Dunedin City Council animal control team leader Ros MacGill estimated the number of dogs killed had decreased by about 20% since July 2006, when it became mandatory to microchip dogs before registration.
Now, 22% of the 13,444 farm and domestic dogs registered in the Dunedin City area carried microchips, a figure that would increase in future as more dogs received chips as puppies.
"It helps us because dogs which are not displaying identification tags can be matched with their owners much more easily. If dogs are impounded they can be claimed, and the result is less cost to owners because the animal is not kept for as long."
Microchips also made it easier for council staff to find owners of dogs involved in attacks on livestock or humans.
"Last weekend, for example, a dog attacked chickens in Pine Hill and was linked to its owner very quickly,'' she said.
The technology also made it easier to collect statistics relevant to animal control.
Between January and March this year, 3% of animal complaints in Dunedin City region related to dog attacks on animals; 2.5% related to dog attacks on people; 33% were reports of dogs barking; 35% were of dogs wandering; and 1.5% related to dogs fouling public areas.
About 52% of impounded dogs were not registered.
"Because of the new measure we would have to ask if there was a correlation between dog owners being irresponsible and wandering dogs''.
Dogs recovered by animal control staff were held by the SPCA for seven days before they were rehomed, euthanised, or collected by owners.
The majority were rehomed or collected, and these animals were not released until they were microchipped, she said.
SPCA executive officer Phil Soper, of Dunedin, said the organisation fitted 108 dogs and puppies with microchips last year.
"The technology makes it far easier to determine dog ownership, and animals can be held to be reclaimed, rather than being impounded. Once the animal has been scanned, we ring council to see if it's registered and there's a greater chance it will be collected. It has helped when locating owners of unclaimed dogs, and accelerated the rehoming process,'' he said.
