Nassau County, FL Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

Sec. 6-47(c) applies only after a dog has completed the classification process in Sec. 6-47(b) and been finally determined to be a dangerous dog; the county does not require microchipping of dogs generally. Once that classification is final, the owner must, at their own expense, have the dog microchipped as recommended by the Florida Animal Control Association (FACA), giving Animal Control a permanent identifier tied to the dog even if its collar or tag is removed. Sec. 6-47(c)(1) layers on a second identification requirement: the dog must wear a large reflective tag in fluorescent coloring with the word 'dangerous' boldly imprinted so it can be read from a safe distance, along with a telephone number on the tag.

Sec. 6-47(c)(2) states that all dangerous dogs should be surgically sterilized at the owner's expense. These requirements sit on top of, not in place of, the confinement rules elsewhere in the article: a dangerous dog must also be confined by a secure enclosure and muzzled or caged whenever off the owner's premises under Sec. 6-45(d), and the owner remains subject to the classification's hearing and county-court appeal machinery in Sec. 6-47(b). Because the microchip mandate is tied to the dangerous-dog finding rather than to dog or cat ownership generally, an owner whose dog is never classified as dangerous is not reached by this subsection at all.