Thought I would ask the question, in view of the recent post about ‘Types of Hoarder’. Here are some of the replies I received. If anyone in Belgium, Holland and Scandinavia would like to let me know, I will be pleased to include the info.

In Switzerland: Dog owners have to pay a yearly fee for each dog, depending on weight. In addition the owner must attend a dog school to learn to handle his dog, and do that with each dog he owns. This is all registered at the City hall (ayuntamiento)

In California they pay $29 per greyhound per year, in some townships you are only allowed 2 dogs, in others 4 dogs – it varies a lot.

In Germany, it costs 170 Euro for the first dog, twice that for the second….. But, how many citizens follow the law and register their dogs.

In France we are allowed to keep up to 9 dogs before we have to register as a kennels;

In Spain it is only 5 ANIMALS before you have to get the kennel permit. They are more strict now in some parts of the country. And for each dog that comes in, it has to be registered at the Town hall for in future having to pay a registration fee. But most of them are not prepared to do it yet.

Austria – from what I can establish it seems that there is no legally established upper limit. However, many landlords do not accept dogs without express permission so it would be difficult to have more than a couple in towns or cities. In addition, dog tax is expensive and each area has its own fee. I pay €55 a year for the first dog and €80 per dog for the other two. I hope this helps.

UK – don’t think there is any limit unless you are breeding from them in which case you need a Council licence