Dog registration due now

The first step to responsible dog ownership is registration.

If your dog is not currently wearing a yellow tag then it is unregistered.Anyone caught with an unregistered dog will be fined $300. If you have a dog in your possession, even if someone else owns the dog, you will be fined.

Animal control centre manager John Payne said he preferred not to have to fine dog owners, nor put their dogs in the pound.

“We want to avoid having to take legal action, or having to house unregistered dogs in the animal welfare centre.”

On the good news front, council has introduced an on-line system for registering dogs, to save people the effort of fronting up at the council office.

At the end of last week 42 per cent of dog owners registered their dogs using the on-line option, said council’s customer services manager Greg Brittin.

There are 11,833 known dogs in Hastings with 8606 of those wearing the right colour tag - yellow.

Dogs were supposed to be re-registered by the end of June, however fines did not kick in for a month after that.

Council recently sent out 3467 dog owners a reminder notice, and would be following that up with personal visits and fines if people don’t pay within the one month grace period that ends on Friday.

Up until the end of this week registration for an urban dog costs $110; that goes up to $165 from next week.

The fee for working dogs jumps from $48 to $72. Dogs with “special owner policy” rating lose that status, and their owners pay the regular urban dog fee.

To register on-line see: www.hastingsdc.govt.nz/dog-registrations

4 October 2017

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