Evidence Requirements
Evidence Requirements
The owner of the dog must show evidence to the veterinary surgeon that the puppy presented is likely to work.
The regulation stipulates the following evidence will need to be seen by the veterinary surgeon before the dog can be certified:
The Act requires that all certified dogs are identified before they are 3 months of age. The Regulations detail how a specified legally docked dog must be marked with identification.
A permanent mark of identification is necessary to be able to prove that the dog has been legally docked, and provide a link to the certificate. This will allow a future owner of the dog to prove that the dog is a certified working dog, under the Act and the regulations.
The Welsh Assembly Government consider that microchipping is the only way of uniquely and permanently identifying a legally docked dog. However, due to the size of the puppy, this procedure may be carried out at a different time from the docking of the tail. Veterinary surgeons (and veterinary nurses under the supervision of a veterinary surgeon) will carry out the microchipping. WAG specify that ISO (International Standards Organisation) Standard microchips meeting specification 11784 or Annex A to 11785 are used. If the microchip does not conform to either of these ISO Standards, it may not be able to be read by a universal microchip reader, so this enables the microchip number to be read successfully.
