Latest Dog Attack Highlights The Need For Review

This is a very sad story and my thoughts go out to the little girl and her family.

Full details of the incident are not known and it is unclear at this stage whether the dog had any prior history of aggression or was temperamental but in any case will do very little to dispel the view held my many that such breeds of dog are dangerous.

I personally do not believe it is necessarily the breed and I refer to my previous thoughts following the purported attack on a television star recently – http://tinyurl.com/7vl5xb9

I will not seek to vilify the dog owner but this is an area of the law that to my mind needs review.

Changes To The Dangerous Dogs Act Are Long Overdue

The Blue Cross charity says the law is not working and it is time to shift the emphasis away from certain types of dog and place responsibility on owners.

The Act came into force in August 1991 after a dog attack in Bradford left a six-year-old child with serious injuries.

Personally, I think the proposed law reform is long overdue.

The Dog Control Bill passed the report stage in the House of Lords in July 2011. Under the new Bill, dog control notices will address problematic behaviour at an early stage, regardless of the breed of dog involved. Such notices will focus on responsibility of the dog owner as opposed to a particular breed. The Bill will reach the final stage in the House of Lords after the summer recess and will then move to the House of Commons for further consideration.

Any dog, as stated, can be dangerous and much depends on the way the dog has been handled and raised by it’s owner.  To single out specific breeds as being dangerous, whilst at the time may have seemed the most appropriate step, ignored the real issue and has served to create a new generation of young dog owners who see breeds such as the pit bull as a status symbol.

In any case the owner or the person in control of the dog at the time of an incident occurring should be held responsible and although owners of dogs not specified in the Dangerous Dogs Act can still be prosecuted a shift in emphasis may aid better understanding of dog behaviour and more responsible ownership.

The proposed legislation will look to monitor the behaviour of any dog from a young age if certain types of behaviour are noted.  Exactly how this will be enforced on a day to day basis remains to be seen but I hope the new bill will address some of the issues, if not all, of dog handling which will hopefully lead to a reduction in the number of dog bite incidents.