Dangerous Dogs Legislation

Dogs who have irresponsible owners can be victims of cruelty and neglect, in some cases dogs may suffer violence at the hands of their owners in attempts to try and encourage aggression.  Owners must be held accountable for their actions and take responsibility for their dogs training and behaviour.

Although I am pleased to hear that the Welsh government are serious about tackling the owners of dangerous dogs, I am alarmed that, like the British government, they are considering introducing just compulsory micro-chipping of dogs in order to do this next Spring.  

Although compulsory micro-chipping is better than nothing, it will not be any real benefit to dogs unless some other important elements are included in new regulations, for example, the abolition of Breed Specific Legislation (which is the legislation Belfast County Council hid behind when seizing and murdering Lennox) a registration scheme and education and engagement.

Current legislation is failing to tackle the problem of irresponsible dog ownership and since the Dangerous Dogs Act was introduced in 1991 the situation has increasingly worsened.

If you live in Wales you can tell the Welsh government what you think by taking action and contributing to their consultation which closes on Wednesday 8th August.

The English government consultation is now closed but ,if you live in England, you can still help take action against irresponsible dog ownership by signing The Sun newspapers petition calling for compulsory micro-chipping AND registration of dogs as the first step to ensure owners are made accountable for their actions.

Public consultation over the Dangerous Dogs Act

Source.

After years of campaigning by organisations such as Dogs Trust, the Government has launched a consultation over it's intended plans to tackle irresponsible dog ownership seeking our views on the issue.

The Government are proposing the following:

• To extend section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act to allow owners to be prosecuted for allowing their dogs to be dangerously out of control in any place, including private property.
• Allow dogs mentioned in section 1(deemed to be of a banned breed) to be granted "bail" meaning that following seizure by the police, if the dog was not deemed to be a threat to public safety and the owner was deemed responsible, the dog could be returned to the owner rather than going into police kennelling prior to any court date.
• To increase the fee for a section 1 dog to be placed on the Index of Exempted Dogs.
• To consult on plans to make micro-chipping compulsory for puppies.

 - Source, Dogs Trust.  If you want to read the full consultation documents you can do so here.

 

You have until the consultation closes on 15th June to give your views and you can do so by  quickly filling in this survey or by e-mailing Defra directly at: 

animalwelfare.consultations@defra.gsi.gov.uk

To help you fill in the survey have a look at the answers given by Dogs Trust which reflect that they don't think the Governments proposals go far enough.  Use this as a guide but remember to try and put it as much in your own words as possible.