The law, by-laws and implementation The law in New Zealand requires all dogs to be registered and micro-chipped from 3 months of age. This makes it easy to find the owner of wandering dogs, and maintaining records at the dog shelter, as each registered dog has a unique number. Councils also have their own by-laws. The bylaws may: regulate the public places where dogs can be taken by their owner, for example a beach (or part of a beach) or public parks may be off limits require owner of multiple dogs to obtain a special licence require owners to pick up after their dog when it defecates in any public places or premise prohibit the owner taking an in season female dog into any public place require owners to de-sex their dog if it has been wandering ( not under control) on more than one occasion provide a review process for owners of dogs that have been classified as menacing or aggressive due to behaviour A transcript of this clip is available here.