To think it is long overdue that we brought in dog licencing

YANBU. A series of dirty fuckers have left poo outside our gate to the right, left and straight ahead – getting the pram out onto the pavement without going through poo is like a Crystal Maze challenge.

There’s also a wanker who clearly thinks the gutter is a better place for poo than the pavement, like they’re generously keeping it away from foot traffic. Except no one has driveways and we all need to step between cars in the dark when parking up or setting off, so it’s just a new and unpleasant place to leave poo. Plus the cars all drive through it and smear the whole road.

I’m constantly outraged and exhausted by it all because it’s clearly more than one owner, so there are multiple dirty bastards who think this is OK.

There's just no way of enforcing it. Microchips have been the law for years and less than 20% dogs picked up as strays are reported to be chipped.

I frequently see evidence of other illegal practices eg cropping and docking on the streets which aren't enforced although they are visible

The reason it works on cars is because you have to have your car on the road to use it. Even if somehow you had a microchip scanner on every lamp post in the country, it wouldn't register the absence of something, and then people would walk their dogs in the countryside

The real problem owners already have "off grid" dogs that are rarely registered at things like vets, born in dodgy conditions with no form of registration.

I'd be reluctant to support anything that made people less likely to take dogs to the vets, or to walk them/train them.

If I paid a license fee to the local council then I would be paying for them to clean up dog shit left by irresponsible owners as I already clean up my dogs mess. Sometimes other people’s dog mess too if, for eg, it’s near the local school. I’m also paying towards local schools but don’t avail myself of those services. The same as many other people. We all pay a lot of council tax for all the services so why should dog owners be singled out for extra payments. I’d pay a licence fee but reluctantly as the crap owners won’t bother.
If cctv is used to spit and fine the crap dog owners then it should also be used for fining litter leavers and vomiters etc. it will never work, just an extra tax to those of us contributing loads to the economy.

I’m a dog owner, see all the issues you do where I live (but don’t contribute to them) and don’t disagree with the idea of licences.

However the sort of people causing the issues we’re seeing aren’t going to abide by having a licence either.

Exactly, most people still didn’t bother getting a license and nothing happened.

£1 a month wouldn't cover much, I'm surprised they still bother it must cost that to process the licences!

If you're over 65 one dog is free and any additional ones are only £5. A bargain.

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/dog-licensing-and-microchipping

It has always been the case in NI as far back as I remember.
Not sure how it is policed, legal requirement to have a dog chipped so maybe that information is shared with council. Our pup is 10 years old so cant remember whether we done it ourselves or were contacted by council after first visit to vets to update chip/ injections..

"Easily enforceable"? Like how it's the law to tax, insure and MOT a car AND have a valid licence? Are you aware of the statistics on just how many are not complying with that?

That paper is 27 years old.

Think it's time for a revisit. World has moved on...a lot.

its awful here too voluntary groups go round cleaning up which they should not have to
the litter bins are overflowing and why people use a pooh bag then throw it in trees I do not know
we have not got a dog warden here they tend to just put you through to another dept and its just going on the pile of jobs to do
trouble is people like the police are stretched as it is and though they are supposed to have community police for anti social behaviour they are so busy backing up the police on the bad crimes like muggings rape etc
I do not think a licence could reasonably be enforced there would have to be a warden or similar to check even if on a computer so again would not have much time for checking on dog pooh culprits.
when we had a licence for our dog bit like radio licence's did not do much at all

Info about the old dog licenses here -

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/RP98-6/RP98-6.pdf

YABU it never work. The cost of wardens etc (plus the cost of collecting the license fees) would be far, far more than the licences would raise, unless you make them a silly price of £1000 or so a year.

The old dog licences were abolished because they cost more to collect than they brought in.

So it's already happening in NI. Didn't know that.

Australia has a dog licensing law in effect too that is issued by local government. So definitely viable and actually happening in other countries.

England is definitely behind the curve on this issue.

@Eurghh here, have a Thursday afternoon drink:

And people who own their homes?

In an ideal world the dog licence idea would be great but just the same with microchipping, wearing a collar with the dogs details, picking up dog poo, getting proper veterinary treatment etc etc it would only be done by already responsible owners.

Here in NI we are required by law to have our dogs licensed. Part of the license is they must be chipped. I think from memory it around £12 per year. Penalties for not having one is a fixed penalty or prosecution with fines up to £1k. There are exemptions for guide dogs or police dogs and concessions for low income housholds. It is paid to local council.

Good idea, landlords could carry out checks too as part of the private renting screening process.

Housing officers include social, military, and supported living. Being ex military we often dealt with housing officers.

It actually is viable. It may not be palletable to some but its definitely viable.

It's not even remotely viable 😂

Housing officers? So already I see some sort of bias towards you thinking that people in social housing are irresponsible dog owners. What about people in private housing?

Presumably because of lack of enforcement.

It ALL comes down to enforcement, whether litter, dog crap, tax discs, pavement parking, drunkeness, shoplifting, speedng, etc. Without enforcement, there's just no point in having the law in the first place.

So you could combine that system with a dog license fee, win-win. It would be even quicker to implement.

Actually you could get vets to issue new dog license tags and collect payments (combined with a direct payment system via Govt) and the Vet could charge a % fee for same day service, so government and vets make revenue and in turn vets pay increase in corporate tax for the profits they make.

Much more lucrative than some of the other hair brained initiatives the government has implemented.

Spot checks could be carried out by dog wardens, Vets, grooming parlours, licensed dog walkers, RSPA call outs, police responding to dog incidents and housing officers, with financial incentives for reports.

This is actually looking like a viable option.

How much should it be annually?

100% agree.

My dog is no longer has insurance as she is very old, and it was getting to be over £110pm back when she was 9. I am on benefits, and simply can not afford that. A lot of people no longer insure elderly dogs anyway as the very expensive treatments will in many cases be unfair on the dog.
If I was forced to have insurance, I simply could not do that. What would happen to my dog?

People who won't pay for a licence are not going to pay to take their dog to the vet.
Spot checks by who? We haven't had a police presence in our village for years. The police haven't got the resources to walk around villages checking dog collars. I walk my dog at 7am and 10pm -who is spot checking me then? I know a few shit owners who dogs don't even leave the house and garden.
It definitely would not be easily enforced and very lucrative. Quite the opposite actually.
Those suggesting DNA testing obviously don't know how much the process costs!