A Canterbury district with more than 16,000 registered dogs allowed its bylaw to expire almost two years ago, leaving the council scrambling to update it.
Legal advice confirmed the Selwyn District Council's Dog Control Bylaw expired in November 2024. It was identified during a regulatory review earlier this year.
Selwyn Mayor Lydia Gliddon said it highlighted a concerning trend where "a few bylaws and policies ... have lapsed”, which the council should have identified sooner.
“This is all part of our clean-up work that we're doing,” she said.
“There's been a review of all of our bylaws and policies, and prioritising renewal of some of them.”
The dog control bylaw expired before a largely new council was voted onto Selwyn District Council in 2025.
The expired bylaw doesn’t mean Selwyn is a lawless district for dog owners because the region also falls under the Dog Control Act, Gliddon said.
Gliddon said it was a frustrating situation and there was concern around the work to get the policies updated.
“We've got a list of bylaws and policies, and they will be triaged through into what ones we bring forward to, but [dog control] is an important one to keep moving.
“It is all part of rebuilding our system and process within the organisation.”
In the space of 10 years, the Selwyn council has gone from “a small rural council to this big beast” and is still adapting to the rapid growth, she said.
“We were hoping to have all that tidied up within 12 months, but it's taking a little bit longer.”
The Dog Control Act sets the national legal standard for New Zealand dog owners, while a council dog bylaw sets local rules, such as where dogs are banned and leash areas.
Dog registrations are set by the annual fees and charges setting process, so they still apply despite the expired bylaw, she said.
The bylaw issues were discussed at a council meeting last week.
The Keeping of Animals, Bees and Poultry Bylaw 2021 remains in force, but a review was not completed by May 2026, and it needs to be updated by 2028, or it too will expire.
The two bylaws are planned to be updated in unison, as an animal management review, to avoid duplication and increased cost, with an early engagement process by the end of the year, Gliddon said.
78 reported dog attacks
Animal control team leader Matt Van Keulen presented the dog control statistics for the 2025/26 year to council last week.
The animal control team responded to 1,595 service requests, covering roaming dogs (775), barking complaints (384), dog attacks, public safety concerns, and other general enquiries.
“Fewer than one in 10 requests is for an attack or a rushing incident,” Van Keulen said.
He said there were 78 dog attacks, 28 on people and 50 on animals, and 50 rushing incidents that were all investigated.
During the reporting period, 89 dogs were impounded, of which 68 were returned to their owners, 5 were adopted out, and 2 euthanised.
The report showed 16,440 dogs were registered, a 98% registration compliance, with 312 known dogs unregistered.
Selwyn's known dog population within the district was 16,772, slightly lower than 16,875 in 2024/25.
Van Keulen suggested the “number for the impounded dogs is low and I think that's due to the high registration rate”.
“We work on a graduated response, so we like to advise, educate, warnings, and then infringements, prosecutions - we don't just go straight in for prosecutions unless it's absolutely necessary.”
The district has 60 dogs classified as menacing and 12 dogs classified as dangerous at the end of the reporting period.
There were no prosecutions in the year, he said.
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
