Man ordered to pay over £3,000 after he failed to microchip his dogs and keep them under control

Lloyd Hunter, 37, of Boroughbridge Road, York was convicted at York Magistrates Court on Tuesday for failing to correctly microchip two Alaskan Malamutes, transferring a third Alaskan Malamute to another person with an incorrect microchip, and failure to comply with a community protection notice on two occasions.

The court heard that between July and October last year (2018), Hunter's dogs were reported to City of York Council for straying onto neighbouring properties, including a children’s nursery. The council also discovered the dogs had incorrectly registered microchips.

On January 1 this year, a stray Alaskan Malamute that Hunter had reportedly sold to a friend, was found to be still registered to the original owner, who Hunter had purchased the dog from a few years earlier - despite being issued with multiple notices to register the animals with the correct database.

In May this year, Hunter was walking three Alaskan Malamutes in Millennium Gardens, Nether Poppleton, when the dogs ran out of sight and attacked a Cockapoo. The dogs were off the lead and left the Cockapoo with injuries requiring over one week of veterinary treatment.

Another dog in Mr Hunter’s possession was also found straying by a local resident and returned on June 12, after the dog escaped and ran across the A1237.

In an interview during the investigation, Mr Hunter said that he was unaware of any injuries to the Cockapoo at the time of the incident, and also bought a stronger lead to prevent further escapes from his property.

He also stated that he mistakenly registered his dogs through a discounted database, which is not recognised by local authorities.

He was ordered to pay fines of £1,790, costs of £1,334.28 and a victim surcharge of £66 - totalling £3,200.

Cllr Denise Craghill, the Executive Member for Housing and Safer Neighbourhoods, said: “Responsible dog owners ensure that their animals are kept under control when out in public and properly secured when at home.”

“Since the law changed in 2015 all dogs must not only have identification tags, but they must also be microchipped with all details recorded on a relevant database operator. A list of these database operators can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/get-your-dog-microchipped."