Here’s your guide on registering a dog even without traditional paperwork:
Why Register Your Dog
- Legal Requirement: Many areas require dog registration.
- Lost Pet Recovery: Registration with a license number greatly increases the chances of finding a lost dog.
- Proof of Health: May indicate that your dog is vaccinated and safe.
Registering Without Papers
While standard dog registration often requires extensive documentation, these organizations may be more flexible:
-
American Kennel Club (AKC): Offers the PAL (Purebred Alternative Listing) program for dogs without proof of lineage. Requirements include:
- Dog must belong to an AKC-recognized breed
- Proof of spay/neuter
- Age over 6 months
- Photos adhering to AKC guidelines
-
Continental Kennel Club (CKC): Less focused on breed purity. Requirements include:
- Dog over 1 year old
- Two witness statements confirming the dog’s age
- Photos of your dog
DNA Testing: While helpful for identifying breeds, DNA tests alone cannot confirm purebred status and may not be sufficient for registration.
Costs of Registration
-
AKC:
- Online Registration: $33 – $82 (depending on package)
- Offline Registration: $37 – $66 (depending on package)
- Late Fees: Additional $35-$65
-
CKC:
- Varies based on specific documents needed (e.g., registration certificate, pedigree)
- Range from $10 – $25 per document
Key Takeaways
- Even without traditional papers, there are options to register your dog.
- AKC and CKC offer ways to register dogs of unknown lineage.
- Registration provides legal protection and helps recover lost pets.
- Understand the specific requirements and fees of each organization before proceeding.
How to Register a Dog Without Papers?- Why is it Necessary to Register a Dog?
Registering a dog can be helpful for the owners in many ways. The benefits of registering a dog under the law passed by the government are discussed below.
To Obey the Law
In most countries, the government used to pass a law upon the dog owner to register their dog to get the Pet licensed as we all know that it’s the responsibility of every citizen to follow the law passed by the government. That’s why it’s necessary to register the dog.
Finding the Pet When it Gets Lost
As the registered dog has their license number, the owner can get their Pet very past if it gets lost someday. The animal rescue team can trace the dog with the help of its license number and get the Pet back to its owner.
To Prove the Dog is Safe
Getting a dog licensed also indicates that the dog is safe and is not affected by any virus. The veterinarian authority only registers the dog after carefully checking its vaccination papers.
Is it Possible to Register a Dog Without Papers?
Registering a dog without papers sounds quite impossible. As discussed above, the government authorities only register a dog after going through all the necessary details of the dog like the vaccination proof, identity proof, documents of breed information, and many others.
Here’s good news for all the dog owners. Instead of the government authorities, some other organizations used to register a dog without even checking the papers, which might be very helpful for the dog owners in an emergency.
Hence we can say that yes, there are still some organizations through which the dog owners can register their dogs without papers.
Authorities Providing Registration to the Dog Without Papers
As per the surveys done by the resources, we have come up with the names of two organizations that provide registration to dogs without papers and are the preferable organizations for all the dog owners throughout the world to register their dogs. The names of the organizations are the American Kennel Club and the Continental Kennel Club.
How Do You Get Your Dog Registered Under the American Kennel Club?
American Kennel Club is the preferable organization for all dog owners to get a license for their dog. Now we are going to discuss the steps that dog owners should follow for registering their dogs under the American Kennel Club:
Checking the Breed of the Dog
As per the information collected to register a dog under the American Kennel Club, the owner should ensure that the breed of the dog must be in the registered species of the American Kennel Club.
Getting the Dog Spayed
Spaying a dog is similar to ovariohysterectomy in the case of humans, which is the removal of ovaries from the fallopian tube. This process was done on female dogs to make them eligible for the registration program of the American Kennel Club.
Ensuring the Dog’s Age
It’s also the responsibility of the dog owners to check their dog’s age by adopting the proper methods. This is because a dog can’t get registered if it is below the period of six months.
Taking photos as per American Kennel Club Guidelines
Some guidelines have to be followed by the owner to register their dog, which also includes the photos of their dog in such a way that it can represent the facial and bodily characteristics of the Pet. The owner should take pictures of their dog as per the guidelines and print them out.
Filling Up the Application Form
The American Kennel Club provides an application form for dog owners on its official website. The dog owners have to fill out the application form after downloading with proper documents as asked in the form.
Submitting the Printed Copies and Payment Fee
After completing all the processes mentioned above, the owner has to pay the required payment for the registration as per the suitable method of payment available on the website.
The steps mentioned above were well researched upon the guidelines mentioned in the registration program, and most people have preferred to opt for this procedure while registering their dog in the American Kennel Club.
