The Kennel Club is saddened to hear of the dog attack involving a ten year old girl in Kilmarnock and believes that it reaffirms the need for new legislation to deal with such incidents across the UK. This is the second dog attack in Scotland this week, which have involved two different breeds.

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. This is in contrast to current legislation which means that already overstretched police resources are wasted on seizing particular breeds that are labelled as dangerous, regardless of the dog’s behaviour.

It will also allow for prosecutions to be made in cases where an incident has occurred on private property, as is believed to be the case in this instance, as well as in public places.

Kennel Club Communications Director, Caroline Kisko said “We must act now and change the sadly ineffective Dangerous Dogs legislation across the whole of the UK if we are to prevent further tragedies from occurring like the ones which resulted in the deaths of John Paul Massey, Ellie Lawrenson and others.

“This dog attack is said to have involved a Japanese Akita, just days after another tragic attack involving a pair of Rottweilers. This simply proves that any breed of dog can be dangerous if it is in the wrong hands. People deserve to feel safe around dogs and the new legislation cannot come soon enough.

“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 initially 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. 

Click here for further information on the Kennel Club’s campaign to change current dangerous dog legislation.

ENDS

2^nd September 2010

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