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

So, are we adding in a cat license with this? Cats who roam and shit all over your garden. Are you going to add in provision for hosing down gardens every night?

I'd happily pay a dog licence fee and hand over a DNA sample of my dog. I'm as fed up of the next person of stepping in dog shit or not being able to take my dog to places where they're now banned because of the irresponsible behaviour of other owners. I don't think a license scheme will change much though.

The cost of the scene will never be covered by the revenue it raises. No government will ever set it at a rate that would cover it because it would be prohibitively expensive, deeply unpopular, and ethically questionable. Existing legislation exists for tackling dog poo that allows a £100 fixed penalty notice up to £1000 fine if not paid within time. To increase it even marginally you'd
require new legislation and fines are always set within established parameters. You are not ever going to see a £50,000 fine for dog fouling. So the revenue will always be limited.

There are better ways to tackle the issue of dog poo. The last time we ran a pr campaign on dog fouling it reduced it by nearly half, and up to 90% in some areas.

Yes people should have to buy an annual licence to keep a dog. The revenue could be used to fund a dog enforcement team, a bit like traffic wardens, who patrol the streets and issue fines to people who don't obey the rules. They could have the power to confiscate animals or arrest owners for more serious offences like not picking up excrement or putting it in a stranger's wheelie bin.

Ideally there should be a test you have to pass to get a licence, the same way you do to drive. There would be a theory test and a practical test covering things like restraining a violent animal.

The licence could also resemble a driving licence in that there are different tests for different types of dog. Say you want to ride a powerful motorbike, you can't just take a test for that class, you have to pass tests and gain experience on lower-powered machine. People should have to spend a few years getting experience with tiny dogs before they can move onto something larger like a labrador.

Also the doggy poo bags everywhere you go ,stuffed into crevices and hanging on trees. Even in the most beautiful spot in the Lake District I saw this recently. I cannot understand the mentality...

Agree 💯- sick to death of toddler and small child stepping in the mess.
I've actually seen my neighbour letting his dog foul on a green nr our house. Was nightime and he thought he'd get away with it. We don't speak since that as I had a massive go at him.

Microchipping dogs has been compulsory since 2016.

The problem was it was usually those who couldn't care less about other people and kept very violent dogs who didn't bother with such things as dog licences, same as they didn't bother with car tax, working for a living, tv licences etc., they were life's perpetual takers.

I love dogs and I am writing this from a place of concern about their welfare.

I think we need a total rethink about dogs and dog ownership. The problem starts because it's too easy to breed dogs and too easy to buy dogs. Animal shelters are overwhelmed with the poor creatures being abandoned. The amount of dog mess on the pavements is disgusting. I don't know what the answer is - is it more licensing, registering breeders, compulsory sterilisation of dogs, heavy fines, dog wardens, spot checks, cameras in the worst dog fouled areas to catch owners (I'm sure it's the same few dog owners who allow their dogs to do this over and over)? It seems yet another thing that as a country we won't be able to afford but for the sake of the welfare of dogs and the places where we live, we have to do something.

Someone on my road put a very polite notice on their lawn asking people not to let dogs foul on the grass, and some mean minded, spiteful person hung a full dog poo bag on the sign. This, sadly, is a sign of the poor attitude and contempt of some people when asked politely not to do something so maybe we need things to be compulsory and enforced with penalties.

I do think dogs should be licensed annually and must show proof of vaccinations to get one and a reduction if they are neutered. But you are living in cloud cuckoo land if you think hosing down pavements and checking cctv for non scoopers is ever going to happen!

I think we should have licensing for all pets. That might reduce the issues rescues are having to deal with. And compulsory microchips for dogs and cats and maybe others.

But it won't stop the bad owners. They just won't bother to licence the dog. Just like those who drive without a licence or insurance.

This. It never worked!

