Dangerous dogs? Way off topic.

Not related to pubs at all.. Just seen yet another rottie that's in the mire due to a mauling incident.. As a rottweiler owner all my adult life, and someone that's trained working dogs for security work, it brings tears to my eyes that nothing gets done - a pair of dogs are going to be put down, someone's kiddy is in danger of dying, and some human moron is going to get a £100 fine and told they can't keep dogs? Anyone that's been in the pub and met Sisco can hopefully back me up that these are anything but aggressive dogs.

My question - what would you do to control "dangerous" dogs? If it were me, I'd insist on all dogs being chipped, and a photo-ID chip-card being carried by all dog owners, containing the chip number for every dog they're licensed to keep, complete with the dog's vaccination history, and any "incidents" that either the dog or the license holder has been involved in.

I can't find the thread which discussed proposed reintroduction of dog licences after another child attack incident, but I think everyone (here) was in agreement that feral owners were the problem and these owners were the very people who would disregard any requirement for registration, and policing of unregistered dogs/owners would be way beyond available resources. The discussion also covered the penalty such a scheme would impose on those who could ill-afford it, including pensioners having to pay for the actions of an irresponsible minority.

The question might more pertinently be posed 'How do you control people who turn dogs dangerous'? Irresponsible owners also give proper dog owners a bad name by off-lead street walking and refusing to recognise their responsibility to pick up after the animal. Hardly surprising as they also fail to behave in a socially acceptable manner on so many counts. The number of staffs ending up at Battersea, forming >50% of the intake, is no surprise as these morons, as you correctly call them, will take on a dog as a short-term status symbol, or worse, then abandon it, often having abused it & made it dangerous and unhousable, ultimately meaning it gets put down.

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Originally Posted by trainman

I can't find the thread which discussed proposed reintroduction of dog licences after another child attack incident, but I think everyone (here) was in agreement that feral owners were the problem and these owners were the very people who would disregard any requirement for registration, and policing of unregistered dogs/owners would be way beyond available resources.

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Looked it up last night and decided not to post it, nothing wrong with treading old steps, but if anyone wants to recheck it:
http://forums.pubsgalore.co.uk/showt...=9338#post9338

It should be the owners that are hounded not the dogs.

Arf!

I agree - I think that in the eyes of the law a dog should be treated as an extension of their owner, so if a dog attacks someone the owner should be hauled before the courts and prosecuted as if they had caused the injuries. Also if an owner doesn't clear up their dog's mess they should be prosecuted as if they had done a dump in a public place.

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Originally Posted by Strongers

I agree - I think that in the eyes of the law a dog should be treated as an extension of their owner, so if a dog attacks someone the owner should be hauled before the courts and prosecuted as if they had caused the injuries. Also if an owner doesn't clear up their dog's mess they should be prosecuted as if they had done a dump in a public place.

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Ditto their children, in some cases.

It's interesting, if you look at the legislation (Guard Dogs Act 1975) that governs the use of security dogs, they must be under control and tethered at all times on duty. If a dog is "set upon" someone whilst working, it is considered as a weapon, and the level of force is taken in to account, versus the level of force faced. It doesn't seem that these same rules extend to chav's walking their status symbol.

Whilst I see what you're saying about Doris with her Shitzu, unless they're legislated (which would include to costs rolling out), this will continue; I'd imagine the costs involved would be similar to that of an SIA license once the government had swollen them up. Harsh as it sounds, we can't hold off of legislating because one sector of the community can't afford it - provision could be made for this, in a similar way to a tv license.

A few years ago I was bitten by an alsation cross. The owner put the dog inside her motorhome and came to see if I was ok, but failed to shut the door and the dog followed me and bit me again. OK it was a couple of nips on my arm and leg, but I was taken for a tetanus jab and was shaken by the incident.

I am a dog lover, so when I got back to the site, I went to another caravan and made a fuss of the rottweiler owned by them as I felt that this was a dog I knew, daft as a brush, and I wanted to make sure I was going to be ok round dogs.

The alsation cross owner was just warned. I am nervous round alsations, but generally feel ok with dogs.

I do believe that owners should be licensed to keep a dog, and dogs should only be sold from a premises licensed to sell animals. But as has been said, they cannot police these sort of things. How many cars do you see with a driver holding a phone clamped to an ear? When has anyone paid the fine for a dog dump despite all the notices on lamp posts?

I have never found that licencing without rigorous enforcement ever solved anything. Even with enforcement there is a large section of the public who choose to ignore such systems. Very few Police now walk the streets and even less can be bothered to enforce these type of laws which once would have been local byelaws. Locally empowered Wardens are seen as officious jobsworths so there are not so many of those either.Drivers of motor vehicles are trained, licenced and taxed but still manage to kill more people than untrained, unlicenced dogs.I cannot see the point of establishing yet another Government Department which gobbles up money for no apparent reason. In recent years there has been a proliferation of ill thought out laws as a knee jerk reaction to to tabloid hysteria.
For a few days the press will demonise dogs and dog owners which will give fat people who drink ( Me ) a break from the lime light.I am thinking how long will it be before I have to be micro chipped.