A Dog’s Life in North Hampton and New Hampshire
It’s April -- annual dog licensing month and it seemed a good topic for a blog but my knowledge amounted to “not much”. I had a recollection that licensing and rabies went hand in hand and may have started at the turn of the twentieth century, that there was a pound in North Hampton, and that owners were expected to pay for damages their dogs did to sheep -- the latter based upon a few nineteenth century receipts in early town records.
What do I now know about the history dogs and towns in New Hampshire? Perhaps the earliest State law relating to dogs called for Selectmen to include dogs in the annual property assessment. Such taxation of dogs began as a war revenue measure in 1862. Somehow the requirement remained on the books until the 1890s.
Towns invoiced owners for damage done by their dogs. That damage often involved the maiming or killing of sheep. The North Hampton receipts date as early as 1867. The difficulty in determining who owned what dog perhaps led to a state law in 1891 “An act to prevent the destruction of sheep and other damages by dogs”.
The first section read “Every owner or keeper of a dog three months old or over shall annually, on or before 30th day of April, shall cause it to be registered, numbered, described, and licensed for one year from the first day of … May, in the office of the clerk of the city or town ….” The fee was $2 for a male dog and $5 for a female dog, and such proportionate sum for licenses for dogs becoming three months old after the first day of May.
Proof of rabies vaccination was not required for licensing initially but if a municipality was experiencing a rabies epidemic, it could order that all dogs be muzzled or restrained from running at large. Selectmen could also issue a warrant to police officers to impound all dogs found running at large contrary to the order, and notify the dog’s owner, if known. If the dog was found to be rabid, it was to be destroyed “in the most humane manner possible.” The owner of the dog was responsible for all costs associated with the impoundment of the dog.
But, guess what, colonial to late nineteenth century town pounds were intended for livestock - sheep, cattle, hogs, etc. -- and dogs did not mix with the others.
North Hampton’s town pound was built in 1800. Records indicate it was typical of the ones constructed in New England. Its dimensions were thirty feet a side by six feet high, with another one foot below grade, all stone and capped with white oak. The cost (John Pickering must have been the low bidder) was $19. For images of the few that have survived and further information, check out this website. http://www.stonestructures.org/html/town_pounds.html
When the pound was dismantled -- it is not clear when but it appears on the 1857 North Hampton map -- some of the land became the short road leading from Atlantic, east on Hobbs. It is the road many take who fear the left turn at the intersection, or hope to beat the traffic waiting to turn. The rest of the land was sold to the nearby landowner. Some of the stones reportedly were used in the foundation of the house at the other end of Hobbs Road, #6. Its construction date is a little muddy but by appearances c. 1860 was the educated guess of Lisa Mausolf, the historic preservation consultant who prepared the town-wide inventory of historic resources. https://www.northhampton-nh.gov/heritage-commission/pages/historic-resources-town-wide-area-form-2018
What did North Hampton and other towns do when officers impounded dogs or were called in for lost sheep or other livestock after town pounds had been dismantled? I don’t know but it may have become less of a problem as farmers in the nineteenth century began building pens on their own property -- who wanted to pay a fine to the town to retrieve a lost sheep?
I also did not know much about the rabies virus. It existed in North America in bats but evidently was not much of a problem until Europeans and their numerous dog breeds brought the rabies virus with them and it spread though canines, domesticated and wild.
Who invented the first rabies vaccine? None other than Louis Pasteur in 1885. The father of microbiology and pasteurization developed the first vaccines for both rabies and anthrax. Diane Wendt, associate curator in the Division of Medicine and Science at the National Museum of American History wrote, “Shortly after Pasteur successfully treated his first rabies patient in France, four boys from Newark, New Jersey, were bitten by a dog suspected of carrying the disease. A national campaign was launched to send the boys to Pasteur for treatment, and the story became a media sensation. It seemed that the entire nation was following the boys, who went to France for Pasteur's treatment and returned home as "heroes," even taking a subsequent tour of American cities.”
Proof of rabies vaccination as part of dog licensing began in New Hampshire began 1967. In 1977 State law gave municipalities who adopted the provisions of RSA 466:30-a the power to make it unlawful for any dog to run at large, except when accompanied by the owner or custodian, and when used for hunting, herding, supervised competition and exhibition or training for such. Earlier in the twentieth century, a growing list of restrictions against dogs running at large or where there were farms had been enacted.
We love our dogs and most people recognize the responsibility they are undertaking when they share their own space and the rest of the community with the dog in their lives. Over the years our “citizen legislators” have nudged them along.
`