Massachusetts dog licensing law: the statewide rules

Section 137(a) is direct: 'The owner or keeper of a dog over the age of 6 months shall obtain a license for the dog,' and the registering, numbering, describing and licensing happen in the office of the licensing authority of the city or town 'in which the dog is kept.' Section 136A names that authority as the police commissioner in Boston and the clerk everywhere else. The statute ties the license to where the dog is kept, so for a dog that splits the year between two homes, ask both clerks which one applies.

The license comes with conditions. Section 137(c) grants it on condition that the dog is controlled and restrained from killing, chasing or harassing livestock or fowl, and requires a collar or harness carrying a tag with the license number, the issuing city or town and the year. A lost tag must be replaced immediately from the licensing authority, at a cost the town sets. Section 145 adds that every license carries a printed description of the symptoms of rabies, supplied by the Department of Public Health.

Section 139(a) leaves the fee to each city or town, but no fee may be increased without a majority vote of the city or town council or of the voters at town meeting. Subsection (b) requires the fee for a spayed or neutered dog to be lower than the fee for an intact one, and lets the clerk ask for the certificate from the vet who did the surgery or, if that cannot be had, the vet's bill or a signed statement from a Massachusetts vet who examined the dog.

Subsection (c) adds two exemptions and one firm rule. No fee is charged for a service animal as defined by the ADA. No fee is charged for a dog owned by someone aged 70 or over, but only in a city or town that has accepted that provision, so ask your clerk. And no fee is refunded because the dog dies, is lost, is spayed later, leaves the state or is otherwise disposed of.

A current city or town dog license is on our list for every dog joining daycare, Dogtown Academy, an overnight stay or an at-home walk, alongside Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella. The license confirms what the clerk already checked, that the rabies vaccination was current, and it means every dog our handlers walk, load into the Pup Van or take out onto the turf yard is registered with its own town.

Bring the license and the vaccine records to the free evaluation, held on weekday mornings between 6:30 and 9:30 AM by appointment at 210 Eastern Ave. A license from your own town is what we look for, whether it comes from the Gloucester City Clerk, from Rockport or Essex, or from Manchester-by-the-Sea, where the license year runs April 1 to March 31. Grooming appointments involve no evaluation and no license check.