Ennvironment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Written evidence submitted by Lisa Hall

I am writing to ask if you could please consider my points as a dog owner as to how a specific amendment to the dangerous dog act is leaving our dogs at risk of destruction for merely acting as a dog, the point is the extension of the act onto private property I understand that postman etc need to be protected but it states that even if someone feels threatened by your dog the police have powers to seize and destroy your dog! We live in a remote area and my dogs have secure fencing but they will bark at walkers going past the property and run along the fence line perfectly reasonable dog behaviour but under the new amendment my dog could be seized and destroyed if someone complained! Also if someone wanders onto our property (we have problems with hare coursers) and my dogs run and bark and defend our land again a seizable offence! So we have to wait for burglars to get in our home before my dog is allowed to protect us! I think you are leaving the British dog owning population in a very precarious position it seems all this will do is allow for dogs who are not a problem or dangerous who are merely on their own property to be destroyed in the hundreds,how does a dog differentiate between someone on your land with or without malicious intent? Again it seems no one has listened we all no who is to blame for the majority of serious dog attacks and we know they don’t care what legislation is brought in because they don’t care they will move on to another dog another breed,were us responsible owners are now left with the chance of having our dogs destroyed for simply being dogs Please please think carefully before passing this legislation we have already had the travesty of family pets destroyed for merely being a type of dog now it seems all our dogs are at risk.

April 2013