A move to the digital age is seeing Bay of Plenty dog owners' fingers doing the talking, preferring to register man's best friend online.

Tauranga City Council has received 9363 dog registrations out of 10,474.

Annual dog registrations closed last week in the Bay and both Tauranga City Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council are reporting an increase in compliance for the discounted rates.

Tauranga City Council recorded an increase of 300 registrations, jumping from 9000 to 9363 this year, while the Western Bay is also slightly ahead from 12 months ago.

It is believed the spike is on the back of both councils looking to integrate further payment options, particularly online.

Starting this year, Western Bay is running an online registration service, while Tauranga City sits just behind with online credit card options.

Dogs are required to be registered each year, with the registration year running from July 1 to June 30 the following year. Any dog over the age of three months must be registered.

Tauranga City Council animal services team leader Brent Lincoln says of the 10,474 dogs on the council's books, 9363 are currently registered.

'I am pretty pleased with that actually. It's about 300 ahead of last year.”

Western Bay of Plenty District Council animal services leader Andrew Hope says during their discounted period, running to August 1, 7163 dogs were registered out of 8183 on the council's database – a total of 87.5 per cent.

Both team leaders agree the spike in registrations is thanks to a council's larger online presence and moves to simplify registrations for owners.

Andrew says the approach to move registrations online is paying dividends with dog owners living out of town having all the information they need at the click of the mouse.

'We have had quite a big response. I think it's over 1000 registrations.

'That saves people coming in to the offices, especially rural people if they can't get in between eight and five Monday to Friday.”

By doing so, owners are able to take advantage of the discounted $67 for a de-sexed dog and standard rate of $77. Following the cut-off date prices are raised to $110 and $115.

Tauranga City Council's discounted fee for the 2013/14 year is $72.00 before the fee jumps to $102 from 1 August 2013 to 30 June 2014.

Tauranga City Council is looking to install the same online registration process, but for the mean time have online credit card options along with paying online at New Zealand Post.

In Tauranga City, Brent says the increase is because of improving public awareness, along with harsher penalties on unregistered dogs. If found unregistered the owners must pay a hefty $300 fine on top of the $102 registration fee.

He says the online options are also helping council staff in the long run.

'People down the other way in Papamoa don't want to come all the way into town because it's a long way. So if people can do something like that it makes it easier and we get more compliance and it saves us work in the long run.”

Key points about registration:

• All dogs are required to be registered by three months of age.
• All new dogs purchased or acquired must be registered immediately.
• Dog registration renewal is required before 1 July every year.
• It is an offence to keep an unregistered dog.
• You are committing an offence if your dog is found wearing a registration label or disc issued to another dog.
• A dog not wearing a current registration label or disc is considered by law to be unregistered until proven otherwise.
• A completed and signed application form is required with payment. Please provide your date of birth when registering your dog, as it helps to distinguish you from someone else with the same name.
• Every dog being registered for the first time must be implanted with a functioning microchip transponder.
• If your dog dies during the year you may apply in writing for a partial refund of the dog registration. Between the months of January to June, the refund must be applied for and received in person through Tauranga City Council cashiers.
• If your dog is exported or transferred out of New Zealand you may apply in writing for a partial refund of the dog registration.