An unaccompanied jaunt down the road led to a two night stay in the pound for one little Jack Russell named CJ.

The pooch belongs to Thames-Coromandel District Council communications team contractor Alison Smith who's sharing CJ's tale as a reminder that dog registrations are due on September 30.

Thames-Coromandel District Council hopes Tairua Jack Russell CJ's (pictured here as a puppy) tale of misfortune and adventure will encourage all dog owners to pay their registration fees by September 30. Photo: Alison Smith

The much-love family dog's unplanned stay in the pound has taught Alison a valuable lesson about the importance of registering pets on time and ensuring their tags are visible.

She says while CJ may not have been born with the same features or stature as his human pack, he certainly considers himself to be the fourth child in their family.

'So when the rest of us hurried out the door one recent Saturday in various different directions to attend winter sport commitments, CJ was overlooked, outdoors and undoubtedly a little miffed,” recalls Alison.

'An hour or so after my daughter's soccer game, the text messages began to ping, alerting me to a post on our local community Facebook page enquiring as to the rightful owners of a small dog, seemingly on a mission and of no apparent threat to anyone, but bearing no registration tag on his collar.”

Alison says because Tairua is a small close-knit community, often when dogs like CJ wander off its dealt with by a phone call to the owner from the person who's spotted them, but there's also been occasions when straying pooches have been delivered direct to the owner's door in person.

But on this particular weekend, Alison says a TCDC dog control officer was called to help reunite a small dog with his unknown owner.

'Unfortunately by the time I had responded to another Facebook post that the dog had not been microchipped, it was too late. Our fourth child was headed to the pound.

'In fact he had been microchipped some years ago, prior to when it was compulsory to microchip all puppies, but as I later found out, his microchip was faulty and had failed when he was scanned.”

CJ would end up spending two nights in Thames, due to him being found on was a Saturday and dogs can only be released by a officers once all fees are paid to any of the council's offices, which are open from Monday to Friday.

Alison says CJ's sleeping arrangements weren't like the usual 'foot-of-a-children's-bed” that he's accustomed to, but his stay was warm and comfortable in the hands of the TCDC.

'When we were reunited on Monday after payment, I was pleased [to learn] that apart from the yapping, CJ had not brought the family name into disrepute, erasing visions of him scraping a doggie bowl across the bars and wailing incessantly.”

But his stay came at a cost. With the registration fee having been overdue, it cost Alison and her family $160 to set CJ free.

'I followed up the microchipping failure with CJ's vet James Wickham, who explained that a faulty batch of microchips were distributed sometime during 2008/9 and the company that supplied them, Virbac, is replacing for free those that were faulty,” says Alison.

DOG REGISTRATIONS DUE SEPTEMBER 30

The Thames-Coromandel District Council says if all dog owners want to avoid additional fees then they need to ensure their registration fees are paid by September 30.

'Our compliance team head out in early September to undertake their annual campaign to ensure dogs are registered, so we are hoping that owners will act quickly to ensure all dogs aged over three months are registered,” says council

Owners who fail to register their dog before September 1 will be liable for an additional 50 per cent fee, making the registration cost $105.

People who cannot afford to pay the fees will be visited personally by a compliance officer to assess a person's hardship and to make a decision on how to get dogs registered.

Council also asks everyone whose circumstances have changed, such as their dog has died or has a new owner, lives at a new address or no longer resides in the Thames-Coromandel district, to contact them so they can update their database.

For more information visit the Thames-Coromandel District Council's Dog Registration and Fees webpage.

A free, and most importantly, registered CJ on the Thames coast following his recent incarceration. Photo: Alison Smith