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According to a report in last weekend's Mail on Sunday, documents leaked from Defra have revealed proposals for a range of measures designed to reduce the risk from dangerous dogs.
The proposals reportedly include:
The first of these looks like being a bit of a non-runner. Aside from the subjective nature of deciding what makes a competent owner, the cost is disproportionate to the size of the problem: 703 convictions for dangerously out of control dogs in 2007. The other two seem long overdue.
I'm sooo pleased to see that dog ownership is starting to be taken seriously by Defra - as stated above it could prove hard to monitor and enforce but at least its getting some attention on the matter. I think it should be against the law for a child under the age of 16 years to be in control of a dog on their own? We have so many dog owners bringing their dogs in that have been attacked by a dog in the hands of a child/teenager and they just run off! Or am I being too harsh? Anyway its all good - a must for dog licenses and breeder licenses I think too.