Crazy law that makes you a criminal

A NEW law came into force this week concerning dogs, that has the potential of making every dog owning boater a criminal.

The Dangerous Dogs Act is aimed at those people who breed and own dangerous dogs, but is so worded that every dog owner has the potential of being prosecuted for a dog doing what dogs do naturally, resulting in an Order being issued.

Forced to take action

Police and council officers can now issue Orders that force an owner to take action, such as attending dog behavioural classes, keeping an animal on a lead, muzzling it, having it neutered or even put down.

And for doing what? Growling at strangers, barking, going towards children or going to other dogs that are on a lead, chasing cats and other things that come naturally to most dogs, which is now classed as anti-social conduct!  And there's a fine of £2,500.

It is now illegal for a dog to run towards children, but surely this is giving the impression to children that the dog is dangerous, when in fact all it wants is to be friendly and made a fuss of. How do you stop a dog barking at another dog?  Or growling when it feels threatened? Crazy!

Trained to fight

The new Act is supposed to be designed to protect the public against dogs which are trained to fight and kill, dogs which are driven wild by neglect, dogs which are taught to intimidate and dogs which so lack training and discipline that they are completely out of control. But alas it has been written by the bureaucrats of Whitehall, so the result is another ridiculous law.

With the new Act comes a 30 paged manual entitled Anti-Social Behaviour: Control And Welfare Of Dogs, that describes the new Act, complete with an incomprehensible flow chart, but is obviously produced by people who are not dog owners and have no idea how dogs normally behave.

Non-responsive calls

There is one part of the Act which will catch out many, for an order could be issued if a dog is ‘showing signs of problematic behaviour, such as non-responsive to calls.'  Which means if you shout to your dog and it does not respond there's a £2,500 fine in the offing.

We have all seen owners desperately shouting or whistling their dogs, who take not a blind bit of notice, but this could now land them in court, and the new law includes private and public land, so towpaths and the land surrounding locks is included.

Have it trained

Perhaps a little advice—have your dog trained.  We have, and he responds immediately to 'stay' and 'here', so there will be no fines for running towards children or being 'unresponsive', and Rhodesian Ridgebacks rarely bark! So we should be fairly safe!