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

How would you suggest the licences are policed?

This system already exists.
We have microchips, which means there is already a register of dogs. The chip number is also on the dog's record at the vets. They are already a legal reuirement. It is also a legal requirement for dog's to have a tag with owner details on.
Who will be carrying out spot checks?

I fully support dog licencing as an owner, for the benefit of the dogs, not for the benefit of mumsnetters who think that a country on the brink of fucking recession is going to use the additional funds to employ pavement washers.

What planet.

Actually, as a dog lover and owner, I fully support the idea of a dog licence (as well as mandatory pet health insurance). Too many people take on ownership of a dog, without considering the care and costs that come with being a responsible owner.

Having said that, human shit, piss, vomit and phlegmn is more of an issue in my area - joys of living next to a not-so-nice pub! Actually, pubs should pay more for their licences (due to the antisocial behaviours of their patrons)!

But we live in a much more technological age now, so this could be easily enforceable.

Essentially, every Vet would need to include the licence number on the record and report ones that don't have one. Spot checks and on the spot fines would also work. So licences would need to be attached to collers.

Any reports of dangerous dogs or dog related incidents could involve license checks, just like car insurance.

This could be easily inforced through current channels and could be very lucrative in raising revenue.

Definitely overdue.

How is a dog licence going to pay for all that? It's physically impossible.

How many schools in your local area? I have 10. It would have to cover at least two people on unsociable hours wage, equipment for hosing, the cost of water, every single night on every street leading to those 10 schools. And that's just in the space of one little town.

Then dog wardens.

Cameras on every street.

People to review those thousands of hours of camera footage. As for a DNA database 😂 We can't even fund forensics for actual crimes in many cases! Yet you think a dog licence would pay for forensic analysis of dog shit?

It sounds good to the extremely naive but you're clueless to the actual mammoth cost of a service like that.

Plus who is going to enforce it? Police? They can't even deal with crime, never mind anything else.

All that would happen, even if it was physically achievable, is the responsible owners who already clean up after their dogs will be paying through the nose and the arseholes who don't care will just ignore it and the cost of trying to enforce it with said arseholes will come back on those already actually paying, who were never the problem to begin with.

We 100% need this here. The lockdown labradors are a serious problem around children.

Back when dog licenses were around, only half of dog owners had one anyway.

Which is why you need decent enforcement. Fining people who don't have licences will pay for the wardens and enforcement costs.

Couldn't agree more.

But the people who are irresponsible and don't care, wont be the ones that are getting licenses.

100% agree.

Dog ownership is a privilege and not a right.

It costs tax payers (in terms of court time, defence lawyers) and charities so much more to get really unsuitable dog owners banned than any of this could ever cost. And I mean awful neglectful or cruel owners - they don’t even bother with just crap ones.

This is something that anyone who actually cares about dogs should support.

Who's picking up the samples and sending them off for testing? Who's doing the DNA profiling in the first place?

As a single woman with a dog I already pay well over the odds on things like council tax. This would just be another penalty for me. If there are two adults in a house you pay 50% of the cost each, whereas with my "discount" I still have to pay 75%.

I do feel I pay far more than my fair share towards society already.

It's already compulsory to microchip these animals. Guess who gets it done and who doesn't get it done?

It wont do anything. Responsible owners already pick up after their dog. Irresponsible owners don't, and they will not be the type to get a license if they came in.
Seizing dogs and destroying them seems very drastic. The dogs will have done nothing wrong, and not a danger to society.
As to DNA testing poo. What happens if a dog manages to escape, and poos whilst it is out on the run? What about people who are walking someone else's dog for them?

When i was a child we did have a dog licence system. The same type of people ignored that as would ignore it again. I don’t know the answer but agree something should be done to deal with irresponsible owners.

Dog licenses were in the 70’s, I remember my late father renewing the license every year. We could bring them back.

Cigarettes are already taxed. Personally litter bothers me as much as dog mess.

Cats don't cause a public nuisance. They don't attack people or foul in the street. Many things cause private nuisance but that's a different issue.

It's not the dogs fault the owner doesn't have a license (if this were to come in) so putting the dog down - "destroying it" is a bit drastic.

I completely agree with you OP. As a society we have to pay to clean up dog mess and deal with the other issues associated with dogs. That money can either come from everyone's taxes or it can come directly from dog-owners. I think the latter is the fairest way, because the general public do not benefit from people owning dogs.

It’s never cats on here. Or smokers and their 27 billion discarded cigarette butts each year (each one taking around 12 years to degrade). Or laughing gas canisters, graffiti, vandalism. Just dogs.

Agreed. What about kid licensing? Statistically you're way more likely to be attacked by a man than a dog. Somebody raised them, better sort that out. It means only people with children need to pay education taxes as well. Perhaps, as we are heading towards privatisation with regards to medical care it could roll that in too. If people can't afford it we will take them off them and send them to work houses like it's 1880 😂

It shouldn't even be about paying for cleanup. If there were a DNA database it would be much easier to enforce fines against those who fail to pick up. This would act as a deterrent.