Dog owners who have pets dangerously out of control are sometimes as much to blame, a leading lawyer has said.

Jolyon Canlin has even gone so far as to say the title of the law governing dangerous dogs should more accurately refer to the contribution that dog owners may make to the dangerous behaviour of their animals.
 
Mr Canlin, a lawyer in the Serious Crime team of Nottingham law firm Challinors, says the Dangerous Dogs Act may have been more appropriately named.

"I would suggest something along the lines of the Dangerous Owners of Dogs Act or even the Dangerous and Careless Dog Owners Act. The reason is simple – it is not the dog, for the most part, that is the problem, it is the owner.
 
"The owners are culpable for the penalties under the law so perhaps the wording should have been more clear from the outset?
 
"Dangerous dogs are never out of the public eye for long," Jolyon says. "An incident occurs and suddenly public debate comes to the fore once more.  It seems that what defines a breed of dog as being dangerous depends on the most recent horrific incident.
 
"Rottweilers, Dobermans and German Shepherds have all been given considerable negative press over time, but the Dangerous Dogs Act in fact makes it clear that any breed can be deemed dangerous, including Laparatsu and Chihuahua. The Act states dogs are defined as dangerous if they are 'dangerously out of control in public'.
 
"As a criminal lawyer with years of experience of cases of this type, there is one common thread running through this area of the law, the dog owners.  Perhaps if the law had been labelled more clearly people would not be so prejudiced against the dogs but have more regard to the negligent and careless owners."