The beginning of December marks that annual time frame for renewing your dog licenses. Officials told 21 News those licenses go hand in hand with microchips.

Microchipping your dog is equivalent to giving them permanent identification, making it easier to find your dog if they were ever lost.


"It's a great tool, you have identification on your dog 24/7," said Mahoning County Dog Warden, Dianne Fry. "And if your ID tag falls off the collar or the dog gets out of the collar, anything like that, there's still identification on the dog," she said.


Although the microchips will help find lost dogs, Fry says you want to keep the chips updated so that you won't lose your dog to another person.


"We have had situations where we've had prior owners come in and there's the chip but there was no license," said Fry. "So, license is your proof of ownership and, you know, we don't wanna give your dog away," she said.


If you keep the chip registered with your name, address and cell number you shouldn't have any issues.

If you get a new dog, Fry says to get it scanned to make sure there isn't already a chip in them and get it registered to you.

Officials say microchip costs vary from $20 to $50 dollars depending on where you go. The Mahoning County dog warden hopes to have chips available by Spring 2022. 

The Trumbull County Dog Warden currently has microchips available.