Queenstown Lakes Releases 2025/26 Dog Control Annual Report

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) has published its Dog Control Policy and Practices Report for the 2025/2026 financial year, the annual report councils must produce under Section 10A of the Dog Control Act 1996.

Key figures

• Registration: Registered dogs fell 1.29%, from 6,240 in 2024/25 to 6,160 in 2025/26. Council was notified of 560 deceased dogs (up 69.7% from 330), and 340 dogs were transferred out of the district. At the end of the registration year, 104 dogs had no microchip number recorded, compared with 98 the year before.
• Attacks and complaints: Total dog attacks fell from 77 to 67. Serious attacks on people rose from 3 to 5 and minor attacks on people from 12 to 15, while minor attacks on other animals fell from 44 to 27 and serious attacks on animals from 13 to 11. Roaming dog reports rose 15.08% to 458, and barking complaints dropped from 220 to 190. Council continues to provide free use of anti-bark devices and free training classes for dog owners.
• Classifications: The district has 3 dangerous dogs (all classified on sworn evidence under s31(1)(b)) and 14 menacing dogs (all under s33A(1)(b)(i), for behaviour). During the year one dog was newly classified dangerous, for an attack on a person, and two were newly classified menacing — one for an attack on stock and one for an attack on a person. No owners were classified as probationary or disqualified.
• Impounding: Impounded dogs rose 68.18%, from 44 to 74. The report says the increase in roaming dogs contributed to this.
• Enforcement: There was one prosecution, relating to a dog-on-person attack in the same year. Infringements fell from 220 to 181: failure to register (116), failure to keep a dog under control (29), failure to microchip (29), failure to comply with a menacing classification (3), failure to comply with a barking abatement notice (2) and bylaw breaches (2). A total of 47 were waived, 23 of them for failure to register, in line with the council's "education through to enforcement" approach.

What this means for Queenstown Lakes dog owners

Failure to register made up 116 of the 181 infringements — nearly two-thirds of all notices issued.

Under the council's dog control policy (adopted June 2020), dogs must be on a leash in public places except in Rural General Zones and dog exercise areas, and those exceptions do not apply to playgrounds or cemeteries.

For registration requirements, see our guide to dog registration in NZ and our checklist for NZ council dog registration.

Sources

• https://www.qldc.govt.nz/media/k23b1nk1/section-10a-report-2025-2026.pdf