No more excuses about Fido eating the paperwork. New York City dog licenses will now be offered online. Dog owners who used to have to do the whole thing by paper and the mail will be able to go through the process at www.nyc.gov.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has chocolate labs named Bonnie and Clyde, says he hopes tossing the old paper system will make life easier for dog lovers.The city says the wait time for new licenses and renewals will now be cut in half, to about 10 days instead of a month. Officials are also hoping that this streamlined service will get more dogs licensed. Just 20 percent of the city's estimated half a million dogs are registered.

We also view it as an environmental step in an effort to reduce unnecessary paper waste.