to think that the keeping of dogs for domestic purposes should be banned.

[AKMD]

That?s it really. I am sick to death of having to watch my feet to make sure I don?t accidentally tread in dog muck left to steam by some selfish, lazy dog owner. I resent not being able to take 2yo DS to the park directly opposite my house because it?s used as a dog exercise ground and you can?t play toddler football without the ball and toddler falling into said dog muck. I hate that every time we go to the slightly nicer park there?s at least one dog without a lead who decides to come and sniff DS and that while he backs away the owner stands there laughing that ?he?s only being friendly?. I loathe and detest the particularly ?friendly? dogs who lick DS while I drag him away, probably just after eating another dog?s poo or a dead rat or some other disgusting thing they just found. I have personally seen the scars left on a young child by a ?friendly? dog turning savage and ripping the toddler?s cheek off. The problem of people getting bored of their dogs and dumping them in rescue centres is sickening. The stories of dogs being bred to fight, being neglected, being bred for ?beauty? despite the ?beautiful? characteristics causing the animals pain and suffering are beyond belief.

IMO domestic dog owners as a general class have proved that they are irresponsible and selfish. Fear of treading in dog poo on a pavement or in a park is common to everyone and I am so, so sick of people blaming it on a tiny minority. Domestic dog owners can?t be trusted to be responsible so they shouldn?t have them, end of. People should only be allowed to keep dogs for working purposes ? guide dogs, sniffer dogs, police dogs, sheep dogs etc. - if they are licensed.

AIBU?

Poor wee Lennox :(

But my dog is a guard dog.

Therefore, doesn't matter how "good" or not I am, under your daft proposals I'd be allowed to keep him.

I wouldn't say that your dog is a working dog, no. The primary purpose of the dog is for pleasure; the burglar-scaring element is incidental.

YABU. I'd like all cats to stop shitting in the garden and fuck off, but apparently some people like them, so I just have to deal with it.

You said keeping for domestic purposes.

I'd see your arse in court.

And I'd win.

I'm with 5foot5

The primary purpose of keeping my dog is for safety and as a guard dog.

The pleasure and companionship is incidental.

That'll cost about £15,000 to settle that one. At least.

fuckerama - abso-bloody-lutely.

AKMD, and what would you do with these confiscated dogs? Where do you think that the dog wardens are coming from to carry out the task? You try what I suggested to 5Foot5 and you come back to me to tell me how many councils even have a proper, FT dog warden these days. If you knew what you were talking about your argument would be just laughable, given that you clearly haven't got a clue about the realities of the situation is bloody irritating as you're giving an already deluded public a false impression about the state of dog warden services in this country. Desist!

Has the Friday bumsex thread turned into the Friday "I hate dogs, me" thread?

All very boring.

OP I live in an area where it seems every other house has at least one dog. I've never stood in shit. My DD has never stood in shit. You must live in a spectacularly shitty place.

Its great here in Gods Own Country with a lack of dog poo problem, no?
Of the many things we have, a dog poo problem isnt one of them.
Maybe the Tourist Board could use it as a promotional idea?

How's the court system going to cope with all the extra cases? Who's going to end up paying for the cases the local council's lose?

While we're at it...

1. Ban people who drop litter from buying convenience food and sweets
2. Ban people who play music too loudly in their cars.
3. Ban yoofs from hanging around in supermarket carparks looking lairy.
4. Ban people wearing nylon sports clothing with logos on.
5. Ban all clothing with logos on in fact
6. Ban people wearing offensively strong perfume/after-shave (Lush must be closed down!) as it is a health hazard (makes me sneeze)
7. Ban people smoking outside when people are trying to go for a run.
8. Ban people from thinking that watching unfit runners is a spectator sport
9. Ban people from owning more than one car and clogging up all the parking spaces. In fact ban people living in town centres from owning cars at all.

10. I'm still thinking.....

GrahamTribe "PMSL. Pick a dozen local councils, any ones you want across England, ring them up and ask them whether they have a full time, specific person for dog warden duties other than for merely collecting strays, then come back and tell me how many of them said that they do,"

Did you not read the rest of my post?

I was proposing an annual licence fee for dog ownership that would be used specifically to fund a dog warden service.

fuckerama, the court system will buckle at the knees, as it has under the DDA. This will cause more dogs to be incarcerated for months and years, as Lennox is, and will cause the police and authorities to call for a "speeding up" of the procedure from seizure to court case conclusion, as is already being appealed for.

A more accurate way to describe "speeding up" is "kill more quickly" (not just imo but in those of several of my late DH's police colleagues, all of whom are as angry about the idea as I am). Is that what you want, AKMD? You claim to care about dog welfare - do you want thousands more incarcerated in council pounds and put to their deaths for simply being owned by someone who has no license? Have you ever been behind the scenes in a council dog pound?

FFS!

YABU

Not all dog owners are irresponsible, just as not all cat owners aren't either. I used to hate the fact that all my nieghbour's cats would shit in my garden, because I didn't have a cat myself.

I pick up my dog's poo and where I live (abroad) it isn't actually illegal to leave it where said dog has dumped it. In the UK you can be fined for neglecting to pick it up.

YANBU to be upset, personally I'd like to ban people who try to tell me what to do based on their own wishes, when what I'm doing is not harming anyone or breaking any laws.

I agree with most of what you said AKMD, there is a nature trail at the end of our street that is used as a dog toilet. We can never walk down it at night time.
There is a lady that lives near me with 6 dogs, she walks them at the crack of dawn then again late at night and they bark, which I find inconsiderate.
I don't think a ban would be appropriate but as you have said lisencing is the best way.

Lets just ban all pets. And children. And anything that might be open to exploitation, making mess and generally potentially causing offence / irritation to a select few.

Let's all live in a sterile bubble.

Heres the link to the Lennox case in Belfast.
Poor dog.

Do you know what the average dog warden's salary is, 5Foot5? And how many of them it would take to enforcee your proosals?

Of course YABU

But I can't be arsed to argue with you, so there...

yabu very

So what's your alternative solution GrahamTribe because there clearly is a problem.

YANBU

We can't go for walks in so called 'family walking areas' because of dog dirt. It's disgusting and a health risk.

People also park their cars next to the large field near our house and let their dogs use it as a dog toilet. The area where my kids are supposed to be able to play because our garden is too small

People can keep other types of pet, there's no good reason why people need to have dogs unless they're farm or police dogs.

I've loads, so many that I'd be here for hours, AKMD, so I won't bore you but for a start I'd like legislation to ensure that every council has sufficient FT dog wardens, to be charged with the carrying out of a multitude of tasks - welfare, environmental health related and others - and not just someone who has another job altogether but who is called on to pick up stray dogs as and when necessary. I'd also legislate to ensure that these dog wardens were in-house and not contractors as ime in-house wardens tend to care more about the community which they represent.

GrahamTribe "Do you know what the average dog warden's salary is, 5Foot5? And how many of them it would take to enforcee your proosals?"

Of course I don't! I haven't got as far as writing a detailed proposal and the government haven't yet got around to appointing me dog Czar and asking me to work out the details!

But I don't see why it couldn't work in principle.

Suppose a dog warden got paid £30kpa. That would probably cost around £45K when all other costs of employment were taken in to consideration (I don't know if that is the correct rule of thumb but whatever).

So if the dog licence was £45 a year then you could employ one warden for every 1000 dogs in a neighbourhood. Again - I have no idea if that is a realistic figure but I don't see that it is so unworkable