Dog owners warned they could be fined £500 when moving house

Dog owners warned they could be fined £500 when moving house Dog owners have certain legal obligations Dog owners risk being hit with fines of up to £500 when moving home if they forget to do one thing. Moving house is an exhausting and frantic period, with endless things to sort out. Beyond packing up all your possessions and transporting them, there's an extensive list of administrative duties to complete. While updating addresses with banks, utility companies and other services typically features on most moving checklists, owners are also legally obliged to keep their dog's microchip contact information up to date. Government guidance explicitly states that pet owners must update their microchip records when relocating. Should a dog's current information not be registered on an approved database, the owner may be given 21 days to rectify this and could face a fine of up to £500 upon conviction if they don't comply. Michael Nelson from wooden dog house supplier Kennel Store says it's especially easy to overlook because owners don't need to have their dog microchipped again following a move. "A microchip feels like something you sort once when your dog is young and then never have to think about again, so I can see why changing the details gets missed during a house move. "The chip itself stays with the dog. What owners need to change is the information linked to that chip, so if somebody scans it they can actually reach you." A microchip holds a unique identification number that can be scanned by vets, dog wardens and animal welfare organisations, with the owner's contact details stored separately on a registered database. Dogs Trust warns that thousands of stray dogs each year cannot be swiftly reunited with their owners due to outdated identification or microchip details. "The biggest concern isn't really the paperwork, it's what happens if your dog gets lost. "Moving can already be unsettling for a dog because everything around them has changed. If they manage to get out in an area they don't know and the phone number or address attached to their chip is wrong, you've made it much harder for whoever finds them to get them home quickly." To update the details linked to the chip, owners must contact the database company their dog is registered with directly. Simply informing a new vet of a change of address should never be considered a substitute for updating the microchip record itself. "You can change your address with your vet and assume everything connected to your dog has been updated, but the microchip record is held separately." Those unsure which database their dog is registered with can search using the microchip number. Should the number be unknown, a vet, dog warden or rescue centre can scan the dog to retrieve it. "A microchip is only useful for getting a lost dog back to you if the details behind it lead to the right person." Dogs are legally required to wear a collar and identification tag displaying the owner's name and address while in public spaces, regardless of whether they've been microchipped.