AIBU to say dog safety enforcement is a problem?

[Dogsafety123]

AIBU to think that current levels of enforcement of dog-related safety laws are insufficient?

Inside the world of organised crime and extreme dog breeding https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64346415

St John and RSPCA guidance as dog bite hospital admissions rise 17%
https://www.sja.org.uk/press-centre/press-releases/st-john-and-rspca-guidance-as-dog-bite-hospital-admissions-rise-17/

YANBU

Although the two things may not be related.

Clearly badly bred bull-breeds and dogs being bred by criminals are a huge issue atm and police and other agencies need resources to investigate and prosecute breaches of the law currently. I haven't had a chance to watch the BBC programe but it sounds like that might help drug law enforcement too.

The dog bite trend has been rising for longer than bull-breed ownership. And the vast vast majority of bites are in the home by the breeds most of us own - so there will be plenty of little chihuahuas, cockerpoos etc making up the dog bite stat. My understanding is it is rising faster than the rise in dog ownersip, so more dogs are in homes where they end up biting. That's really worrying too but prob needs different enforcement - safeguarding interventions if a child or anyone vulnerable is bitten, mandatory training for dog owners after a bite occurs, muzzle orders etc. Again the current law allows for all this, and prob in many cases dog control orders are used. I don't know how easy they are to enforce for police and in some cases working with dog owners to make them better informed may be better than force (if people fear removal or muzzle orders they may just not seek appropriate medical attn which would be the worst outcome).

I think I agree with all of that @OllytheCollie. Possibly the only thing I would add is that dog owners and especially professional walkers know who many of the irresponsible owners and dangerous dogs are. Yes, enforcement would cost more, but there would be saved healthcare costs.

I think there probably needs to be better separation of off-lead dogs and people, but this would need to be done thoughtfully.

I agree re separating off lead dogs and people too. I live rurally where it is less of an issue although off lead dogs and livestock are a problem. Then I visited a city with my dog a few weeks ago and thought wow! The concentration of dogs was so high! I don't know if this increases the bite risk much - i.e. I wd hope most dogs capable of fear aggression to strangers wd be on lead or even muzzled in that setting. But the park was inaccessible to non dog lovers and that's not fair. Limiting times when dogs CD go or at least be off lead wd be reasonable.

Oh yes, I’ve seen off-lead dogs chasing sheep in Yorkshire and Cumbria. Charitably the owners had no idea that they didn’t have recall when they set out but it’s pretty awful to see.

Dog aggression in parks/streets in the city is all too common. Unfortunately there are a lot of poorly trained and/or reactive dogs (as you say, dog ownership has gone up) and a park is full of toddlers, buggies, runners and other dogs, all of which can trigger them.

Off lead dogs are a real problem, and dogs are now allowed in too many places so it is hard to stay away from them.