Zeb Towne was on a bit of a hot streak lately, with mentions in the Washington Post and National Public Radio, after President Donald Trump tweeted that a political foe “couldn’t get elected dog catcher.”
That’s because Towne has, in fact, been elected Duxbury’s dog catcher for the past 15 years, a good portion of the tall, red-headed 39-year-old’s life.
“The job doesn’t change based on who’s president,” he said, laughing.
What has changed since Town Meeting Day last month, however, is the way Duxbury’s dog catcher is chosen. It’s no longer going to be an elected position and, apparently, it shouldn’t have been in the first place. This was pointed out by an astute reader of the NPR story — first reported on Vermont Public Radio by Amy Kolb Noyes.
According to Assistant Town Clerk Myra Perry, the town’s select board has formally appointed Towne to the position he’s had, a position he’s good at, and one no one else wants.
“He has so much energy and he works so hard,” Perry said. “He’s such a special person, and he pays good attention. Plus, he’s my cousin.”
Being a dog person doesn’t make you a dog catcher, and Towne points out that most dog issues are really people issues at their heart. Towne’s job is equal part animal controller and mediator — this person’s dog did this damage and the owner has to pay for it.
And it’s not just dogs, either.
“I get other calls, too, with horses and pigs and cows,” he said. “Ermines bugging wildlife, stuff like that.”
Towne doesn’t have a special car for carrying canines, and neither Waterbury nor Duxbury have a town pound to house the animals — Waterbury makes arrangements for the dogs Towne brings in, and he brings Duxbury’s strays and problem animals to a local veterinarian. He does have a few tools of the trade to help in case the mongrels get overly aggressive — a spray can of Mace and one of those sticks with a choker at the end of it.
“And I have a size 13 boot,” he said.
Towne is a dog person anyway, and his family has two golden retrievers of its own — Ticket (a Willy Wonka reference, as in Golden Ticket) and Redman Rose. So, for the most part, dogs like him and there haven’t been many bad encounters. He said he’s been attacked twice, the first time by a timber wolf breed, which actually bit him, and the other by a pair of boxers that ran him back to the safety of his pickup truck.
“Any dog can be good and any dog can be bad,” he said.
He normally fields 20 to 30 calls a year, and is paid $500 annually by the town — Waterbury pays him per call. So far, it’s been a fairly steady year, about a half-dozen calls in each town. And, unlike the countless political positions being closely contested all around the U.S., Towne has been unopposed every year. There was, however, a funny moment from the 2014 town meeting when there was a single, loud “nay!” from the electorate. It was his wife, saying she was sick of him being “out there rounding up them bitches,” to a loud wave of laughter.
Duxbury’s that type of town, the kind where Town Meeting Day literally takes most of the day, where lunch is halftime, and where people participate in every aspect of their town government. And that includes its elected and appointed officials, although now, it’ll have to do things just a little different.
Chances are, though, Towne will still be the one throwing his hat — camouflage baseball cap or leather cowboy hat — into the ring. Like he said to VPR, if Trump is right in saying Sen. Bob Corker couldn’t get elected dog catcher, then, “I’m awesome, I guess.” This week, he clarified that, just a bit.
“I guess I should be awesome because nobody else wants to do it,” he laughed. “Either that, or I’m a sucker.”
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