Microchipping a Litter of Puppies: The Breeder's Guide
Chipping a litter comes down to three jobs: implant the chips by eight weeks, register each puppy to yourself, and hand the records over when they leave for their new homes.
A litter brings its own small checklist, and the microchipping sits firmly on your side of it. In England, the law puts the job on you as the breeder: while the puppies are with their mother, you count as their keeper, meaning the person the pet lives with. So the chips need to be in and the records set up before any of the puppies leaves you.
Do breeders microchip puppies?
In practice, yes. In England, every keeper of a dog older than eight weeks must make sure it’s microchipped, whether they breed as a business or just have a one-off litter at home. Our page on why puppies must be chipped before they go to their new homes has more detail.
When the puppies need chipping, and who can do it
The key deadline to keep in mind is eight weeks. Our guide to the best age to microchip a puppy goes into the timing in more detail.
Whoever implants the chips has to be qualified: a vet, a vet nurse or student under a vet’s direction, or someone who has passed an approved training course. Our page on what to expect at a puppy’s microchipping appointment covers how the appointment works.
If you breed certified working dogs and dock their tails, different rules apply. In England, a docked dog must be microchipped by a vet, or a vet nurse under a vet’s supervision, before it’s three months old, and the chip is certified on the docking certificate. The exemptions are explained on our page on microchipping law exemptions.
Registering the litter in your name
Each puppy in the litter needs its own registration with you listed as the owner. The record has to include your full name, address and phone number, plus the puppy’s sex and colour. It also asks for the breed or cross-breed description, date of birth as best you know it, and the chip number. The record asks whether you’re the breeder: in England, if you’re licensed under the 2018 regulations, your licence number and the issuing authority go on it too.
Our dog microchipping page explains how registration works. Once a puppy is registered on Pet Database, updates are free for the life of the pe
Handing each puppy over to its new owner
In England, when a puppy changes keeper, the new keeper must record their full name, address and phone number on the database, unless the previous keeper has already done it. Make it easy for them: give each buyer their puppy’s chip number and the registration paperwork, and tell them which database holds the record.
On Pet Database, the new owner starts the transfer themselves: they find the chip number on the puppy’s paperwork, enter it, confirm they’re the new keeper, add their contact details and confirm. They don’t need to contact you first. Show the buyer how to transfer keepership before they leave.
If a vet decides a particular puppy should wait to be chipped until it’s older and bigger, you can still let it go to its new home. Give the buyer the vet’s signed exemption certificate instead of the registration certificate, and explain that the certificate replaces the chip paperwork for as long as it runs.
Once the litter has gone, each buyer transfers their puppy’s record into their own name. If any buyer gets stuck, point them at our transfer page. A quick five minutes at the end of their first week finishes the job you started.
