REGISTRATION: BEST AT POINT OF ACQUISITION

One of the most effective ways of increasing registration levels would be to register puppies when their owners first got them. Instead of first registration being something that owners might forget later, it would become an accepted part of acquiring the a new dog. Just like registering a new car.

Advantages of registration at the point of acquisition

Since all dogs must be registered at some time, this proposal simply brings forward the process of first registration. Registration at point-of-acquisition would not be something extra for owners and MPM units to achieve.

As well as increasing registration compliance, point-of-acquisition registration would encourage prospective owners to stop-and-think about their commitment at the very start of the ownership process. Give-away puppies and the puppies-acquired-on-impulse would be fewer and contribute less to the problems of uncommitted ownership.

Also, first registrations at point-of-acquisition, if carefully documented, could yield useful information on who supplies dogs in the community and who is breeding them. Councils could then develop pet retail registers and breeders registers without having to bury these people in permits and inspections.

The obligation for ensuring that the point-of-acquisition documentation was complete and correct could rest with the new owner, the breeder and the vendor. The quality of the information would thus be assured three ways. Unless the registration document was seen and checked and signed off as paid up by a PMO, the transaction could be held up.

By getting all the details right from day 1, the registration database would then become more reliable. Routine checking to improve registration compliance would become more efficient and less expensive. Perhaps cost savings could even be handed back to dog owners in the form of reduced registration fees.

Practicalities

How would it be if point-of-acquisition registration involved microchipping and recording as part of the registering process? The first tag in this case would be the numbered microchip tag rather than the councilís tag. Registered veterinary practitioners would make a reliably competent, competitive and ubiquitous force of implanters and recorders. At the time of first renewal, a council tag could be supplied.

Competent computer management of registration databases allows for annual re-registrations at 12-monthly intervals starting at the time of first registration. This is a fairer system than the traditional system of billing on a specific date each year (eg. on the 1st of July) which penalised people who acquired dogs sometime during the previous year. Once the original (point-of-acquisition) information was logged, the computer could easily keep track and do the re-registration billing after 12 months.

Registration at point-of-acquisition is definitely food for thought. Computers make it possible.