Plan to force dog owners to pay £500 to insure their pet 'will penalise responsible owners'

Plan to force dog owners to pay £500 to insure their pet 'will penalise responsible owners'

By Niall Firth and Steve Doughty
dailymail

A plan to force dog owners to fork out for expensive insurance will penalise responsible owners who look after their pets properly, animal charities warned today.

Owners may also be required by law to have a microchip implanted on their pet under Government plans to curb the use of dangerous dogs. Insurance for dogs can cost in excess of £500 a year.

But critics today warned that the new proposals should be targeted at those who to flout the laws rather than responsible dog owners who take care of their pets.

Dog owners could soon have to pay for insurance which covers damage or injury their pet causes

Shadow Environment Secretary Nick Herbert, said: 'The problem of dangerous dogs is growing and the current legislation is clearly not working, but the Government's proposals risk penalising millions of law-abiding dog owners with the blunt instrument of a dog tax.

'We should be targeting the minority of irresponsible dog owners, not the vast majority who are responsible dog lovers.

'And we need to legislate carefully, not in haste, so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the infamously flawed Dangerous Dogs Act.'

The measures, part of proposed changes to the Dangerous Dogs Act unveiled today, are aimed at tackling the growing problem of vicious animals being bred for use as weapons, particularly on inner-city estates.

But a spokesman for the Kennel Club said: 'We believe that any new legislation must tackle the root cause of the problem which is irresponsible ownership.

'This sort of proposal will not work in isolation.

'Any new proposals must be targeted at those who continue to flout the laws rather than the majority of responsible dog owners.'

An RSPCA spokesman said: ‘It is important that the right people are targeted with this.

‘The crux of these proposals is that the Government is trying to tackle anti-social behaviour with dogs but it’s important that the vast majority of fantastic dog owners are not penalised for the small minority.’

'But in the end nothing has ever happened. If Labour are re-elected in May all we'll get is the same tired-out old approach and none of the changes the country really needs.'

Another measure being considered is the use of Dog Control Notices for misbehaving animals - known as 'Dogbos'.

Chris Laurence, vetinerary director at the Dog's Trust said that insurance for dogs was of relatively little value.

‘Far more important are control orders and compulsory micro-chipping,’ he said.
muzzle the devil dogs.jpg

Control notices would allow police officers and council officials to force miscreant owners to muzzle, leash or even neuter their pets.

‘It is control orders that are important because they mean legislation in a private place rather than just in public places,' said Mr Laurence

Ministers are suggesting making it compulsory to have only third party insurance to cover attacks by dogs on bystanders, neighbours or workers.

Dogs may be implanted with a microchip to identify their owner.

The price of microchipping and insuring a dog means that families could face bills of £100 and more to legally own a pet under the new rules.

The proposals come in the wake of outcries over incidents like the death of four-year-old John-Paul Massey, savaged by a pit bull at his home in Liverpool last November, and protests by employers and unions over the rate of attacks by dogs on workers such as postmen.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson said: 'The vast majority of dog owners are responsible, but there is no doubt that some people breed and keep dogs for the soul purpose of intimidating others, in a sense using dogs as a weapon.

'It is this sort of behaviour that we will not tolerate; it is this sort of behaviour that we are determined to stop.'

The plans for curbing the use of intimidating dogs were put forward in a Department of the Environment consultation over changes to the Dangerous Dogs Act, the 1991 law often cited as an example of hastily-made and unworkable legislation.

The Act names four breeds, including pitbull-terriers, which are banned.

However the law also allows the banned breeds to be kept in some cases, if they are neutered, tattooed with the owner's details, microchipped, and are allowed out in public only if on a lead and muzzled.

Figures uncovered by the Tories have suggested 100 people every week are treated in hospital after being bitten by a dog, with the number of cases rising from 3,079 in 1997-8 to 5,221 last year.

In London alone, the number of dangerous dog cases going to court increased from 35 in 2002-3 to 719 in 2008-9.

The rise in the so-called 'status dog' has prompted the Metropolitan Police to set up a new unit to handle a surge in the number of attacks and to kennel hundreds of seized animals.

Terrible cases to make the headlines in recent years include that of John-Paul Massey, a four-year-old who died at his grandmother's house in Liverpool last year after suffering 'massive injuries' inflicted by a dog later found in tests to be a pitbull, a breed banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

In February last year, three-and-a-half-month-old Jaden Mack was killed by a Staffordshire bull terrier and a Jack Russell at his grandmother's home in Ystrad Mynach, South Wales, devastating the local community.

The previous summer there was a rash of attacks by dogs on children in different parts of the country.

Victims: John-Paul Massey, four, died after suffering 'massive injuries' inflicted by a dob. Right, 13-month-old Archie-Lee Hirst was killedby a rottweiler

There were reports of children being bitten in Guisborough, Cleveland; Killingworth, North Tyneside; Chesterfield, Derbyshire; and Grimsby, Lincolnshire.

At the start of 2008, nine-year-old Chloe Grayson was left scarred after she was attacked by a 10-stone rottweiler in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. She was attending a New Year's Eve party with her parents at a neighbour's house.

The attack came just three days after 13-month-old Archie-Lee Hirst was killed by a rottweiler in the back yard of his grandparents' home in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Two weeks earlier, kennel worker Mandy Peynado's arm was amputated because of injuries she suffered trying to protect her throat when she was mauled by a rottweiler at Knightwood Kennels, near Salisbury, Wiltshire.

On January 1, 2007, five-year-old Ellie Lawrenson was found bleeding to death in the living room of her grandmother's home in Merseyside after attending a family party.

The dog involved, named Reuben, was shot at the scene by Merseyside Police. It was later confirmed that the animal was a 'pitbull terrier-type' banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

In September 2006, five-month-old Cadey-Lee Deacon was fatally attacked by a pair of rottweiler guard dogs at the Rocket pub in Leicester, which was run by her grandparents.

In March last year, an 11-year-old boy's ear was torn off in an attack by a pitbull-type terrier in the Alway area of Newport, South Wales.

Adults were also attacked - including railway engineer James Rehill, 78, who was 'dragged like a doll' through the street in a fatal attack by his own dog in January last year.

Witnesses looked on in horror as Mr Rehill was savaged by his rottweiler in Newham, east London.

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