Barking Blondes: ‘Dangerous Dog’ sentencing
This week, the Sentencing Council, drafted a new guidance for courts, on ‘dangerous dogs sentencing’.
Last year we saw the maximum sentencing for an owner, whose dog kills a person, increase from two to 14 years.
The much-anticipated new guidelines, have now been sent to experts for public consultation. They will follow on from the changes made last year to the Dangerous Dogs Act. This act was introduced in 1991 and made dog attacks on private property a serious offence with attacks on assistance dogs a separate offence.
Apparently, there are over 200,000 people bitten by dogs in the UK every year, costing the NHS over £3 million a year.
Back in the day, dog ‘attacks’ either never hit the headlines, or they simply didn’t happen. It seems in our modern age, severe and occasionally fatal attacks not only happen but are on the increase. In 2007 there were 4,600 hospital admissions, and in 2013 these had risen to 6,300.
So why the increase? Well dog ownership in the UK for this period, has risen from approximately 6 million dogs to around 9 million dogs.
Statistics might also reveal that owners aren’t taking responsibility for their pet’s training and socializing and thereby making them “good dog citzens”
They might also reflect a change in ‘fashion’ for dog breeds. In the early 1970’s a ‘Staffie’ for example, wasn’t a common sight in London parks. There were many more ‘heinz 57’s’ as rigorous neutering campaigns hadn’t begun.
Owning bull breeds ourselves, we know that any dog can bite, and that ‘Staffies’ are no more ‘dangerous’ than any other breed. Sadly, general public opinion is not so fair. In the wrong hands, a ‘bull breed’ is a powerful animal that can bite a person pretty hard.
The new guidelines will reflect an individual’s ‘culpability’ where dogs trained by ‘youths in hoodies’ to be a weapon more severely penalized than an elderly person’s Yorkie, even though statistically, the little Yorkie is known to inflict the most dog bites in the UK.
The new sentencing guidelines will build in the newly introduced PCN notices introduced last October. These ‘doggy’ asbos give the police and local authorities power to penalise certain dog owners either through fines, compulsory dog training, or in extreme cases ‘seizing’ the dog.
There really is no excuse for owning a dog that’s a danger to society and out of control. The excuse many owners have in this day and age, is a lack of time to train their dog. Another, is that people don’t understand their own dog’s behaviour.
The Dogs Trust have now introduced its ‘Be Dog Smart’ campaign to particularly help parents educate their children on how to behave around dogs.
Education is key to addressing the problem holistically and outweighs some opinions to make muzzling dogs compulsory in public. This would only address the symptom, and not the cause and wouldn’t help tackle attacks on private property.
Owning a dog is based on teamwork like with any family member sharing a household. They are not a fashion accessory, but a huge responsibility that is equal to raising a child.
Until this message hits home, dog legislation will need to increase so that the minority doesn’t negatively affect the majority.
Barking Blondes by Jo Good & Anna Webb, published by Hamlyn, £12.99www.octopusbooks.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment