Who let the dogs out?

Los Angeles residents with unlicensed dogs had better keep them undercover, or they may wind up in the city’s doghouse.

In February, the L.A. city council directed its Department of Animal Services to coordinate with the Department of Water and Power — which keeps a database of residents with dogs for its meter readers — to track down unlicensed dogs in the city, according to the L.A. Times. City officials hope to rake in more than $3.6 million in fees from the unlicensed dog owners.

Unlicensed sterilized dogs can cost the owner $15, but unlicensed, unaltered dogs incur a fee of $100, plus another $120 in some cases for breeder fees. Eight full-time canvassers have been tasked with going door to door looking for the contraband canines.

Their job is not always easy, canvasser Carliose Lane told the Times, because some people are worried that they are police or immigration officials. “After I’ve had a chance to talk to them, the walls come down,” Lane said.