How Do You Get Your Dog Registered in the Continental Kennel Club?
Just like the American Kennel Club, Continental Kennel Club is another association that provides registration of dogs to the dog owners without asking for the proper documents.
A person should follow the steps for registering their dog in the Continental Kennel Club are discussed below.
Confirming the Dog’s Breed
The first step is quite the same as the first step for registering a dog in AKC. Just like AKC, the owner has to check if the breed of his dog is recorded on the Continental Kennel Club’s website or not.
Ensuring the Age of the Dog
As per the guidelines mentioned in the Continental Kennel Club’s registration program, every dog has to be above the age of 1 year to get registered, and the owner has to check their dog’s age first to get the Pet a license.
Getting Two Witnesses
The Continental Kennel Club asked the dog owner to bring two witnesses as they lacked the required papers for the dog.
The owner has to give two witnesses to the authority to confirm that the dog is above the age of 1 year. Along with this, the witnesses have to put their names and signature on the application form.
Getting Photos as Mentioned in the Guidelines
Like the AKC, the Continental Kennel Club also asked the owner for some photos of their Pet that can exactly represent the facial and bodily characteristics of the Pet.
Filling Out the Application Form
The remaining step is to download the application form from the official website of the Continental Kennel Club and fill in the information as required.
Mailing the Application and Required Documents
Now, after filling out the form, the owner has to send a mail to the organization’s official email along with the application form and the photos with proof that the owner has made the payment.
The above-discussed steps are trusted by many people as these are well researched upon the form-filling procedure of the Continental Kennel Club.
Is it Possible to Register a Dog with a DNA Report?
We all know that genes are present in an organism from a time when it has not even taken a birth.
So, we can quickly identify the breed of a dog by doing a simple DNA test, and there is no requirement to give a lot of documentation to prove that the dog is purebred. Now the question is, is it possible to register a dog with a DNA report?
As per research, register a dog with a DNA report instead of presenting all the other documents like vaccination proof and identity proof.
This is because the veterinarians believe that a DNA test can give much valuable information about the Pet, like genetic diversity and traits, genetic problems, etc.
But a DNA report is not able to confirm whether a dog is purebred or not, as it does not contain sufficient information to represent the breeding status of a dog.
Hence a DNA report can’t be used as a document for getting a license for the Pet.
What is the Cost of Registering a Dog in the American Kennel Club?
We all know that the American Kennel Club is an authority that provides registration to dogs that lacks important papers for getting a license.
Now we are going to discuss the fee structure of the American Kennel Club to give an approximate idea to the owner about how much they have to pay for registering without papers.
The American Kennel Club provides two modes of registration: the online mode and another is the pen-paper mode, the fee structures of both methods were different.
Online Fee Structure of Registering a Dog on AKC
Below is the detailed fee structure for the online registration procedure at the American Kennel Club.
Type of Registration
Required Amount
Basic Registration $33 Silver Registration $45.99 Gold Registration $62.99 Platinum Registration $82.99
Late Online Registration Fee
Check out the fee structure of the late online registration below.
Time PeriodRequired PaymentOver 12 months after litter registration $35 Over 24 months after litter registration $65
Offline Fee Structure of Registering a Dog on AKC
Unlike online registration, the offline fee structure of registering a dog at the American Kennel Club is a bit more expensive. The table below has the detailed fee structure.
Type of Registration Required Payment Only basic registration$37.99 Basic registration and Silver package $53.99 Basic registration and Gold package $66.99 Basic registration and AKC reunite $54.99
Late Offline Registration Fees
The offline mode also has a late registration fee similar to the online registration mode. The table below jots down the time period along with the required payment.
Time PeriodRequired PaymentOver 12 months after litter registration $35 Over 24 months after litter registration$65
What is the Cost of Registering a Dog on Continental Kennel Club?
As per the research done on the registration process of Continental Kennel Club, it’s pretty different from the process of American Kennel Club. This is because it provides services like registration of photos, photo ID cards, and pictures of the pedigrees and charges the owner as per the reissuing of every document.
The fee chart of Continental Kennel Club is based on the amount required to re-issue the documents as per the guidelines.
Registration Documents of the Canine Fee Required to Re-Issue Registration certificate $10 Photo registration $15 Kennel registration $7 Registration and pedigree $25 Registration and pedigree – kennel $173 generation pedigree $155 generation pedigree $20 Foreign registration fee $10
This is the required amount of payment that a dog owner must pay to register their dog in the Continental Kennel Club. Whereas rather than the fee mentioned earlier structure, the owner has to pay for the document delivery option as per their choices from the authority’s official website.
