26 Apr 2018

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The cost of registering your dog will go up slightly from 1 July.

Christchurch City Council today voted to increase dog registration fees by $2 to help cover the cost of providing animal management services across Christchurch and Banks Peninsula.

Your dog registration fee funds:
  • Free micro-chipping for every registered dog.
  • Free education programmes including the DogSmart School Programme, which is aimed at preventing dog bites by teaching children about dogs and how to behave around them.
  • Dog shelter facilities for the care, welfare and return of lost dogs.
  • New dog park developments.
  • Investigations into dog nuisance complaints.
  • Patrols and enforcement of the rules around dogs in public places, including beaches.
  • The dog registration database, which every Council is legally required to maintain.

The increase will take affect from the beginning of June when the Council starts the annual process of registering all the city’s dogs.

All dogs are required to be registered annually. Currently there are 36,500 dogs registered within the Christchurch City Council boundaries.

“Dog registration fees fund important animal management services throughout the city and unfortunately the cost of providing those services has been rising.

"Small increases are necessary to ensure these services are maintained this year to cover costs,’’ says Christchurch City Council Head of Regulatory Compliance Tracey Weston.

The increase means those with responsible dog ownership status who register their dog before July 1 will have to pay $59 for their first dog and $41 for each of their other dogs.

That is less than it costs to register a dog in Auckland or Wellington.

For rural working dogs the cost of registration will rise from $27 to $29 a year.

As dogs are required by law to be registered, people found with unregistered dogs can be fined $300.

The Council has also approved a small increase today to the fees associated with dogs that are impounded in the dog shelter.

It also decided to raise the fee for adopting unclaimed dogs from the dog shelter to $80.

That fee reflects the actual cost to the Council of feeding and housing the dog for the seven days required under the Dog Control Act, plus a $10 recovery fee.