• Meanwhile those irresponsible enough to be involved in dog fighting or training dogs to be aggressive are not the sort of people that will come forward as they are not law abiding. The Kennel Club deplores the training of dogs for fighting and agrees that pit bull type dogs trained for fighting would not be eligible to be placed on the Index and should be humanely destroyed.

Meanwhile the obvious benefits to the alternative proposed by the Kennel Club are that:

• Re-opening the Index for three months would not allow for any more pit bull type dogs to be bred but would allow for more owners of pit bull type dogs to be made aware of the proposal and take responsible action.
• Re-opening the Index would also help address the problem of limited Police resources i.e. in terms of keeping dogs and seizing dogs once the amnesty is over.
• Compliance with the Kennel Club proposal would be far easier and more effective - rather than people hiding their dogs, more would register their dogs on the Index. As required by the Index, these dogs would have to be on a lead and muzzled in public, permanently identified and neutered - thereby ensuring the safety of all from any possibility of dog bites.

Notes to Editors

• The Index of Exempted Dogs is a register of pit bull type dogs that do not fall under the Dangerous Dogs Act. When the Act was introduced in 1991, dog owners already in possession of a pit bull type had time to register their dogs. However voluntary registration ended later in 1991. Since 1997 if an owner is prosecuted for possession of an unregistered pit bull type dog the Court may allow the dog to be registered (and all of the other conditions must be complied with) but only if the owner can prove that the dog would not constitute a danger to public safety.
• Re-opening the Index of Exempted Dogs would allow owners of pit bull types to apply to a Court for registration, without fear of prosecution, if they can prove to the Court that the dog would not constitute a danger to public safety. If a dog was found to be aggressive then it would not be able to be registered on the Index of Exempted Dogs and would be humanely destroyed. If however, the dog in question was of a pit bull type but was well trained, had a responsible owner and generally posed no threat to the public then it would be able to be registered on the Index. If after three months the owner of a pit bull type dog failed to make an application, s/he would be in breach of the law and at risk of having the dog seized.
• The temperaments of pit bull type dogs vary significantly since a dog’s genetics (breed) has very little to do with its behaviour. Research shows that this is influenced most by the dog’s owner, the environment it lives in and the training it is given.  In the wrong hands, any breed of dog can be dangerous - the number of dog attacks by breeds other than those on the dangerous dogs list, illustrates this. Similarly, any dog that has been trained by its owner appropriately and sufficiently should not be outlawed or destroyed based on its breed alone.

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