Dog-related petition

[bunn]

I know there are several dog-lovers on my friends list, so I thought some of you might like to sign this petition:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/deedNOTbreed/

At the moment there are several 'dog amnesties' planned and more being proposed. People who think they have 'illegal types' will be encouraged to hand them in to be put to sleep. This is a poorly thought out approach. People with genuine fighting dogs know that they are illegal, know they are dangerous, and are (I am informed by those who deal with the unhappy aftermath) unlikely to hand them in for the asking.

People who have seen a scary photo in their newspaper and think it looks like Fido, however, are panicking in droves, and so are their friends, relatives and neighbours, even though Fido is more than likely mostly Staffy or Labrador, and approximately as dangerous as a slipper, given appropriate care.

The Dogs Trust and Kennel Club have both said they think this is not the answer to the two recent very tragic attacks that have been reported.

There is a darker rumour that there may be moves to add more dogs to the banned breeds list. Because it is very hard to define a 'breed' unless the dog has known parents and a recorded pedigree, this is a slippery slope, and anything along those lines will hit crossbreeds and rescue dogs first and hardest. I hope there is no truth to this.

Comments

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot to mention the idea of requiring third party dog insurance, similar to the car model - a good idea anyway, as you are legally responsible for things like accidents caused by your dog.

I suspect that would be ignored by the really crappy owners and again would not reduce attacks, but it might possibly help a bit to oppose the 'dog as impulse buy' concept, if dogs had to be taxed and insured like cars.