The Kennel Club is saddened to hear of a recent dog attack involving a ten year old girl in Dundee and believes that it reaffirms the need for new legislation to deal with such incidents across the UK.

The Kennel Club has long been campaigning for a change in the law regarding dangerous dogs and had considerable input into the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act which recently passed through the Scottish Parliament but is not due to come into force until February 2011.

The Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act will place more emphasis on prevention of dog attacks by shifting the emphasis towards owner responsibility and tackling dangerous dog aggression at the earliest stage of bad behaviour.

Kennel Club Communications Director, Caroline Kisko said “People deserve to feel safe around dogs and the new legislation cannot come soon enough. Serious attacks such as this generally occur in dogs that have shown previous signs of aggression.

“This new legislation goes a long way towards protecting the public through tougher action at the first signs of dangerous behaviour. Owners of aggressive or violent dogs of any kind will be brought to account, which in turn will prevent a large number of attacks by dealing with problem behaviour at the first signs of aggression rather than when an attack has taken place.”

The Kennel Club continues to play an active role in lobbying against the injustices of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and runs the secretariat for the Dangerous Dogs Act Study Group (DDASG) which includes other organisations such as Dogs Trust, Blue Cross, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and Wood Green Animal Shelter. The DDASG established objectives for a review of dangerous dog legislation and helped to draft the original Dog Control Bill which was taken up in Scotland originally by Alex Neill MSP and continued by Christine Grahame MSP.

The Kennel Club together with the DDASG are also supporting the Dog Control Bill, a similar piece of legislation in Westminster focusing on deed not breed, which is due to begin Committee Stage in the House of Lords later this year. 

For further information on the Kennel Club’s campaign to change current dangerous dog legislation, visit www.thekennelclub.org.uk/kccampaigns.

ENDS

31^st August 2010

[296.10]

Date page created:

Categories:

 

This article has been read 1071 times.