Dog owners soon will be able to make their pets legal with a few clicks of the mouse pad.

Starting Dec. 1, dog permits in Butler County can be bought online.

The county commissioners Thursday awarded a $4,998 contract to ePaymentNow of Winfield in Union County for connecting the online service.

County Treasurer Diane Marburger said in an interview there are indications more permit sales will occur once the online service begins.

In Bucks County, issued permits rose from 18,000 in one year to 38,000 in the next.

Butler County sold 28,000 dog permits last year.

Marburger said the online service is only an option for dog owners, not the sole way to buy permits. The paper permits still will be available.

The county's Web site, www.co.butler.pa.us, will have links to the permit application page.

The cost for a dog permit, which is $6 for spayed and neutered animals and $8 for all others, will not increase.

However, there will be a $2 fee to use the online application process.

Once a permit is obtained, a dog must have either an identifying tattoo or implanted microchip to verify its registration.

This will be the second online permit sale Marburger implemented in the last two years.

Doe hunting licenses are now issued online. The county has sold more than 20,000 so far this year.

Although there was an increase from 2008, when the county sold 19,500 doe licenses, there was another factor other than a new online application service.

Counties in Pennsylvania now are permitted to sell doe licenses for hunting in other counties.

Whichever change had the most impact, the county already has pulled in more money this year.

For each doe permit, the county keeps $1, making the profit $500 higher so far.

"We did well," Marburger said.

The county also gets to keep $1 from every dog permit sold directly by the county.

The county receives 50 cents from every dog permit issued by any other licensed agents.

Commissioner Jim Lokhaiser at Monday's meeting asked Marburger if a permit was needed to own a cat.

Marburger confirmed there was not, but said a cat owner in the county regularly bought a dog permit for his feline.