NWR: Dog Tag License

jenandcris

Hey girls! My birthday is on Monday and FI decided to get me a dog from the local pound! FI and I have never had dogs before... so we're really clueless and have scoured Google for the past week. I'm not sure about some things though.

Once we get the dog... Are we supposed to get a license for him right away or should we wait until the day he gets neutered to get the license? I'm asking because we're getting Kuro on Sat (2/13). His first check-up is scheduled for Wed (2/17). His neuter/surgery is set for Mon (3/15). FI doesn't want to go to downtown Hartford twice and pay for a license twice. AAAAND are we supposed to keep a copy of the license on his collar and each of our keychains at all times as well?

Sorry to be so annoying! Surprisingly, none of our friends/co-workers have (registered... ?) dogs!

starrbuk13

first off, CONGRATS on your new baby!!  that is SUPER exciting

from what i know, most people don't license their dogs.  the only way you'll get in trouble is if the PD in your town has the time and energy to go through the dog licenses and then figure out which dogs are/are not registered.  granted, a town next to the one i grew up in actually did this!  (it was the Monroe police...but they're known as being buttholes anyway!)

if you guys live in hartford, i wouldn't worry about it, although i understand why you'd want to play it safe and license your doggie.  i've never heard of keeping anything on a keychain or collar though....can't help you there.  good luck!!

SweetSima

We licensed our dog because we were required to by our apartment complex.  If the dog is fixed it is only 8 bucks.  Our dog bailey doesnt wear his license tag because his tags always seem to fall off or get lost!  It is just a little tag and they give you a little piece of paper which I keep with all my vet stuff.

Trust me,  places are very lax about licenses.  Worst case scenario,  you get a little postcard that says, you have a dog, license it   Have fun with your pooch!!  hth!

starshollow

I would license it.  I was at my friend's house recently when their neighbors called Animal Control beacuse their dog was barking.  They don't get along well with their neighbors.  When Animal Control came, all they asked for was the dogs registration and proof of vacinations.  Without those, they would have been ticketed.

I think it is definitely worth the few dollars to register!  You can wait until after the dog is neutered.

jenandcris

Thanks for the advice, girls! FI and I are really excited! When we went to the pound, we felt so bad. ): The cop told us that if the dogs don't get adopted, the pound euthanizes 'em!

I just read our lease agreement and it said that dogs need to be licensed (thanks for the heads up, SweetSima!). So we gotta get 'im registered! We're definitely gonna license him after we neuter him. It's only $8/$9 and we won't have to venture off to downtown Hartford.

Whippet8

I used to work for a town clerks office, and I was in charge of dog licensing. By law, you have to have your dog licensed by the time they are 6 months old. This allows you time to neuter your dog. You can wait until you have him neutered, and then license him. the pricing is $19.00 unneutered, and $8.00 neutered, and this has to be paid every JUNE. So, if you license him now, you will have to renew in June. If he's going to be six months old closer to June, I would just wait until then. Also, in order to license him, you need to show proof of a valid rabies vaccination that includes the expiration date--some people just bring in the rabies tag, but that does not have the date on it, and doesnt work. Also, you need proof that the dog is neutered in order to get the neutered price--some times the rabies certificate will state this. Finally, you will get a paper license, which is the actual license, and you will also get the tag for the dog to wear. this has the number on it so the dog warden can locate you if your dog gets lost--so you would keep the paper license at home, and have the dog wear the tag.

let me know if you have any questions!!

Whippet8

ohh! and ps...check with your town clerk about their policy on mailing renewals in. In middletown, we would allow people to mail in their rabies certificate and money in, adn we would process it and mail it out (if you do this, please make sure to put your name/address and stuff so they can easily pull up the previous years registration), and they should mail everything back to you (including the copy of the rabies cert.), so you dont have to go down there!

also, if you dont renew before July 1st (Licensing month is June 1-30), its an extra dollar per month...so if you have a neutered dog, it would be $9 in july, $8 in august, and so on. technically if you dont renew for a whole year, the office has the right to charge you an extra $12 for late fees for the previous year..not sure if any offices actually do that though.

KellyJayD

Congratulations! Our puppy is just 6 and a half months and just got neutered we will be getting his license this week. I agree with PP definately get license it is required by law. You should wait until after you neuter him. On our city website they provided all the information.

jenandcris

You're awesome Melko! That's a lot of great info!!

Kuro is actually 2 yrs old. And he was not registered. I've been calling the city clerk's office aaaall morning to ask if there's anything else I should bring & etc... but I couldn't get through! I left 2 messages (one message yesterday, one message today) and I still haven't gotten a call back. Ehh. I guess that's how Hartford is...

We need to get him reregistered in June as well? )o: Is that for all of CT? I have the choice of registering him in MA because I'm a dual-resident of both states. The renewal for my city is 12/31. Do you think I should just register him in MA... FI and I live in CT 4 days out of the week (the other 3 days are in MA), we're planning on moving back to MA in 2 yrs anyway.

I'm sure I'm making this more complicated than I need to. :-/ Sorry. I'll just have FI go to Hartford City Hall with the papers from the vet twice and register him in CT 'cause we'll be in CT more often than MA for now. And I didn't read anything about being able to send for a renewal via postal mail? That would be soo convenient!

Whippet8

its the law for all of CT. dog license year runs from June to June of every year, so if you got your dog a 2009 license (june 2009-june 2010), it would expire on June 30th of this year, so you would have to get a new one in june. That sucks that the office hasnt been too helpful, although they might be dealing with a lot of forclosures/recordings and other things.

let me know if you have any other questions!