• All dogs 3 months of age or older must have tags.

• Licenses are $14.00 from December 1 to January 31. After this date a $14.00 penalty will apply (total $28.00 each tag).

• Newly acquired dogs are $14.00 (within 30 days of acquisition).

• Kennel licenses and duplicate tags are sold at the County Auditor’s Office only.

 

• The kennel registration fee is $70.00. After January 31 a $70.00 penalty will apply (total $140.00 per kennel). Additional kennel tags are $1.00.

 

• Duplicate tags are $1.50.

Dog tags are available through the Auditor’s office, Hicksville Police Department, or the Defiance County Humane Shelter.

Licensing is a requirement of state law. However there is one other exceptionally good reason for licensing your dog. If your animal is missing, the dog warden can quickly notify you your pet has been found. That way you can quickly claim him. Sec 955.12 of the Ohio Revised Code allows the county to hold a licensed dog for up to 14 days, after mailing a notice of its capture to the owner, before allowing it to be either sold or destroyed. If a dog is unlicensed, the law allows it to be either destroyed or sold after only 3 days.

Service dogs (guide, leader and support animals) must also be licensed, but their fee is waived. Once they are registered with the county, they are permanently licensed by receiving a special tag.

The new owner is required to record the ownership change with the County Auditor. They must present a transfer of ownership certificate (available at the Auditor’s office) and pay a transfer fee of $1.50.

According to the Ohio Revised Code, section 955.02, a kennel owner is a “person, partnership, firm, company, or corporation professionally engaged in the business of breeding dogs for hunting or for sale.” When a person breeds dogs avowedly as a hobby, “but permits sales to become such a factor that he advertises for sale” the breeding activity and dogs, that person “is professionally engaged in the business of dog breeding” and should be registered as a kennel.

The term “kennel” means any pack or collection of dogs, over the age of three months, kept together for the purposes of hunting or for sale. Ohio Revised Code 955.04

    Dog Tag Application