Government moves to end prolonged confinement of dogs

The Government is seeking New Zealanders' views on proposed new rules to stop dogs being shut away in cages, crates and kennels for extremely long periods, Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard says. "Dogs need exercise, company and room to move. When a dog is locked in a crate or kennel day after day with no break, it misses out on all of that, and it suffers," Mr Hoggard says. "Those dogs can become anxious, fearful and aggressive. That's bad for the dog, and it can put families, the public and other animals at risk too." SPCA inspectors deal with prolonged confinement regularly and received more than 400 complaints about it in 2024/25 alone. "Last year we worked with SPCA to ban prolonged tethering, and we've worked with them again on these proposals. We want to give inspectors a quicker way to act when they find a dog that is clearly suffering." Under the proposal, Animal Welfare Inspectors could issue a $500 infringement notice to the owner or person in charge of a dog when they find two or more signs of prolonged confinement. The proposed signs include built-up faeces or urine, a badly damaged enclosure, injuries from the enclosure, muscle wastage, overgrown nails, fl

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