Brockton, MA Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

Section 3-23 governs any dog "used primarily for the purpose of securing and protecting real or personal property" that is open to public access. Subsection (g) requires the guard dog service or the dog's owner, at their own expense, to have the dog "implanted with an electronic animal identification device (microchip)" and to give the animal control department the microchip manufacturer and number. Subsection (j) makes it unlawful to "own or harbor any guard dog in the city that has not been vaccinated for rabies, registered, licensed and implanted with an electronic animal identification (microchip) device." A guard dog also needs a no-fee security dog kennel permit from the city clerk, based on the animal control officer's written certification of compliance, and the department must be notified immediately if the dog is transferred, dies, or disappears under subsection (h).

Outside the guard-dog context, microchipping shows up once more, tied to repeat at-large dogs rather than a general pet mandate. Section 3-7(f) allows the animal control officer to have a dog "surgically sterilized and microchipped before returning to the owner" once that dog has been found at large on three separate documented occasions. The owner bears the full cost of the procedure plus a $100 transportation fee. Failing to comply with the guard-dog microchip and registration rules under Section 3-23 carries its own fine of $50 for each day of violation, separate from the chapter's general $50-to-$500 penalty in Section 3-22.