A while since I have been here so let's get on.... First remember, I am a dog lover and owner and have virtually always been. But...
(And here you can see the timeline of change! http://tinyurl.com/cusdmfn )
Dogs: I love them individually. I grew up with them and a for while as a child lived in a breeding environment - three Elkhounds and two Corgis and assorted litters of each and, once, both. Although the first dog I knew was a border collie sent mad by the blitz none of the dogs ever bit anyone. Well not quite Late on and while temporarily out of my ownership a golden retriever snapped at and nicked my grandson and nearly made dog meat for his trouble.
Dogs: I don't trust them. And some breeds I trust far less than others. I have been to scores of dog shows and am not comfortable walking down the pen lines, with dogs snapping and growling across the divide. Chained of course, but accidents happen. My brother was bitten in the lip by a dog (known to us) that was merely leaping to catch treats. So it goes but he was scarred slightly for life. And when in the 60s I went to Ally Pally in north London for the annual All-England Alsatian Show ( as we then called German shepherd dogs) I was for the first time mildly scared walking the lines.
Dog-owners: We come in many types. Some love their dogs too much, others not enough. Some are control freaks and produce astonishing levels of co-operation. Others are hopeless, and have dogs barely under any sort of control. And, worse too many of these last choose large, difficult breeds and often in significant numbers. One dog is a pet. Two dogs are two pets. Three dogs is the making of a pack and it had better be YOU who is alpha male. Four and I shall not say what I think.
Breeds: Dogs come in many sizes and types of course and all have their own characteristics. All were originally wild dogs, wolves in some cases, and now cross-bred animals. In the mists of time they were bred for characteristics which may be visible (small and pretty; large and powerful; easy managed) or in their capabilities (trackers, retrievers, guardians, protectors) and so on. In the process they have also acquired characteristics which may, or may not, be useful, attractive or even desirable. German shepherds are extremely loyal and good with kids but in turn this can mean they are over-protective and potentially risky. King Charles Spaniels may be tiny and cute but their breathing can be difficult and if they panic they can snap. We'd all rather be bitten by a Charlie than a Shepherd but a bite is still a bite. In both cases and many others breed standards have been known to wreak havoc. The shepherd began to be so low in the rear quarters that they could not walk straight and suffered arthritis - that can make for a bad tempered dog. Breeding Charlies to produce a short, snubby nose meant there wasn't room for their breathing apparatus and their brain stem could leak down the spine. Another ill-tempered show dog.
Fashion: It has a lot to answer for but just now in the world of dogs things have got a lot worse. Zoe Williams (another dog lover) writes in the Guardian today about how fashion got the Bull Terrier breeds into trouble through being identified as dangerous when in fact they were just more common. I fear she is wrong. It was by no means all that common but it did feature in rather too many dog bites stories. As did the rottweiler which I adore and the Doberman which I like less. The pit bull terrier rightly got labelled and so did a variety of other dogs. I fear she is also wrong when she then likens them to AK47s and Kalashnikovs in the US - its people/owners who fire the bullets. Of course but what would be wrong with ensuring anyone who owned such a weapon/dog was properly trained and qualified to do so? And they they were kept securely under lock and key against the failures of others to understand the process. In addition we now live in a world where cross -breeds are amazingly popular. The Labradoodle started out as a reasonably bid to produce a trainable guide dog with reduced allergen risk. The breeder who did this knew that there were risks - the Labrador, so apparently adorable, can be jealous and snappy and the Standard Poodle has been so finely bred that it is capable of being highly strung. But he knew what he was doing and why and bred for tractability and docility with alertness and vigour. Good results are excellent. But we now have all manner of crosses that look a lot less well though out. Zoe Williams (Guardian article above) has a Staffordshire bull terrier crossed with a Rhodesian Ridgeback. The one is good for bull baiting, the other in packs for hunting down large game and protecting stock in Kraals on the veldt. Not surprisingly she tells us (she tells US!) it has bitten twice! In my book the third bite would have been a needle in the dog's neck! One bite maybe; two bite never is a good rule Zoe. (She wrote: "My dog bit my mother. So that was a whole can of Freudian worms, even before he bit my uncle")
But she is writing and I am writing (and I hope someone may be reading) because yet another dreadful, tragic but entirely avoidable killing has taken place and an innocent young girl and her family have paid a wicked price. But it is NOT the price of dog ownership.
