Microchipping your dog

As part of secondary legislation under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, the government introduced compulsory microchipping of all dogs from 6 April 2016. From this date all dogs in England must be chipped and registered to an authorised database by the age of eight weeks and before transfer to a new keeper.

You can view our procedure here: Dog Microchipping[docx] 69KB

If you are the keeper of a dog in England you must:

• ensure your dog is chipped and registered to an authorised database
• if you get a new dog it must be chipped before you become its keeper
• ensure any dogs you keep are chipped by the age of eight weeks
• keep your contact details up to date on the microchip database

You can get a dog microchipped by a vet, or many animal re-homing centres also provide this service. Dogs Trust provide some useful information about the microchipping process. 

If a dog is not chipped

A notice will be served on the keeper requiring the dog to be implanted with a chip within 21 days. If this is ignored then a fine of up to £500 can be issued or the dog can be seized by an authorised person and be microchipped at the owner's expense.

If a dog is passed to a new keeper

The microchip details will need to be updated on the database. Either the new or previous keeper can update details, and it is recommended that the previous keeper obtains details of the new keeper to ensure details have been updated correctly. Once the database has been updated with the new keeper's details, this will ensure the previous keeper cannot be held responsible for any problems caused under the new keeper's ownership.