A growing trend for couples tying the knot in Colorado is to have their pet serve as their marriage witness. Many opt to have their dog stamp their paw onto the Marriage certificate, but El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker said the office will no longer accept certificates with paw prints. El Paso County follows Denver and Arapahoe counties, who have also said paw prints will not be accepted. Most counties allow a paw print on the marriage witness line if the couple is self-solemnizing, where couples marry themselves without an officiant or witness. "It was a very hard decision to make because I am a pet lover," Schleiker said. The change comes as Schleiker said the ink from paw prints is leaving residue on scanners and copiers, Schleiker also said some couples are having their licenses rejected with the paw print. "They think it's a falsified document," Schleiker said, "we're almost at a point we have to start replacing the equipment because of the residue from these very large, large paw prints that are coming through."As the largest county by population in the state, the challenges started to add up. "We could do 40, 50, 60 marriage licenses a day, and that just creates a lot of residue [on the machines], " Schleiker said, he added there was also a concern for how it could impact couples years into the future looking to use their license for estate planning purposes. That being said, Schleiker said couples who have previously had their pet as a marriage witness should not have to worry about their license being marked as invalid. "Anybody who has done this before, you're fine, if somebody or an entity is not accepting that, then we will sit there and certify it saying, yes, this is a true copy," Schleiker said. With some counties opting not to allow paw prints, Schleiker said conversations are happening on how to get a more uniform system with what is and is not allowed for marriage licenses at the state level. _______Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.