Pets in Berlin: bringing your pet, dog registration, tax, insurance and leash rules

Before you start

• Your pet has an ISO microchip that a vet has read and recorded
• A valid rabies vaccination given after the microchip was implanted, when the animal was at least 12 weeks old
• For dogs, liability insurance that meets Berlin's minimum requirements

Documents you need

• EU pet passport (for pets of EU residents travelling within the EU)

  Issued by authorised vets to owners resident in the EU. Old-model passports remain valid as long as rabies protection is recorded without gaps.

  optional

• EU animal health certificate and written declaration (for entry from a non-EU country)

  Issued by an official or authorised vet and endorsed by the authority; valid for 10 days until the entry check.

  optional

• Rabies vaccination record and, if required, the rabies antibody test report

  required

• Dog liability insurance policy

  Keep proof available; Berlin requires at least 1 million euros of cover per claim and a deductible of no more than 500 euros a year.

  required

• Acquisition certificate (Erwerbsbescheinigung) if you got the dog in Berlin

  The person who gives you a dog must issue it; keep it for as long as you have the dog.

  optional

Step by step

1. 1

   Step 1: Check whether your pet can travel and plan the timing

   For private travel with up to five dogs, cats or ferrets (more only for competitions and shows, with proof), each animal needs:

   • a microchip (or a clearly legible tattoo applied before 3 July 2011);
   • a valid rabies vaccination: the animal must have been at least 12 weeks old, the vaccination must come after the microchip, and it only becomes valid 21 days after the primary vaccination is complete;
   • for dogs travelling to Finland, Ireland, Malta, Norway or Northern Ireland, a tapeworm treatment (not needed for Germany).

   Puppies and kittens without valid rabies protection (under 12 weeks, or 12 to 16 weeks and not yet protected) may not be brought to Germany, neither from other EU countries nor from outside the EU.

   Banned breeds: Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Bull Terriers and crosses with them may not be brought into Germany. Exceptions exist for visitors staying up to four weeks, for dogs already legally kept in Germany returning from abroad, and for service and assistance dogs.

2. 2

   Step 2: Prepare the documents for your route

   From another EU country: an EU pet passport with the microchip number and valid rabies vaccination. Passports are only issued to owners resident in the EU, by authorised vets.

   From a non-EU country:

   • An EU animal health certificate on the new model, completed by an official or authorised vet in the country of departure and endorsed by the competent authority. It is valid for 10 days from issue until the entry check (longer for sea journeys). Since 1 October 2026, only certificates on the new model are accepted.
   • A written declaration that the move is not for sale or change of ownership. If someone else travels with your pet, they need your written authorisation, and you must travel within five days.
   • A rabies antibody test (titre test) if you come from a country not listed in Annexes I and II of EU Implementing Regulation 2026/636. The blood sample must be taken by an authorised vet at least 30 days after vaccination and at least 90 days before the health certificate is issued, and tested in an EU-approved laboratory, with a result of at least 0.5 IU/ml. This is why you need to start months ahead.

   Check the exact requirements for your country of departure on the European Commission's pet travel pages and with the vet in good time.

3. 3

   Step 3: Enter through an approved point and declare your pet

   From most non-EU countries you must enter the EU through an approved entry point for travellers with pets, such as the larger airports, and declare the animal so customs or the veterinary service can check the documents and read the microchip. This does not apply when arriving from Andorra, the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Greenland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland or the Vatican.

   If the requirements are not met, the authorities can send the animal back, place it in quarantine for months at your expense, or, as a last resort, order it to be put down.

4. 4

   Step 4: Check your rental contract and ask your landlord

   German law does not regulate pets in rented flats directly; it depends on your contract and a balancing of interests.

   • Small animals such as hamsters, rabbits, birds and aquarium fish are generally allowed.
   • For dogs and cats, a landlord may not refuse consent arbitrarily. A standard clause banning all pets, or all dogs and cats, is invalid. Whether a dog is acceptable depends on factors such as its size and behaviour, the flat, the building and the neighbours.
   • A pet ban that you individually negotiated with the landlord is binding.

   Ask for consent in writing before you move in with a dog or cat, and keep the answer. See the guide on rental terms.

5. 5

   Step 5: Register your dog in the Berlin dog register

   Everyone who keeps a dog in Berlin must register it in the central dog register (Hunderegister), run on behalf of the state by GovConnect GmbH. Register as soon as you start keeping the dog here.

   • Online: create an owner account at hunderegister.berlin.de. Fee 17.50 euros per dog (2026).
   • By post, email or phone: fee 26.50 euros per dog.
   • You need your details, the dog's breed, sex and date of birth, and the 15-digit microchip number (it is in the pet passport).
   • Changes (for example a move) and deregistration are free.
   • Registrations in private pet databases do not replace the Berlin register. Not registering can be fined up to 10,000 euros.

