Dogs.co.uk Home Dogs.co.uk Home
 
 
New Laws for Dog Owners

Fri, 12 Jan 2007

East Sussex Council has drafted an action plan to curb dog owners whose aggressive pets attack other dogs, foul streets or bite others while on their walks.

It is believed that the draft order, said to be the "Asbos for dogs" by its critics, was presented to Rother Parish councillors last month. It will be discussed further at Rother District Council’s cabinet meeting.

According to the draft order, dogs will be banned from certain areas. Moreover, dog leads have to be short and the owners will not be allowed to walk more than three dogs at a time.

Bexhill councillor Keith Standring said, "People should be able to walk through public places without large numbers of dogs deciding to go on the rampage.

"They have a right to expect that they can go for a walk without being savaged.

"Even three dogs are difficult to manage but six is impossible if they decide to start causing trouble."

Richard Parker-Harding, Rother's head of environmental health, said, "There have been problems with dog attacks and we are taking measures to address that.

"It's only possible to control a dog when it is on a lead."

The order calls for dog owners to be charged with a £1,000 fine or a fixed penalty notice if it is breached. However, critics say the order will be impossible to enforce.

In a statement to the cabinet, Whatlington parish council said: "We strongly object to the control order that dogs are to be kept on leads.

"While councillors appreciate concerns about dog mess, in the countryside we have wildlife, namely fox and badgers. This makes a mockery of the order which is unnecessary and unenforceable."

According to Rother District Council, the numbers of dog attack complaints are increasing. There is at least one complaint a week from dog owners whose pets are attacked by other dogs, and over 100 complaints a year are made about dog fouling on public land.

Mr Parker-Harding from Rother District Council said that they are facing furious reaction from residents.

He said, "There are dog owners who don't want any restrictions made on dogs. But the order has to be kept simple. If you start making exceptions it will get too complicated to enforce."
add to favouritesnewsletterlink to this pagesend to friendpost comments

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.