In the news recently has been articles saying that both major parties are planning to bring in compulsary micro-chipping and registration with local councils for all dogs. So I was thinking about this especially as we are seeing more and more dog control orders being brought in and dog walkers banned from some places, and I wondered if this will mean our rights are further eroded or does the fact that we are paying a dog tax mean we should have the right to demand special areas to walk our dogs or areas set aside exclusively for dogs for example?

Perhaps instead of feeling victimised as some of us will be due to the compulsary registration and dog control orders we should become more pro-active and let the politicians local councillors and parish councillors know that we expect something for the money will be paying for the privilege of owning our dogs? Maybe we should start a Dog Owners Union? What do you think you would ask for from your local councils?

It would be highly doubtful that the local councils will want to take on the registration unless they made enough money to cover the admin costs and to have people to police it. Therefore I think we should have certain guaranteed rights and privileges.

If they do this and the council's run this then i feel in my area that there needs to be more dog bins in areas where dog walkers go, more dog wardens themselves and to be more effective and not spend most of their days dodging calls and instead they are walking their own dogs which they take with them.
In Brighton and the areas which i walk i would say that the only thing i have noticed at this time is restrictions on certain beaches, which doesn't bother me as i go to the dog friendly ones out of season.
There is a lovely walk which is used by cyclists, joggers, walkers and doggy people and the beginning of the walk the path is so full of dog poo i've ended up walking in it too many times, only 1 bin on the walk which is at the beginning and end, with a 3-4 hour walk in the middle, this needs to be tackled!!!

In the maybe more urban areas where they are taking away areas that dogs can go i feel that giving something back to dog walkers would be essential...
I wouldn't want my money ploughed into something which wasn't dog orientated.

>only 1 bin on the walk which is at the beginning and end, with a 3-4 hour walk in the middle, this needs to be tackled!!!

Bins need to be sited where someone can drive to and empty it.

wonder what the excuse of my council is then we have cycle tracks which have easy access for cars as we see plenty of council transit vans down these areas and miles of these walks as there are footpaths beside them have no bins on them at all, if they do bring in microchipping etc etc, who on earth will go around checking peoples dogs, will the council pay for someone to go around the streets checking peoples dogs
we have loads of strays,[latch key dogs] the council know about them they are the same dogs every day that get reported they get reported to the local dog warden, who says they can't find them yet dog walkers around hear see them day after day,
it is proberly just another exercise by goverment to get votes.
carolann

> it is probably just another exercise by government to get votes.

I remember dog licenses - they were a waste of time then and this won't get off the ground either.  There isn't the money for it.  The sort of people who let their dogs run around won't have the money to pay the fines anyway.  Who polices the dog fouling laws now.  Nobody!  I have never heard of anyone being caught and fined.

> we have loads of strays,[latch key dogs] the council know about them they are the same dogs every day that get reported they get reported to the local dog warden, who says they can't find them yet dog walkers around hear see them day after day,
>

Well if we are having registration put on us it will be us paying for the policing of this scheme an the admin. We can pretty much expect some councils will see it as a way of raising extra funds, so we should really be ready and be proactive, pointing out that we are paying for the privilege of having dogs and therefore we want to have dog wardens who respond to call outs and more poo bins and areas especially for dog owners to exercise their dog in every parish so that we can let them off lead. If we don't allow them to behave naturally i.e. run around then they will not be able to display natural behaviour which would be against the Animal Welfare Act surely?

is'nt this what the organisation  'Pro Dogs' was about - to ensure the voice of dog owners was heard ? - it's a shame it has folded but perhaps the reason why ( lack of support from the dog community) wil be the reason why a Dog Owners Union might struggle to get off the ground !

Yvonne

One example of Local Council by-law enforcement right in front of my house.....NO BARBEQUE AREA....big signs....threats of what will happen if caught and what happens......nowt.
On an average warm weekend there are dozens and dozens of little plumes of smoke rising and then next day....black scorched grass.