   Since 1 January 2024, registering in the dog register also counts as registering for dog tax, so you do not need to register separately with the tax office. Every dog in Berlin must be microchipped once it is three months old.

6. 6

   Step 6: Pay the dog tax (Hundesteuer)

   Dog tax in Berlin is 120 euros a year for the first dog and 180 euros for each further dog (2026). Registration is due within one month of moving to Berlin or getting the dog (for puppies under three months, within the first four months of life). About four weeks after registration, your local tax office (Finanzamt) sends a tax assessment. After the first year, the tax is due quarterly on 5 March, 5 June, 5 September and 5 December; you can pay by direct debit. Dogs no longer need a tax tag.

   You can apply to the tax office for an exemption, for example for guide and assistance dogs, for dogs adopted from an animal shelter (for five years), and while you receive certain benefits such as citizen's income (Bürgergeld), social assistance, statutory pensions or asylum seekers' benefits. Exemptions must be applied for separately, even if you registered through the dog register.

7. 7

   Step 7: Take out dog liability insurance

   In Berlin, dog liability insurance is compulsory, including for dogs kept elsewhere but walked in Berlin. The policy must cover personal injury and property damage with at least 1 million euros per claim, with a deductible of no more than 500 euros per insurance year.

   A dog owner is liable for damage caused by the dog even without fault, and personal liability insurance does not cover dogs. The Verbraucherzentrale recommends a sum insured of at least 5 million euros and notes that dog liability policies start at about 50 euros a year (2025). Check that the policy also covers damage to rented property and people who look after your dog.

   Cats and small animals are usually covered by your normal personal liability insurance. See the guide on liability insurance.

8. 8

   Step 8: Learn the leash rules, or get a dog licence

   Berlin has a general leash requirement (Leinenpflicht): dogs must be on a lead throughout the city, except in designated dog exercise areas (Hundeauslaufgebiete and Hundefreilaufflächen).

   Exemption with a certificate of competence (Sachkundebescheinigung, often called the "dog licence"): the district Ordnungsamt issues it if you pass a test with a recognised expert (30 multiple-choice questions in 45 minutes, at least 70 percent correct, plus a practical obedience test with a dog at least one year old), or if you have kept a dog for three years without complaints within the last five years, or belong to certain professions such as vets. The exemption then lets your dog walk off the lead on quiet streets and squares and on wasteland as well. In 2026 the certificate costs from 41 euros (after a test) or from 61.50 euros (for experience or a recognised certificate from another state), billed by time spent. It applies only to that person and that dog. Dogs you already owned before 22 July 2016 are exempt from the general leash requirement.

   Even with a certificate, the lead is always required in parks and green spaces, in forests outside signposted dog areas, on sports grounds, campsites and allotments, in stairwells and shared areas of residential buildings, in shops, offices and public buildings, at events and in crowds, on public transport and in stations, in pedestrian zones and busy streets, and when a female dog is in heat.

   Dogs are not allowed on children's playgrounds, in swimming pools and at public bathing sites, or on marked sunbathing lawns.

9. 9

   Step 9: Know the extra rules for listed dogs

   Berlin classifies Pit Bulls, American Staffordshire Terriers, Bull Terriers and their crosses as dangerous by breed (Listenhunde). Keeping one requires notifying the Ordnungsamt without delay, a certificate of good conduct, proof of competence and insurance within set deadlines, a muzzle from seven months of age and a lead in public. As explained above, these breeds generally cannot be brought into Germany at all.

10. 10

    Step 10: Everyday duties

    • Clean up after your dog and carry bags with you; not doing so, or not carrying bags, can be fined.
    • Barking: keep your dog so that neighbours are not considerably disturbed by its noise. See the guide on quiet hours and neighbours.
    • Public transport has its own rules and tickets for dogs; see the guide on public transport in Berlin.
    • Keep the paperwork: register changes of address and the end of keeping a dog in the dog register.

Watch out

Common mistakes

• Vaccinating against rabies before the microchip is implanted, which makes the vaccination invalid for travel.
• Starting the rabies antibody test too late; the sample must be taken at least 90 days before the health certificate is issued.
• Assuming a dog licence allows off-lead walking in parks; it does not.
• Forgetting to apply separately for a dog tax exemption for an adopted shelter dog.
• Moving in with a dog without asking the landlord first.

Tips

• Scan all pet documents and keep copies on your phone and in the cloud.
• Ask your vet abroad to check the EU requirements for your exact route, including the entry point you will use.
• Shelter dogs are exempt from dog tax for five years; consider adopting.
• Look for the signposted dog exercise areas in Berlin's forests and parks for off-lead walks.
• Update the dog register when you move within Berlin; it is free.

Frequently asked questions

Editorial answers written by our team, based on the sources below.

Official links

Sources

Written and checked by HomiStart editorial against the official sources below. Next scheduled check: 3 Apr 2027.