Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Written evidence submitted by Robert and Greta Sainsbury

1. Cost should not be a factor in the action now urgently needed to control the ever increasing numbers of dogs. 18 Years of life expectation for a dog today. Much time for distress and damage to dogs plus to the public purse via A&E attendances due to injuries and in anti-social behaviour. Police, council staff, housing, dog wardens’ basically wholesale misery to other members of the public due to non-enforcement when legislation is already in place to act.

2. Staff/organisations required to first stop all import of dogs from abroad ie Bulgaria. How are they being brought in? Why are they brought in? Who is permitting this? We do not need one more dog in this country. We have enough.

3. Dog warden numbers strengthened and powers along with specially trained police officers available. There are enough veterans coming out of military—use them at borders and to accompany dog wardens. Do whatever it takes. The public require enforcement when reporting breeding of dogs and anti-social behaviour on council estates or any where for that matter. Status dogs are just dogs abused by awful people and often used to guard drug dens or dealing. Confiscate the dogs and kick them out of their publicly funded homes. I and others are not prepared to pay for them whilst making others lives a misery. Enforce, enforce. You will stamp this out.

4. One litter of pups born means you are breeding dogs. What is the competence of that person to do so? Yet you permit five litters as in Clause 1 this is too many. All breeding should be done in conjunction with close supervision of veterinary establishment. Cost a lot of money so what. They make a lot of money when selling puppies and many don’t really care about animal welfare. One litter of pups it should be. County Councils are not necessarily up to supervising this. West Wales 150 animals on farm and retrospective planning given this year. Those dogs will end up in trouble. Double standards in a Council giving retrospective planning permission yet breeding huge amounts of puppies that are not needed and in such numbers will not be in a good state of health. Huge public protest, but Council still went ahead against public opinion. Yet public will pick up the tab.

5. BREEDING OF DOG Sequence of events for a puppy:

(1)Mother £50 to be licensed and then another fee for micro-chipping which links up to license as a dog owned by person breeding (also puts dog on record through Veterinarian contact).

(2)Mother registered as breeding bitch and awaiting birth of pups.

(3)Inspected by Vet regularly during her pregnancy.

(4)Mother should be scanned if possible as sheep are to know how many pups are being carried.

(5)Mother and pups inspected at time and place of birth along with the pups births recorded in a register by Vet.

(6)On death of pup even at birth, Vet must see body and record death so as to avoid illegal selling of hidden birth.

(7)Once registered, then breeder must apply for a licence for each of the pups (which could be refunded to them once the pup goes on to its permanent owner).

6. Selling of Pups

(8)The breeder must inform the new owner of steps they must take to comply with legislation.

(9)The breeder to give new owner a complete history of pup and mother.

(10)Breeder to inform the licensing body of details of new owner.

(11)The breeder must also inform the registering of birth Vet of who will now be responsible for pup.

(12)The new owner to reimburse the breeder for the fee for licensing.

(13)New owner to inform licensing that they are new owner.

(14)New owner to be made aware of which Vet registered their pup, and if using another Vet owner should register pup with them.

(15)This new Vet or the old to be responsible for ensuring that pup is micro-chipped at the appropriate time and a fee collected for doing so at time of micro-chipping.

(16)If pup not brought to be micro-chipped then Dog Warden to be informed who will chase up where the pup is. His time should be charged for.

(17)Any problems of this nature should be referred to Magistrates Court or some organisation that will see that owner will obey the regulations set down. No waiver should be given.

(18)At an appropriate time the pup should be neutered and as in 9) above, action taken should the owner ignore procedure.

The foregoing may seem dictatorial, but what are you trying to accomplish? As in DVLA we are all responsible for our vehicles and if we do not pass on changes then we are liable. Make the owner fully responsible and then you will have effective control of dangerous dogs because they will be fully traceable from birth to death, and only responsible people will own dogs. We are too soft in this country. This will not be popular, but dogs are becoming less popular because of awful disestablishment, dysfunctional owners. Only others and dogs suffer in the end.

7. Status Dog is a dog like any other except for the owner who needs status! Just because a dog looks vicious or scary does not mean it is. We must get away from breed-centred paranoia. The owner is always the problem when a dog is causing a problem. I feel more education, help and advice with possibly something like so called Dog Whisperers ie Caesar on TV could he trained up. Help is often needed for some people to control their pet. Often the pets are very unhappy. Not exercised enough. Dog barking drives people round the bend. What is done about that? Very little! It makes people ill when they can’t relax in their home or sleep. You need to have trouble-shooters who will go in and educate people in how to get the best out of their relationship with their dog. I feel it can be done.

8. Education that an animal is a privilege not a right. Within this education letting people know that a dog takes commitment from its owner for many years. That there are many health benefits, enjoyment and companionship and friendship that is not like any other, and one to be treasured. Teach about the importance of breeding dogs well and looking after them well. Teach about social responsibility. Children in particular are being made afraid of dogs which is a great pity. Instruct on what has to be done to be a dog owner and how important it is to everyone to comply for the greater good basically. More and more people will hate dogs and other animals, because Parliaments refuse to deal with this situation adequately. How are you helping the cause by refusing to see legislation is enacted or changed for the better of everyone, particularly these beautiful and trusting animals?

