Greg Tallent said his whippet, Hank, had been helping out on the farm late last year when he got distracted and chased a fox or a rabbit.

“He usually comes back but he’s only 12 months old and he’s lost his way home,” he said.

“A woman picked him up on Walla Road, less than a kilometre from our property, and took him to a vet in Albury.”

A ranger picked up Hank that day and he was taken to the Albury pound.

Hank was microchiped but not registered in NSW.

Mr Tallent called the Albury pound the next morning looking for him and was informed of the hefty fees involved to have him returned.

The fees included $180 to register his dog, a $60 impoundment fee and $50 because he was not de-sexed.

Mr Tallent was also slapped with a $275 penalty for not having his dog restrained in the Greater Hume Shire.

“I thought the idea of a microchip was to identify the owner if a dog is lost and have it returned, not taken to the pound,” he said.

“I got my dog back in the end, but it certainly hurt my hip pocket.

“I can see why some people can’t afford to get their dog out of the pound.”

Mr Tallent was also surprised by the actions of the woman who dropped his dog at a vet clinic in Albury.

“Usually the bush telegraph gets around and you find your dog has been taken to the pub for you to find, not taken all the way to Albury,” he said.

Greater Hume environment and planning director Colin Kane said the shire’s rangers used their judgement when it came to picking up lost dogs and returning them to their owners.

“When the rangers pick up dogs they try to return them, but in some instances this is not possible,” he said.

“We have to be fair about it, we wouldn’t repeatedly return the same dog.”

Mr Kane said the vet, as well as the ranger, had trouble finding the microchip.

“It’s usually located at the back of the neck, but the chip had moved, which can happen,” he said.

“The pound found a chip in an unusual spot, by its leg.”