Zoe and others and me demand action but there is too much hand-wringing about what should be done. The answer is NOT to listen to the dog lobby. They are as unreliable and prejudiced as the appalling National Rifle Association in America. We must have a string of severe restraints on all dogs but especially those large enough to take control of their environment. For that is what happens. So the first step is to severely restrict who may have a dog and how many. And since all this will cost we have to ensure that it is us, the dog owners, and the dog industry that pays the price. So here we go...
STEP ONE - LICENSING: To do that we have to return to licensing of dogs as a first step. It is already the law in Northern Ireland so why not here? But not at the footling amount charged over there - £12.50. I would strongly suggest it be £25 per annum. Free for guide dogs and pensioners - for ONE dog. Breeders could register and pay only for each breed animal (they would charge customers of course). Prospective dog owners would have to get the licence BEFORE they buy because it would be necessary for them to visit the RSPCA (or a trust organisation involving them), who would administer the process and be 'approved' as potential dog owners.
STEP TWO - QUALIFYING OWNERS: This would require the owner to fill in a legally binding form in which they stated the condition in which the dog would be kept and that they would arrange neutering and chipping on purchase.
STEP THREE - CHIPPING AND DNA: It is also the law in Northern Ireland that ALL dogs must be micro-chipped. Excellent. But I would go further and have a DNA sample taken from every dog at the point of chipping. This would be kept by the vet or the RSPCA for the life of the dog and registered with the chip. Any dog bite will be easily traced.
STEP FOUR - REDUCED OWNERSHIP: All the above applies for ONE dog. If an owner wishes to acquire a second they must produce evidence that they have attended an approved dog handling course. This evidence would be annotated on the registration document. No ordinary householder would be permitted more than three dogs. Exceptions would be breeder (registered as such above) and farmers and others with special needs and facilities. The latter is critical - no professional dog handler would expect to be able to manage a group of six or seven hounds or collies or retrievers in anything less than suitable environment. So it should be.
NEW LAW: Finally, we need a new Dog Control Act.
First it would enshrine all the above as statutory requirements. It would establish a sort of OfPet regulator to oversee the activities in dog control areas of vets, breeders and others. It would also establish a body to run the whole show, financed from the fees above and from sums paid as part of chipping, DNA registration etc. There are currently 8m dogs in the UK - that would deliver £200m a year as a minimum.
Second it would set rules about the owners' responsibilities. It would be a prima face criminal act to have any dog (animal?) that inflicts injury on another up to and including manslaughter in the event of death. A bit like car driving laws. Indeed, there could be a points system for some of the other rules I would like to see in place. This would end the inanity that a pack of dogs may savage a child to death and there be no criminal act!
It should be illegal to have any dog not on a leash in the public highway or in an area designated by the local authority (this could include shopping malls and the like).
It should be illegal to have two or more dogs NOT on a leash under the care of a single person. And it should be illegal to ever have three or more dogs not on a leash no matter how many carers there are. It should also be illegal to keep more than one dog in an area which could reasonably be expected to be accessible by anyone else. So an ordinary garden would be OK for one dog but not two running free. But a secure fenced area would be OK so that guard dogs could still be employed (they could in any event be capable of exception where necessary).
This Act would also empower OfPet, in conjunction with the Kennel Club to police the business of dog breeding and especially of dog cross-breeding. It is a startling fact that the source of dogs is so casual in the UK. This chart http://tinyurl.com/cvkfn99 shows that as few as 10% may have come from actual breeders. It is a good rule that if you have not seen the dame and sire of your puppy you can have no idea what it will turn out like. Given the amazing prices demanded for cross breeds, which can by definition have no real pedigree and rarely even a chance to see the parents, this has become far too lucrative a business with far too little regulation, if any. In fact, looking at this site, (http://tinyurl.com/btnf99n) the time may have come for some regulation anyway. Do they even pay VAT I would ask.
