The Law

ORC 955.02 A kennel is an establishment that keeps, houses, and maintains adult dogs (12 months of age and older),  for the purpose of breeding the dogs for a fee or other consideration received through a sale, exchange, or lease and that is not a high volume breeder licensed under Chapter 956. of the Revised Code.

ORC 955.04 Every owner of a kennel of dogs shall make application for the registration of such kennel, and pay to the county auditor a registration fee of eighty dollars for each such kennel. If such application is not filed and the fee paid, on or before the thirty-first day of January of each year, the auditor shall assess a penalty in an amount equal to the registration fee. The payment of such kennel registration fee shall entitle the licensee to not more than five tags. Upon application to the county auditor, additional tags, in excess of the five tags, may be issued upon payment of an additional fee of one dollar per tag.

Tag Fees

• $80.00 for a Kennel License (5 tags)
• $160.00 Kennel License plus penalty if purchased after January 31st.
• $1.00 Additional tags

High Volume Breeders

ORC 956 "High volume breeder" means an establishment that keeps, houses, and maintains six or more breeding dogs and does at least one of the following:

(1) In return for a fee or other consideration, sells five or more adult dogs or puppies in any calendar year to dog brokers or pet stores;

(2) In return for a fee or other consideration, sells forty or more puppies in any calendar year to the public; or

(3) Keeps, houses, and maintains, at any given time in a calendar year, more than forty puppies that are under four months of age, that have been bred on the premises of the establishment, and that have been primarily kept, housed, and maintained from birth on the premises of the establishment.

Current Licenses from Outside Wayne County

If you move to Wayne County from another county within Ohio we will honor the license until it is expired.

If you move here from another state you are required to purchase a license immediately upon arrival. If you wait more than 30 days, we are required to charge a penalty equal to the license fee.