Selling puppies in QLD, NSW, VIC and TAS

Each state has its own rules for advertising and selling puppies. Most want a breeder number or a microchip number in every ad (NSW and Victoria want both), and most set 8 weeks as the youngest a puppy can go to a new home.

Queensland

• Register on the Queensland Dog Breeder Register within 28 days after a litter is born, even for one litter or an accidental one. It’s free and lasts 12 months, so renew it each year.
• You then have a supply number. It must be in every advertisement and given to anyone you supply a dog to, and you can’t advertise, sell or give away a dog without one.
• Dogs Queensland members and some council or QRIC permit holders can use their membership or permit number as their supply number, once the organisation has added them to the register.
• Primary producers who breed working dogs on rural land are exempt, as long as every puppy goes to another primary producer as a working dog.
• Puppies must be microchipped before they’re supplied, and by 12 weeks old. A puppy under 8 weeks can only be chipped if a vet considers it safe.
• When a puppy goes, give the new owner a notice with your name and supply number, and a completed, signed change-of-ownership form.

New South Wales

• Since 1 December 2025 you need a Breeder Identification Number (BIN) before you let a dog become pregnant. After an accidental pregnancy, apply within 14 days of finding out or 7 days after the birth, whichever comes first. A BIN is free from the NSW Pet Registry.
• A Dogs NSW or breed club membership number no longer replaces a BIN.
• For puppies born from 1 December 2025, every ad, online or in print, must show the puppy’s microchip number and your BIN. For a puppy aged 8 weeks or under that isn’t chipped yet, use the mother’s microchip number and say it’s hers. If you don’t advertise, give the buyer the same details before or at the sale.
• Microchip puppies by 12 weeks old or before they’re sold or given away, whichever comes first, with you recorded as the first owner.
• NSW’s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development says puppies must not be sold or given away until they’re over 8 weeks old.
• If you breed puppies for sale (other than a one-off accidental litter), the NSW Breeding Code says you must give each buyer a written guarantee when they buy: if the puppy isn’t acceptable to them for any reason within 3 days, you take it back and refund half the price.

Victoria

• You need a source number from the Pet Exchange Register to advertise a dog or puppy, whether for sale or free. It’s also needed when the litter is microchipped.
• Every ad must show your source number and each puppy’s microchip number.
• Puppies must be microchipped before they’re sold or given away.
• Puppies must not be sold or given away before 8 weeks old.

Tasmania

• There’s no breeder registration or breeder number.
• An ad for a puppy must show the mother’s or the puppy’s microchip number. If neither is chipped, show the mother’s council registration number and the council’s name.
• Before a puppy goes, give the new owner those same details, a vet-signed vaccination certificate (showing the dates, the diseases covered and when each is next due), and the date a vet last checked its health. Tell them about any health or behaviour problems you know of or suspect.
• Puppies must not go to a new home before 8 weeks old unless a vet advises otherwise.
• Dogs over 6 months old must be registered with your council and microchipped, and you need a kennel licence to keep more than 2 of them (more than 4 working dogs).

In WhelpHQ

• Record each puppy’s microchip number on its card on the litter page, so it’s ready for ads, contracts and the buyer’s paperwork.
• WhelpHQ doesn’t have a separate field for your supply number, BIN or source number yet. Add it to your contract templates (Contracts → Templates) so it prints on every new contract.