Discount for good dog owners

Good dog owners will get a break when they go to register their four-legged friends in July.

Maata Waka Ki Te Tau Ihu Animal Control Services will, for the first time, reduce the registration fee for owners who fit into a Category One. Animal control team leader Candice O'Brien said the category was for non-working dogs that had been desexed and microchipped and had a clean slate with animal control.

Their owners will pay $48 to register their animals, compared with $72 for those that don't meet the criteria. Working-dog owners will pay $20 per animal.

The new category went some way towards appeasing responsible dog owners, said animal control officer Wayne Wytenburg, of Picton. MORE>>