Northwest Territories Dog Breeder Licensing Requirements

No territorial law in the Northwest Territories requires a dog breeder, kennel or pet business to hold a licence, permit or registration. The territory's animal welfare law is the Dog Act (R.S.N.W.T. 1988, c. D-7), which covers dogs only and has no licensing scheme. Its main reform took effect in May 2011, adding the duty of care, the ban on causing distress and higher penalties; in February 2026 the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs told the Legislative Assembly that the department had done no formal policy or legislative work on the Act in the previous five years. The Act leaves dog licensing and control largely to community governments, which may pass their own dog bylaws. In Yellowknife, every kennel operator must obtain a licence under the city's Business License By-law (Dog By-law No. 4755, s. 16), and the bylaw defines a kennel as an establishment for the breeding, boarding, raising and training and/or grooming of dogs for compensation. Every dog over six months old in Yellowknife must also be licensed, with the licence renewed each year.

There is no territorial application. In Yellowknife, a kennel operator applies to the city for a business licence under the Business License By-law. Dog licences are bought at the Municipal Enforcement office at City Hall; the applicant must be at least 18, give the dog's name, breed, colour and sex, and show a veterinarian's proof of current rabies vaccination. Breeders in other communities should check with their community government, which may have its own dog bylaw.

The territory charges no breeder or kennel fee. Yellowknife's kennel licence is a city business licence; its fee is set under the city's business licensing rules, and the Dog By-law does not set a separate kennel fee.

Every owner must ensure a dog has adequate food and water, give it adequate care when it is wounded or ill, provide reasonable protection from injurious heat or cold having regard to the dog's physical characteristics, and provide adequate shelter, ventilation and space (Dog Act, s. 4(1)). No owner may permit a dog to be in distress, and no person may cause it (s. 6). A dog is in distress if it is deprived of adequate shelter, ventilation, space, food, water, reasonable veterinary care or protection from injurious heat or cold, is injured, sick, in pain or suffering, or is abused or subjected to undue hardship, privation or neglect (s. 1(2)). Distress arising in an accepted activity, such as harvesting or protecting people from wildlife, is exempt only if the activity follows generally accepted practice and does not cause undue suffering (s. 6(3) to (5)). Officers appointed by the Minister enforce the Act, and RCMP members and community bylaw officers are officers by virtue of their office, bylaw officers only within their own municipality (s. 2). For enforcement, an officer may enter and inspect without a warrant, during ordinary business hours, any place other than a dwelling-house where dogs are kept for sale, hire or exhibition, and any vehicle used to transport dogs (s. 18). An officer may relieve a dog's distress, including by taking custody of it (s. 7), may enter with a warrant, or without one in urgent cases except a dwelling-house (s. 8), and may take an abandoned dog into custody (s. 9). In Yellowknife, kennel operators must let an officer enter and inspect the kennel at all reasonable times, and an officer may have the dogs seized and impounded at the operator's cost if the kennel does not comply (Dog By-law No. 4755, ss. 18, 19).

There is no territorial record-keeping rule for breeders, and Yellowknife's Dog By-law sets no record-keeping requirement for kennels.

A person who breaks the Dog Act or its regulations is liable on summary conviction to a fine of up to $2,500, up to three months in jail, or both for a first offence, and up to $10,000, up to six months in jail, or both for a second or later offence (s. 25(1)). Each day an offence continues is a separate offence (s. 25(2)). On conviction, the court may bar the owner from having custody of dogs for a period it sets, and breaking that order is itself an offence (s. 25(3), (4)); it may also order a dog destroyed for humane or safety reasons (s. 25(5)). Once a charge is laid, an officer may ask the court for custody of the dog until the case ends (s. 26). Making false statements to or obstructing an officer is also prohibited (s. 3). The federal Criminal Code separately makes it an offence to wilfully cause an animal unnecessary pain, suffering or injury, punishable by up to five years in prison on indictment (s. 445.1). In Yellowknife, the ticket for failing to licence a kennel or for refusing an officer entry to inspect is $250, and a conviction under the Dog By-law carries the same maximums as the Dog Act (Dog By-law No. 4755, s. 60, Sch. A).