Great result for dog registrations

The number of dog registrations for the Taupo District is at over 99 per cent for the year - the best we've ever achieved!

Of the 6992 dogs in the district, 6945 have been registered - leaving only 47 for our staff to follow up on.

Compliance team supervisor Ross McDonald said the registration programme had been a phenomenal success this year, and it wasn't over yet.

"We are still following up on those dogs that haven't been registered and hope to have even more done in the next few weeks," he said. "Some of the dogs we have on record may have left the district and we may need to remind a final few owners of their responsibilities."

This year our target was to have over 99 per cent of dogs registered for the 2016/2017 year, and we are currently sitting at 99.3 per cent.

We've had a lot more people take up our offer of registering their dogs online through our website and have been out visiting properties believed to house dogs.

"In some cases we've organised payment plans for those who haven't been able to afford the full amount in one go and it's great to be able to work with the community to create a positive outcome," Ross said.

"It's an excellent result and we're so pleased our dog owners have helped us out by doing the right thing."

Dog registrations pay for our team to attend barking complaints and animal control incidents, our pound operations, dog safety education work, rehoming of dogs through our adoption service and more.