Wondering what holiday gift to buy for your dog? The County Auditor’s office began selling 2009 San Juan County tags on Nov. 17.

Licenses for un-neutered dogs are $30. Tags for neutered males and spayed females are $12. The county will charge a $10 late fee for tags purchased after March 31.

This year dog owners have the option of having the county keep a digital photo and micro-chip information on file for their dog. The information can be made available to deputies and veterinarians should the pet go missing. The fee for storing the picture is $5. There is no additional charge for storing the microchip information.

The best way to include a photo of your dog in the record is to email a digital photo to licensing@sanjuanco.com (please keep the photo’s file size to less than 1 megabyte). Alternatively, photos can be scanned at the auditor’s office in the Courthouse in Friday Harbor.

All dogs in San Juan County are required to be licensed. The Dog License Fund is used, in part, to reimburse owners of livestock killed by stray dogs. It is also used to defray the cost of the licensing program, including purchasing tags and maintaining the licensing database. All funds not used to maintain the program are distributed to the three Animal Protection Societies on San Juan, Orcas, and Lopez, for performing impound services for San Juan County.

2009 Dog licenses are available on San Juan Island at the San Juan County Auditor’s office (350 Court Street, Friday Harbor, 378-2161), the Animal Protection Society (378-2158), and Harbor Vet (378-3959); on Orcas Island at the Animal Protection Society (376-6777), Eastsound Kennels (186 Dolphin Bay Road, 376-2410), Orcas Vet Services (450 North Beach Road, Eastsound); and on Lopez Island at Sunset Builder’s Supply (4194 Center Road, 468-2407) and Lopez Liquor Store (Washburn Place Road).