I’m not a dog person, as you may know.

Yesterday, I saw a Volvo estate in a driveway over the road with the back filled with three or four large dogs, none of which were secured.

Isn’t that illegal?

Also yesterday, I heard someone shouting at their dog to try to control it.

A little later, I heard someone else shouting, “No!” at their dog all the way past my house. Clearly the dog didn’t stop whatever it was doing.

These dogs were not under control.

Even from the little I know, shouting at dogs doesn’t make them do what you want them to do. They’re pack animals, and if you shout at a barking dog, they think you’re joining in, so they bark even more. We’ve all heard the reports about dangerous dogs.

I remember when you had to have a licence to own a dog. I don’t know why and, I don’t know why they scrapped them.

Why not re-introduce the dog licence, but make it like a driving licence in that you have to pass a test to prove you can train and control a dog properly before you’re allowed to have one? Would this work? Would it be more effective than the Dangerous Dog Act?

I feel such a scheme would be doomed to failure because in order for it to work, it would have to be properly enforced, which would cost money, and with the current economic climate and all the cuts we’re facing, it would never be a high priority.

There are probably other reasons it wouldn’t work, too. People don’t always have valid driving licences when they go driving after all.

Tell the world about this!

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categories: History and Current Affairs, Nature and Science and Tech
tags: dogs, legal, rants