The Kennel Club has criticised the government for not doing enough – or investing enough – to prevent dog attacks, despite a new initiative which could see microchipping become compulsory.
While the organisation welcomes the introduction of microchips for all dogs, it claims that it is not enough to protect the public from dogs biting in the first place.
“Microchipping would help the authorities to reunite dogs and owners more swiftly, to ensure that puppies sold in pet shops can be traced back to their breeder and to clearly link owners to dogs and their dog’s actions,” said Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club communications director. “However, it is not a catch all solution for protecting the public from dangerous dogs and their irresponsible owners.”
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has also announced it will invest £50,000 to promote more responsible dog ownership. Again, the Kennel Club supports the idea but doesn’t feel that the funds are sufficient for a UK-wide scheme.
A far more effective solution, the Club claims, would be the introduction of Dog Control Notices, which would allow authorities to penalise owners as soon as their dog shows any signs of aggression.
“The time has come to stop wasting limited resources seizing innocent dogs deemed to be dangerous purely because of the way that they look and instead focus on positive solutions to tackle irresponsible dog ownership which has huge welfare implications for innocent dogs and puts the public at risk,” Caroline added.
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