The Kennel Club response to Finn’s law passing its third reading in the Commons

Retired Police Dog Finn, who was attacked in October 2016, and whose owner, PC Dave Wardell, launched the Finn’s Law petition, which was read in Parliament today, has been nominated as one of the finalists for the Kennel Club’s Friends For Life competition, which will take place at Crufts on Sunday 10th March. You can watch his story.

Kennel Club Secretary Caroline Kisko said: “We are pleased to see ‘Finn’s Law’ has taken the next step towards becoming law in this country, after it passed its final reading in the Commons today. This is a huge breakthrough for the way that we view and treat service animals, who perform such a crucial job in protecting our service men and women.

“It is sad to think that much loved, highly trained animals that are injured or even killed in the line of duty are not treated as sentient beings by the law.

"It is time this changed and instead of being classed as ‘criminal damage’, that those who injure police dogs are charged with assault or attempted murder.

"Not only does this reflect that the injury of police dogs is more than simply ‘collateral damage’, but it may even deter the sort of brutality that was shown to police dog, Finn, in the future.”