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All dogs must be registered by three months of age. Dog registration expires on 30 June each year.

Tauranga City Council no longer accepts cash for any payments including dog registration and releasing an impounded dog. For more information visit www.tauranga.govt.nz/cashless.

Re-register your dog or register a new dog online

The form below is for new dogs, puppies, imported dogs and transferring between councils.

Dog registration application form (136kb pdf)

The Animal Services team has the responsibility to manage dog issues in the city, but like everyone else, the costs keep increasing and we need to increase our dog registration fees to meet these increases.

Dog registrations 2025/2026:

Council offers an 'early bird' registration fee of $129 if your dog is registered by 31 July. If your dog is registered after 31 July, you will pay the ‘penalty fee’ of $193.50.

Fees to register a dog classified as dangerous are $193.50 if registered by 31 July and $290.20 after this date. A $300 infringement fee may be issued to an owner or person caring for an unregistered dog. To avoid this, register your dog early.

Once you have paid your dog registration fee, the red tag for your dog’s collar will be sent to you in the post. You can register at any time via our website or by visiting one of our customer service centres or libraries located across the city.

Paying in person?

As of 31 March 2025, Tauranga City Council no longer accepts cash as a form of payment. Come see our friendly staff at your local Library Community Hub, and they can help you set up a different payment method. And if you only own one dog and prefer to continue paying with cash, you can do so in participating post shops.

You can pay in person at any of the following locations:

• Tauranga Library, He Puna Manawa: 21 Devonport Road: 9.30am-5pm, Monday to Friday.
• Pāpāmoa Library, 15 Gravatt Road: 9.30am-12pm and 1pm-5pm, Monday to Friday.
• Greerton Library, 139 Greerton Road: 9.30am-12pm and 1pm-5pm, Monday to Friday.
• Mount Library, 398 Maunganui Road: 9.30am-12pm and 1pm-5pm, Monday to Friday.

Payments can be made by EFTPOS, debit and credit card. Surcharge applies for PayWave and credit card (1.3%).

Payment kiosks

Payment kiosks are also available to make your payment. This self-service option provides a user-friendly, height-adjustable touchscreen with simple step-by-step instructions.

• Tauranga Library, He Puna Manawa, 21 Devonport Road: 9.30am – 5pm Monday to Friday, 9.30am-4pm Saturday and Sunday.

Payments can be made by EFTPOS, debit or credit card.

NZ Post Shops

Note: it is not possible to register your dogs at NZ Post if you own more than one dog.

Otherwise, you can pay your single dog registration fee (as well as rates and water bills and parking fines) in Post Shops by EFTPOS or cash.

Remember to take your documentation (e.g. your registration invoice) with you.

What does my dog registration go towards?

Why don’t you have a ‘good dog owner’ discount like other councils do?

The government introduced dog registration fees in the late 1800s, and they have existed ever since. The law (The Dog Control Act 1996) requires every dog owner to be a ‘good dog owner'. At Tauranga City Council, we treat everyone like good dog owners and provide additional penalties for owners who fail to look after their dogs appropriately.

Registering a puppy:

If you register a puppy during the registration year, the fee is calculated from the date the puppy turns three months of age. This is to account for how much time is left in the registration year. If your dog was registered within the last year, full-fee registration forms will be automatically sent to you in June.

Pro-rata fees 2024/25 (78 kb pdf)

If you lose your registration tag, you can get a new one for $11.00 from our customer service centre at 21 Devonport Road.

What you need to know about registering a dog:

• all puppies must be registered by the time they are three months old.
• all newly purchased or acquired dogs (over three months old) must be registered immediately.
• if you purchase an unregistered adult dog or acquire a dog over the age of three months, whether a rescue dog or not, you will be liable for the full registration fee due at that time.
• dog registration renewal needs to be done before 1 July each year.
• it’s an offence to keep an unregistered dog.
• you are committing an offence if your dog is found wearing a registration tag issued to another dog.
• a dog not wearing a current registration tag is considered to be unregistered until proven otherwise.
• you will need to provide your date of birth when registering your dog. This helps distinguish you from someone else with the same name.
• every dog that’s registered for the first time must be implanted with a working microchip. This helps identify your dog if it is lost or stolen.
• if your dog dies or is exported out of New Zealand, you can apply in writing for a partial refund of the dog registration. The refund is calculated for the remaining months in the registration year from the date you advise council.

Registering your dog with the council, along with its microchip number, allows us to quickly reunite you with your dog should it inadvertently escape. Recording your microchip with the council is free.

Microchipping is different to registering your dog. You can have your dog microchipped at the pound. Please call us on 07 577 7000 to make an appointment.

All dogs must be registered by three months of age. The dog registration year is from 1 July to 30 June each year.

Recycling your old registration tag

This year, you will receive a red tag, but you can also recycle your old blue tag.

The tags are too small to be eligible for our kerbside recycling service, but to ensure we can do our part for the environment, we have set up yellow tag collection boxes across Tauranga where you can drop off your old blue tag (or other colours if you still have those as well). We will collect them and send them off to a company in Auckland, where they will be repurposed into a new product!

Head to one of the below locations to drop off your old tag.

Drop off only at:

• Envirohub Bay of Plenty, 31B Glasgow Street, Tauranga

Drop off, register and issue a new tag at:

• He Puna Manawa, 21 Devonport Road, Tauranga.
• Pāpāmoa Library, 15 Gravatt Road, Pāpāmoa.
• Greerton Library, 139 Greerton Road, Gate Pā.
• Mount Maunganui Library, 398 Maunganui Road, Mount Maunganui

View the opening hours and payment options at our locations

Re-register your dog or register a new dog online

Information for dog owners (338kb pdf)