Whose they? Local underfunded councils? Will the police be carrying out arrests? They can't even cover attending burglaries. Where do you think all this money is coming from to fund the multiple agencies required to cover such a massive undertaking? It's not from a £100 a year license from those who you can get to pay. Think of the resources needed to hunt down dog owners who haven't registered for a license -which were abolished for just that reason in the 1980s. Catching those who let their dogs shit and proving it was them -how? Full coverage CCTV everywhere? Nobody is scraping up random dog shit for DNA testing.
I'm not trying to crap on your idea; I get why you want it to happen. It won't though, simply because it just won't work. I'm as sick of dog shit left on paths as anyone (and don't get me started on the cats shitting on my drive!) but licensing won't pay for pavement hosing. The cost of licensing will pay for licensing admin.
Our village is actually very good for dog poo picking up and the vast majority do it. Locals leave dog poo bags on the top of bins for people to take -I add a few rolls a month for people to use. Seems to help. It's a start anyway.

It didn't "used to work", though. Responsible owners paid for the licence, the other 50% didn't. There was ZERO enforcement and dog shite EVERWHERE.

I forgot about being locked in school! Also my mum chucking water at random make dogs circling the house because our dog was in season.

You mean, the dog licencing that was a thing until 1987? That was abandoned then because:

1. It was widely ignored, with only about 50% of dog owners buying a licence.
2. It was impossible to enforce.
3. The cost of enforcing would be exorbitant.

I know everyone thinks they've thought of a way to make the twats who don't clean up after their dogs, have out of control/dangerous/etc dogs behave themselves - but it wouldn't. It would only be obeyed by the responsible owners.

For that reason, YABU.

It's ridiculous near us

The school walk is littered with dog poo

I feel like I was constantly standing in dog poo in the seventies and eighties. However it is still a big problem. There would have to be a lot of wardens on the streets to catch people in the act and I think people who don’t care about letting their dogs foul are to not that likely to bother paying.

People seem to pay thousands for dogs and still are terrible anti-social dog owners so I’m not sure the argument stands that a license would stop irresponsible people from getting a dog. I suppose it might stop some people.

You should go to Paris. There's dog shit absolutely everywhere on the streets there. 🤢

It's still not going to happen.

Not heard the word gormless in ages.

If someone doesn't clean up their dog's shit, their dog should be confiscated. Maybe the licence fee could provide places for these dogs to go. But there isn't going to be limitless space is there? So people will learn, if you want to keep your dog, clean up its shit.

To be honest as bad as so e dog owners are, things are a lot better now then they were in the 1970s when we did have a dog license scheme. It was when we had dog licences that packs of dogs roamed the streets all day because people chucked them out when they went to work in the morning and let them back in at tea time. We were occasionally locked inside at primary school while teachers chased dogs away with buckets of water that were mating in the playground. It was a pointless scheme and did absolutely nothing having a dog licence. In fact those were some of the most grim years in dog ownership in the uk. What would a license look like today and how would it be enforced? What if people refuse to buy one? With prisons full and dog pounds full what are they actually going to do to enforce it? There's nowhere to lock owners up if they refuse and there's nowhere to lock their dogs up I til they pay. Don't get me wrong, as a dog owner I'm in favour of some sort of registered ownership scheme but i just don't see how it is going to work. Ultimately the real problem is that owning a dog is a right. It should be a privilege that comes with understanding your responsibility to the dog and society.

Have you ever met any of the actual British public, outside of Mumsnet extremists? Lol. That isn't happening don't be so gormless.

I used to live in Berlin, where a licence is needed to own a dog.

The level of dog poo on the streets was off the scale. It made the UK look pristine. You always had to watch where you were walking or you’d step in it.

It used to work, so it’s clearly not impossible.
£250 a year, with a reduction to £100 if you register with a vet and get the animal chipped and neutered, perhaps?

Unregistered dogs impounded, destroyed after 6 weeks if not claimed? That might light a fire under the arses of those supposed dog lovers who won’t do the minimum to train and look after their pets.

We have too many dogs and cats compared with the number of people prepared to look after them properly. The charities are bursting at the seams with unwanted animals.

Dogs in particular who aren’t properly trained and socialised by uninformed owners who just see “Aww, cute puppy” are a problem. With people at work all day and the “cute” breeds often being bred from active, inquisitive working breeds in need of stimulation, you end up with poorly behaved, over-excited dogs with no recall running about in public spaces and crapping in parks and playgrounds a long way from their owners.

It’s unfair on the dogs and it’s unfair on everyone else.

Responsible pet owners are their animals get tarred with the same brush as dingbats who buy a puppy or a kitten from a friend of a friend and have no idea what they are doing.