AIBU to think we should have stricter rules for owning dogs/cats?

[neathanderallady]

Inspired by the pet insurance thread.

But AIBU to think that dog tax, compulsory pet insurance and registering on a database would be a brilliant idea? As far as I know, some countries used to have systems like this.

So you’d pay a small amount each month- not too much, just enough to give you the ‘right’ to own a pet.

Insurance would then be mandatory. To be eligible to pay the dog tax to legally own a dog or cat, you would have to have proof of insurance.

All dogs would be registered and microchipped.

I guess there would be legal consequences for not doing so.

Good or bad?

I’m just thinking of all the stray dogs, people who can’t afford insurance but have the dog/cat anyway and then have a suffering animal, etc...

Yes but I think it would be very hard to implement
people would hide dogs in their houses and never let them out rather than pay to have dogs
that's what I think

I don't have pet insurance as we have more than enough to cover vet bills. Older animals would be impossible to rehome as the insurance costs would be too high. I prefer to save and know I have enough to cover the bills, as opposed to the level an insurance company would cover up to.

I agree with you in principle, but I think what would happen is you’d get people who don’t pay (either because they don’t want to or can’t afford to) and then who would ultimately end up not taking their animals to the vets when needed for fear of being discovered. So in the end, it’s the animals that would still suffer. Also agree with a PP about keeping animals in the house all the time to hide them.

I think all animals should have microchips and those micro chips should be scannable by apps that you can easily get for mobile phones
so if you see someone not picking up their dog shit or a dog that is a nuisance you can just point your phone at it and Report The Dog and the owner

In the UK dogs have to be microchipped and registered on one of the databases from 8 weeks age ( as puppies should not be sold to 8 weeks of age breeders should do this) and this has been the case since April 2016. Yesterday I saw a 9 year old dog without a chip, unless there is the money to provide a whole stream of personnel to check chips nothing will change.
The type of owner who considers pet ownership as a right not a privilege will continue to exist no matter what the system you put in place.

I think you should have to register on a database etc but I don't see why you should have to pay for a license. We have 2 cats and I already pay a small fortune each month for vet cover and insurance (separate to the vet charge) I happily pay these as they are for the benefit of the cats (injections etc) and us but I don't see how a random charge to the government would be good for the pets. Also it would encourage people to just not declare they have them.

I wish they could introduce a dog licence in particular. You’d have to attend a course on canine care, basic training and behaviour, potential with different levels for guarding breeds. You’d do a test and if pass you get your license. A bit like with a car.

There would always be people who would abuse it and have dogs illegally but it’s shocking the amount of people who see themselves as good owners who don’t know what the fuck they’re doing particularly with behaviour.

I think no one should be allowed to keep a dog unless they have a personal licence, and the licence cannot be bought until the keeper has taken a mandatory course and passed a test to cover basic rules about responsible dog ownership. Stuff like not feeding chocolate.

Great minds @MiddleClassProblem

Great idea in theory.

Much harder to put it into practice

it’s shocking the amount of people who see themselves as good owners who don’t know what the fuck they’re doing particularly with behaviour. You could substitute the word "parent" for the word "owner" in that sentence.

What do other countries do?

Totally, Mere

I don't think insurance could be compulsory. I have a friend whose cat has a medical condition and she can't insure him properly as the company will never pay out (everything will be blamed on his condition).

No insurance is not the same like with a car. It’s like having it as a person, compulsory doesn’t work.

Licensing would be hard to bring in as dog ownership is so wide spread but not impossible either. It would take a good few years though for it to be across the board as poss.

Same should apply to small caged animals, rabbits etc. Can't see it ever happening though. All horses are supposed to be passported but that doesn't happen.

The problem is, as someone pointed out further up, you need to fund personnel to ensure these systems work. All my ponies are passported, I have never once been asked to show them when taking them to shows, never been stopped by the police when travelling them and asked to see their papers and previous owners haven't bothered to register them. We do need to cut down on indiscriminate breeding of all types of domestic animals in this country as there are more animals than there are good homes and I agree there needs to be far better education of people when they want to keep a pet. The levels of ignorance out there are shocking. We took in a chinchilla that had never been given a sand bath in his life - a five second search on caring for chinchillas on google would have told you this! Don't get me started on the new horse owner who, when called by an irate yard owner to be told that her horse had no food and she needed to provide it at her own expense, brought him up a bag of chips from the chipper! The problem is, ensuring education and checking the welfare of domestic pets will cost millions and I don't think there will ever be the political appetite for it.

When I was a girl all dogs used to have to have a licence but it got so impossible to police that they scrapped it. Can't see how making owners get a licence would improve things as only the responsible owners would do it and the irresponsible ones would ignore any penalties!

other countries
u.s.a-all animals are required to have rabies and early vacs)distemper/parvo etc)and tags to prove it
insurence is "health insurence or damage"
some communities require it some don't.
where my mom lives
in reference to abandoned pets.
if you are over a certain age(i think its 70) and you want to adopt you have to designate a "godparent"in the event you die and there are pets left behind.
some breeders insist on this or return of animal to them if unwanted or abandoned.
all mine have ear tattoos
i do believe all owners should go thru a test.
also many sellers/adoption places do manditory home visits to see where the animal is going
none of this is fool proof but it helps.

Switzerland has the compulsory owner's training course and compulsory third party insurance. The costs are reduced or waived for registered assistance dogs.

It could work here if it was brought in slowly.

This article is mostly about visiting Switzerland with dogs but does mention the course etc. here

Totally agree the fudgeing guy next door has 7 dogs our garden is about 20ft if that he doesn’t clean the poop just takes it into a pile every six months or so it’s like a massive shit mount snowdon he can’t walk then because their 7 and he’s at work all day and their is kennel it’s awful

guy next door has 7 dogs our garden is about 20ft if that he doesn’t clean the poop just takes it into a pile every six months or so it’s like a massive shit mount snowdon he can’t walk then because their 7 and he’s at work all day

how awful for you and the dogs:(
what sort of breed are they...is there anything that can be done?

I don't see why insurance should be mandatory. If you can afford to treat an injury or illness without relying on insurance, then what's the point of insurance? Growing up, we never had pet insurance for anything. When the dog broke her leg, my parents paid the vet bill. When the cat was unwell, they paid the vets bill. Insurance would have been a waste of money cause they undoubtedly spent less on vets bills than they would have on insurance costs over the life time. They - and I - don't believe in prolonging the inevitable, so when one of our dogs was diagnosed with severe epilepsy at 18 months old, they had her pts because they didn't believe it was fair to medicate her for life. The same approach was taken on various pets which ended up with terminal illness like cancer. Upon finding the presence of cancer, they were pts. Sure, if they had insurance, they could have thrown everything at treating it, but is that the right thing to do? I don't think so. I think that with insurance behind us, we can often approach animal's illnesses without thinking about what is best for them - we just don't want to let them go.

The right insurance also covers if your animal hurts another animal or causes an accident though- a moral responsibility I think.