Dog owners licensing their pets with the city will soon have the ability to include microchip information with their application.

In a release, Mayor Scott Avedisian said the City Clerk’s Office and other municipalities have been working with the vendor that provides the licensing software for cities and towns throughout Rhode Island in an effort to upgrade the program to include a specific field for the microchip information. Presently, the only way the information can be included is if another field is not needed; for example, if a resident only includes a cell number and not a home phone number as well.

 There are websites that allow pet owners nationwide to add their dog’s microchip number, which can be searched from anywhere in the country should the animal become lost.

“Having the ability to include this information on our city database – which is available to our Animal Control Division and the Animal Shelter – will provide another resource to access microchip numbers and reunite lost pets with their owners,” Avedisian said.

Dog licenses expire annually in April, and new licenses are available beginning April 1 through the City Clerk’s Office. Both new licenses and renewals are done by mail. Residents must mail the rabies certificate, self-addressed stamped envelope and a $10 check made payable to the City of Warwick to Warwick City Clerk’s Office, Dog License Division, 3275 Post Road, Warwick, RI  02886.

Rabies certificates must

be included for the license to be issued. If a licensed dog has been re-homed or is now deceased, residents should notify the City Clerk’s Office, Dog License Division at 738-2006 ext. 6 to have the license removed from city records. 

Application forms are available online for downloading at www.warwickri.gov/city-clerks-office/files/dog-license-information or by calling the City Clerk’s Office at 738-2006, ext. 6.

Avedisian said the software upgrade should be available in February, in advance of the annual renewal period.