Germany: bringing home a dog or cat, the checklist

Deciding

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Check with your landlord whether a dog or cat is allowed, and get the consent in writing.
A general ban in a standard-form lease is void, but a weighing in each case decides (BGH, VIII ZR 168/12).
Plan the time: a dog needs company and exercise several times a day, a puppy up to the 20th week four hours a day.
Animal Welfare Dog Ordinance § 2: exercise, contact with the carer and contact with other dogs, adapted to breed, age and health.
Work out the running costs: food, vet, liability insurance, and for dogs the dog tax.
The municipality sets the dog tax. A reserve for vet costs helps: the site’s emergency fund calculator shows how long it lasts.
Ask your municipality what applies to dogs: registration, chip, liability insurance, leash.
The states and municipalities regulate this differently: Hamburg two weeks, Berlin one month for registration.

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Look at an animal shelter or a reputable breeder, not at cheap offers on the internet.
The Federal Ministry warns about illegal puppy trade: the animals are often too young, weakened and unvaccinated.
Do not take a puppy under eight weeks.
It may only be separated from its mother at over eight weeks (Animal Welfare Dog Ordinance § 2(4)).
Have the vaccination record and the chip number shown to you.
For travel in the EU, dogs, cats and ferrets need a chip, a rabies vaccination and an EU pet passport (BMLEH).

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Register the dog with the municipality: dog tax and, where it exists, the dog register.
Berlin: within a month, registration in the dog register also counts as the tax one. Hamburg: within two weeks (Service Berlin, hamburg.de).
Have the dog microchipped at the vet, where this is mandatory.
In Hamburg all dogs must carry a microchip from the third month of life (hamburg.de).
Take out dog liability insurance before the dog moves in.
In some states it is mandatory (Hamburg: at least 1 million euros, at most €500 excess). Personal liability insurance does not cover dogs (Verbraucherzentrale).
For a cat: check whether your personal liability insurance covers cats.
Cats, rabbits and other small animals are generally covered (Verbraucherzentrale).
Ask your municipality whether outdoor cats must be neutered, marked or registered.
State governments can require this for areas with many free-living cats (Animal Welfare Act § 13b).

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Set up a fixed place, with a bed, food and water.
Water must be available to the dog at all times in sufficient quantity (Animal Welfare Dog Ordinance § 8).
Never keep the dog tied up.
Tethering is forbidden, with narrow exceptions when accompanied by a carer (§ 7).
In training, use no prong collars and no other painful means.
This is forbidden (Animal Welfare Dog Ordinance § 2(5)).
Plan the first vet visit: health check, vaccinations, deworming.
The vet writes the vaccinations in the vaccination record or the EU pet passport.
Provide regular contact with other dogs, if it does the dog good.
The ordinance requires regular contact with other dogs, except for health reasons or incompatibility (§ 2).

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Find out the leash requirement where you live and follow it.
In Hamburg a general leash requirement applies, with exemptions (hamburg.de); elsewhere states and municipalities regulate it differently.
Remember: the keeper is liable for the damage their animal causes.
Even without fault (BGB § 833; Verbraucherzentrale).
If the animal runs away: report it to the shelter, the vet, the lost-property office and the pet register.
Whoever finds an animal must report the find to the competent authority or the owner (BGB § 965).
Plan trips with the animal early: chip, rabies vaccination and pet passport.
The checklist “Traveling with a pet” guides you through the rules.