Dog owners in Dunedin are being urged to register their dogs or risk having their pets impounded.
Dunedin City Council animal control team leader Ros MacGill said just under 14,000 dogs had been registered by August 1, when existing registrations expired, but about 1600 dogs remained unregistered.
The number included dogs whose owners had not paid annual registration fees, as well as dogs known to exist despite having never been registered by their owners.
The council's annual registration fees ranged from $17 for a special aid dog, $45 for the first working dog - and $22 for each subsequent working dog - $86 for a pet dog and $129 for a dangerous dog.
Ms MacGill said it appeared some people were choosing not to register their dogs because of financial pressures, but others were "recidivist" owners who repeatedly refused to pay.
Those who had not registered would be charged a $43 late penalty, and attempts made to contact those who had still not paid by August 26, she said.
Those who continued to refuse could face $300 infringement notices, and, eventually, council animal control officers would be dispatched to talk to owners still holding out.
The officers could - as a last resort - impound unregistered dogs, she said.
That would attract an impounding fee of $111, plus sustenance costs of $11 per day, adding to owners' bills.
However, Ms MacGill said the council managed to register all dogs despite being in a similar position this time last year, and she was confident the same would happen again.
"It just gets unfortunate when you start getting to the stage when you have to start pulling out the sticks and threatening them [owners] . . . to actually get them to pay for their registrations."
