The Kennel Club has welcomed amendments made to the Dangerous Dogs Act (1991) which extend the law to cover incidents on private property, increase maximum sentences for owners of dangerous dogs, and makes injuries to assistance dogs an aggravated offence.
However the organisation remains disappointed that Government has again missed the opportunity to repeal ineffective breed specific legislation, which has failed to reduce dog bite incidents or the number of banned breeds currently in the UK, instead simply putting the welfare of thousands of dogs at risk.
The amendments to the Dangerous Dogs Act have been enacted as part of the new Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, and the changes are widely regarded by leading animal welfare organisations as being a huge step in further protecting the public and the estimated 9 million dogs in the UK, the vast majority of which live with responsible owners.
Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club Secretary commented: “The Kennel Club sees these amendments as being extremely positive overall for the welfare of millions of dogs in this country, as well as helping to protect the public and the UK’s responsible dog owners. For too long, irresponsible owners who consistently allow, or even encourage, their dogs to act aggressively or behave dangerously have essentially been protected by regulations which tend to penalise the dogs rather than their irresponsible owners. This updated legislation makes it absolutely clear that this is not acceptable and owners must take responsibility for adequately training their dogs.
“We have been very careful during our work with Government to ensure that there are adequate defences for those otherwise responsible dog owners who find themselves in unforeseen circumstances. This includes scenarios such as dogs protecting their homes from intruders or responding to provocation.
“Disappointingly however, the issue of breed specific legislation still remains unaddressed, with the government failing to use the opportunity whilst amending the Dangerous Dogs Act to repeal this ineffective element of the law.
“The Kennel Club believes in the principle of ‘deed not breed’ and that genetics plays only a small part in the temperament of a dog, with breeding, socialisation and environment having a far greater effect. The majority of dog bite incidents are a result of the irresponsible actions of owners who have either not taken the time and trouble to train their dog correctly, or have in fact trained them to behave aggressively. Consequently any legislation based on genetics that ignores the influence of the dog’s keeper on its behaviour is highly likely to be ineffective, as has been proven with the Dangerous Dogs Act.”
The British Veterinary Association also welcomed the new dog control laws but warned that more work is needed to make the failed legislation effective.
BVA has long campaigned for a total overhaul of the Dangerous Dogs Act (1991) on the grounds that it fails to protect the public and their pets from attacks and targets breeds rather than behaviour.
BVA President Robin Hargreaves said: “We welcome these amendments as we have long argued that the Dangerous Dogs Act fails in its aim to protect the public and their pets.
“We are pleased to see the inclusion of preventive measures in the form of antisocial behaviour tools. These are not the Dog Control Notices we had campaigned for but we hope they will allow the police and other enforcement agencies to act before attacks take place.
“We welcome the new protection afforded to guide dogs but are disappointed that the opportunity was missed to extend this protection to other animals. Dog attacks on innocent pets have distressing consequences for animals, owners and vets, and can be a precursor to attacks on people.
“We are particularly disappointed that the ineffective breed-specific elements of the legislation remain in place, despite evidence that they fail to protect the public while stigmatising certain breeds. This was a missed opportunity and we will continue to campaign for further overhaul of the legislation.
“Our members also believe that more needs to be done on educating the public if we are to see a reduction in the terrible incidents like those we’ve seen in the headlines in recent years.”