I asked my council why nothing is done..." Oh we dont have the manpower to enforce it"
Where are strapped for cash local councils going to get the resources to keep tabs on millions of dogs?

i think itll be unenforceable and more likely dogs that arent microchipped will only be found out if officials are drawn to them,either by complaint or tip-off.judging from the amount of pitbulls and pit crosses openly walked here(central london)with mostly no collars and leads,once they are pounced on they either hand the dogs over or deny ownership or run,so if there is a designated dog warden all thatll happen is they will scarper when they are seen.the police and rspca here are still raiding addresses(mostly after the owner had drawn attention to themselves by drugs or a robbery etc) and seizing dogs  and the majority sign them over rather than get them on the register,neutered and muzzled because its easier to buy a new one that can again go under the radar.we havent had a designated dog warden for years here,any dogs found go to the police/battersea.i think lost dogs'll be checked for chips and any dogs that they visit having received complaints about.what worries me is will it mean dogs that are chipped will die painful deaths or be mutilated so the chip cant trace the owners? will pitbull owners then focus on bonafide breeds as its becomes too much hassle?we are already seeing lots of bordeauxs and bordeaux/pit/staff crosses around so much so we decided not to let rumble our dogue be used as we felt we couldnt be certain his offspring would not be used to breed indiscriminately in the future.i cant see how enforced chipping will work as the "underclass" that are causing the problems wont bother and certainly in the cities spot checks wont work.in the same way that the old dog licence was law,how many people didnt bother then? you can enforce breeders of pedigree dogs to chip all puppies but then those who breed with no papers will still fly under the radar.who has the time and funding to drive around all day spotchecking dogs? more likely if attention is drawn to your dog,officials will check for a chip and if found without will issue a certain amount of days to get it chipped by or face a fine.if they cant keep the breeding of banned dogs under control how can they keep their eye on ALL pedigree dogs?

Polly, although there is support for compulsory identification, there are no plans for the return of anything like the dog license. There are no plans for information held on the national database to be for anything other than identifying which dog belongs to whom - great for reuiniting lost dogs and, with a bit of luck, in helping to track who owns dogs used for dog-fighting etc.

Are your own dogs not microchipped?

Jemima

> I asked my council why nothing is done..." Oh we dont have the manpower to enforce it"
> Where are strapped for cash local councils going to get the resources to keep tabs on millions of dogs?

I brought up the thread because I have recently been dealing with a council  who are considering imposing a lot of dog control orders. Speaking to a person working for the council they say they are hoping to get the registration sorted out to fund dog wardens, among other dog related things. I asked another council if they would acceppt dogs being registered with them if they were tattooed as their policy was to impose on all their tenants compulsary micro-chipping. They said they might consider it if the dog was already tattooed but if a new dog was bought in the then would insist it was micro-chipped. I asked if the tenants were responsible people who tatooed all their dogs why would they insist the tenant changed to micro chipping if the tenant preferred to have their dog tattooed and they did not have an answer.

I would be worried by compulsary micro-chipping, in some cases the micro-chip does not suit the dog as the well known case of Prinny is an example. Her owner has letters from the RCVS and DeFRA to say that the tumour which grew on Prinnys shoulders was a result of the microchip. I tattoo my dogs and they are also DNA profiled.

The thing is we all know how councils see things from the angle of what will it cost us? So even if the intention was not to use it as a fund raising thing right away it might soon become that. So if I was to be paying for the privilege of owning my dogs then I would want to know that my dogs & I have certain protected rights for the money I'd be paying. So far I agree with the comments we do need dog wardens who are pro-active and do answer call outs. We do need more bins, and if your area is anything like mine, we need those bins emptied regualrly the amount of times our bins are over flowing is depressing.

On a lighter note I was told by a council official this week that dog control orders were necessary as dog owners were leaving little bags of dog poo on the bumpers of parked cars! I had to laugh, I explained that the car would most likely be owned by a dog walker who had cleaned up after their dog and rather than take the used bag for a walk had put it on their car bumper so they would not forget it when they got back to the car.

i dont really have an issue with licences, as log as someone else states it benefits us as dog owners. i would hope its not just an idea to generate more money from us without giving us something back.
also i would think that most law abiding people would go along with it whereas the ones that have the pit x type dogs or in general any out of control dog will not bother and it will be the reat of us that foot the bill.