Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Written evidence submitted by Anonymous Contributor

Microchipping

It is a very good idea for all dogs to be microchipped. I do not feel that price is a real barrier to this. It would have to be a reasonable time scale ie several years as impracticable to do all dogs at once. I feel that irresponsible people still won’t comply. Eg if they have a vicious dog used for guarding etc. It is also true that many abandoned dogs are not microchipped.

Microchipping is good when it can reunite dogs with owners. However, some vets are reluctant to scan dogs found wandering without being paid. There also appears to be a problem with dogs found dead on roads or railway tracks not being scanned. The owners should be informed of what has happened: I read recently about a woman whose dog had been stolen. It was microchipped to her but was sold to someone else who then claimed it as their dog as they had paid for it. There should be some sort of proof, as in motor vehicles sales. Then the woman could have said that she had not given permission to anyone else and anyway she had reported the dog as lost.

Dangerous Dogs

The legislation is too breed specific. Blame the deed and not the breed. Almost any dog can be vicious in the wrong hands. It is mostly down to training.

I do not believe that a dog which has bitten someone should be kennelled if the owner is prepared to muzzle the dog and possibly even keep it on lead until things are sorted out. Too much emphasis is placed on the dog and not on what caused it to bite in the first place—eg was it frightened?

In effect imprisoning a dog will cause psychological and sometimes even physical harm to the dog. When the dog is finally assessed it is much more disturbed. I appreciate that some people may not comply with the conditions and therefore the dog would have to be kennelled as in people who break bail conditions.

People also pick up their small dogs which is unnecessary as well behaved dogs won’t attack and vicious ones will first grab the dog out of the person’s arms anyway. The other week a woman actually picked up her not particularly small child because she wouldn’t let it walk past a dog on a lead in a public place. The dog wasn’t at all interested in the people!

People run through packs of dogs when there is plenty of room to run round. I find that if you do move your dog/dogs aside for people you are very rarely thanked. I thank people who move away from the dogs especially if I am with nervous dogs.

I feel that people no longer seem to want to take any responsibility for their own actions. They are completely and utterly unable to realise that dogs can be very frightened of people and their actions especially loud noises and quick movements especially ones which appear threatening.

I feel that the media are contributing to a hysteria about dogs. This was something which didn’t happen in the 1990s. There were people who were scared but mostly they were polite. Now the media seem to imply that if you walk down a street or into a park then a dog will attack you. There is never any explanation about the background to the attack. I have noticed that a large number of reported attacks are by dogs known to the people and not random.

Now, due to this reporting people scream, shout insults, swear just because a dog is walking past them. I have witnessed people kicking dogs and jabbing umbrellas at them just because the dog is barking. I have seen owners of small dogs hit a dog with their lead just because it approached their dog. The small dog was not in any danger and the owner of the big dog was quite prepared to call it away, eg swinging arms especially with something in their hands. With the increase in rescue dogs and dogs which have been badly treated and/or not socialised at a young age I find this human behaviour extremely disturbing. I feel that much more education about how to behave around dogs is necessary for everyone. Also I feel that the media should stop whipping up hysteria just to sell papers. The nation’s rescue dogs deserve better.

I am not quite sure whose remit this is but everyone needs to learn how to behave around dogs.

July 2012