9. Educate children early in school that if you hit a dog or you frighten it then it is likely to hurt you. Basically respect an animal. Some attacks I believe on children have occurred when children have done something to a dog. Now instinctively many children due to their parents’ fears worry about dogs irrationally. The public need to be able to report dogs that are left out in the streets running free possibly forming packs. Enforcement once again comes into play. The dog must immediately be taken off the street via dog warden/police/for safety of the public. Fine an owner heavily. If it happens again—they don’t get the dog back. With licensing and micro-chipping these problems will gradually decrease.

10. Eventually I believe it will become manageable when you stop all this dog breeding. Also the quality/DNA would improve. Britain possibly due to breeders has some of the worst DNA/genetic problems in dogs with ruined bloodlines. Neutering will eventually payoff as well, but it has to be tackled now.

11. Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Yes I do think that it could be extended to include offences committed on private property. However, only with some common-sense attached proviso clearly stated. The postman should be safe from attack when delivering mail, children/adults visiting a property, if invited, and not trespassing, technically each case would have its own merit. No case would be the same. Such things as proper fencing/protection should be considered and stated quite clearly so that there is no doubt on the part of the householder what needs to be in place to protect those visiting their home. If a child trespasses on your property, what then? Your dog should be allowed to be within the confines of your walls/fencing without some child jumping over and you get sued. Think carefully before you bring this in. It must be very clear and not woolly with gaping holes in it for ambulance chasers to act when someone gets a well deserved bite from a dog protecting your property. If a burglar comes into my house and the dog bites him. Tough he should not be in my house uninvited or on my land. Knowing this country as happens with police dogs you will permit them to sue home owners for injury. This will have to be thought out very carefully. People generally trespassing could be a problem. People take absolutely no notice of dogs present signs, and still come onto your property uninvited. A money-grabbing lawyer will always make a case for a money-grabber.

12. Defra We spend a lot of time in Snowdonia. Farmers get subsidies for fencing their land. I believe that when they obtain this funding they should be compelled to give priority to repair the fence lines adjacent to highways and public footpaths. How can you keep yourself safe when you are confronted by their cattle and sheep in front of you and I may say sheep on main highways ie A470 late at night. Less and less space is available to walk your dog when you are in forestry or quiet country areas where no farm animals are supposed to be. You should be able to let your dog off lead. We do keep them on as required when on someone’s land. We can do nothing when animals trespass into public places which when confronted by cattle recently on the loose is quite a frightening experience.

13. Defra Farmers don’t care about this, yet we the public pay them to fence their property. Damn well do it. That is how a dog can get into your land because you do not fence them properly. Most dogs could not jump fences into cattle or sheep. However, I do appreciate that there are persons who just do not care about animals and let their dogs loose which do put farm animals at risk. That is another reason for compulsory micro-chipping and licensing and identifying all animals from birth to death. You can find out who the perpetrators are via their animal. It is always the same people. Some farmers are quite often responsible for gross cruelty to their dogs in that they are not fed adequately for the work they have to do. They do not have adequate shelter and often do not get veterinary treatment when necessary. Some just left to die. They allow their dogs to reproduce to sell their dogs on. When not sold they offer them to anyone going or passing. Most of their dogs are highly intelligent, with exceptional hearing, and just would not do in an urban environment. Yet that is exactly where they can end up, and cause a lot of problems and can make unsuitable house pets with much barking and running off and being on the loose. Owners giving up on them. Also if they do not get rid of their pups they just sell them to these awful Welsh dog breeders for £30 on puppy farms. Just awful, yet nothing is done about it. I say farmers look at yourselves first.

14. Police I believe are funded or given money to kennel stray dogs. Sometimes animals have been ignored or not bothered with. This is a disgrace. It is dangerous for the animal and upsetting for those trying to help it get back to its rightful owner. More funding needs to be available to see that dogs are picked up 24 hours a day. Plenty of micro-chip readers available to cut down time in tracing owners would need to be thought about. The council take the easy way out often and put them down after 7 days. This would be unnecessary and less time consuming if all animals were micro-chipped. It will take a few years to capture all animals, but it will eventually get done as in Vehicle Licensing. Gradually Police and DVLA are getting rid of the defective/uninsured cars off the road and unfortunately not enough again is being done about the owners of these vehicles.

15. Anything you do to enforce the legislation you have plus adding identifying of animals will eventually work, just do it. Forget that computer systems are a problem. In India they have already recorded millions of people on a computer system far more than we have to date and in a short space of time. What is wrong with us here, get on with it. Design a system around it. Don’t adapt one, it does not work. You have to start somewhere. If you can’t manage it, then as in the old days, use paper and a pencil, at least something would be known as nothing is impossible. Just a willingness to achieve your goal.

16. Vets only should be in charge of this. However, the councils are scratching around for money then why not use veterans to get this started. They’ll organise it for you and get some money in, leave the motorists alone for a change.

17. Obviously the response by dog breeders and the veterinary profession has not been effective or we would not be where we are today. Vets like doctors never say anything to upset a dog owner about the treatment of their pet. Well they damn well should, and have the power to remove that animal right there and then with the police present if necessary.

18. The Government should enforce their already made legislation and they must know the pitfalls or holes in it by now.

19. Further controls on breeders, importers and puppy farms of course there should be. They are doing just what they like and breeding dogs that have basically defective genes and destroying many breeds of dogs. Vets should be concerned about this!

June 2012