take a report.

The dog is doing something the government is not, helping protect property and catch criminals. In a place like Ca where personal police protection is encouraged and personal protection is discouraged my experience is aburd.

I'm sorry your tags were stolen. In most places however, it's just a phone in report anyway. They aren't going to do prints or canvas a neighborhood. The most they will do is place the number on the computer as "stolen".

DFrost

 Quote: Lindsay Janes

I didn't understand why would someone want to have my Tennessee plate because it was going to be expired in a few months. I was lucky that there were no cops while I was driving or I would have gotten a ticket too.

People steal plates for a number of reasons, among those are to commit a crime if a witness gets a plate number it won't go back to them. I couldn't speak much for the stolen plate on the left coast, however, TN I do know a little about. Had you been stopped, the officer would have informed you your plate was missing and asked to see your registration (which is supposed to be in the vehicle). He'd then run it through the computer and it would come back saying; you had a valid registration and give the type, color and vin number of the car you were driving. At most, the officer would issue you a warning (probably not even that) and tell you to report the stolen plate within your county and get a replacement. We aren't all pricks, all the time.

DFrost

 Quote: david c.frost

I'm sorry your tags were stolen. In most places however, it's just a phone in report anyway. They aren't going to do prints or canvas a neighborhood. The most they will do is place the number on the computer as "stolen".

DFrost

Wow this thread has gone off in the wrong direction.
First my tags not my plates where stolen. Here in Ca you get a sticker showing the month/year your registration expires. That sticker is put on your plates. I did not notice it was missing until I recieved a ticket. I find Irony that local powers that be have the resources to dispatch cops to ticket cars parked in a residental space for missing a tag. But not to take a police report when thousands of dollars of tools and equipment are stolen.
Second the whole issue of the tags was an illustration of the community service offered in this area. 30 minutes at the DMV (28 of them spent waiting) is all it took to get new tags.
I lost thousands of dollars of tools, and equipment that I was much more concerned about.

Simple point. A well trained dog alleviates some stress on local law enforcement. Instead of refusing to take theft reports the police would be more free to write parking tickets.

IMO the local government should encourage proper responsible dog ownership with tax exceptions for ownership costs.