To think they should bring back dog licenses

[trudynotmoody]

I think most dog owners are responsible and careful, but having dog licences might at least make some people think twice before getting one. The money could be used for RSPCA vets for people who can't afford vets bills.

What form would the licence take - ie what do you do to get one?

The old style (hand over an annual sum of money to the government) didn't really do anything for either animal welfare or owners' behaviour. And how would it be policed?

No idea if your idea is a good or bad one unless you explain what sort of licence you mean/

What would a dog license do that a chip doesn’t?

No. We had them before. When it was normal to let dogs wander the street. Responsible pet owners will do it. Irresponsible ones won't.

I don't see anything about dog licences that will improve the current issues with irresponsible dog ownership

I remember dog licences my mum bought it at the post office ( a little scrap of paper) then it was put into a drawer and there it forever sat . What a waste of time and paper . No wonder they were scrapped .

YABU as it isn't feasible to enforce and would be abused by all the irresponsible dog owners

What form do you envisage these licences taking?

What would they enforce? What would they control?

Why would this make a difference to the current situation?

What powers would you need to give which authorities to enforce it effectively?

How would this be funded? How would it be monitored?

What would the punishment be for breaches?

Dog licences didn’t enforce or regulate ownership it was literally just a tax.

What would a dog licence do?
How would it work and who would enforce it?

If you can’t afford vet bills then why don’t you have insurance and if you don’t have basic insurance and no other means to pay a vet bill are you a responsible pet owner to begin with?

I certainly don't agree that other dog owners should fund other families that don't do forward thinking and buy a dog they can't afford . Why should other dog owners fund other people's lifestyle's . Can't afford a dog ? Don't get one .

Basically dogs cost society money.

Cleaning up their mess, impounding them, dealing with the health implications of them amongst other things.

The question is should this cost be borne by society as a whole or just dog owners.

There is also an argument that if dog services were actually better funded then dogs as a whole would have less negative impact on society.

I think we need properly funded dog services, not just rely on the RSPCA and charities. And those services should be funded by dog owners, not society as a whole.

Rcpca ,Sspca are funded by charitable donations quite rightly .

Northern Ireland still have dog licences

You are meant to get one, and we do license our dog, but plenty don't bother and there is no real comeback.

Pretty sure it only gets checked up on if the dog strays - even our vet has never asked if we have a licence....

N .Ireland dog licences have no teeth (pardon the pun) might as well not bother (previous experience ).

People will say that they don't work and are too much fuss for too little reward.

But councils are getting rid of dog wardens as dog ownership increases so I would support dog licences to pay for dog wardens to be reinstated.

Yes you'll have a few entitled oafs who don't feel the need to comply with the law - see people who drive without valid MOTs, VED or insurance, but the majority will.

The arsehole dog owners that are the problem wouldn’t comply waste of time

the only people it would penalise is honest responsible dog owners

The problem is that the UK seems to have basically stopped prosecuting a lot of offenses that are far more serious than non-authorized dog ownership, so I doubt it would be enforced. Pity. I'm also frustrated by the never-ending increases in flipping dogs absolutely everywhere.

The only result of dog licenses would be more cost for already responsible owners. It’s like car tax and insurance, doesn’t stop the criminal and irresponsible element from driving without either. Cannot see any point in it, there’s two types of dog owners, responsible and irresponsible, a license wouldn’t change that. Why penalise responsible law abiding dog owners.

I am not sure universally requiring one is the answer. I would just bring back this for certain breeds (and cross-breeds), which would include some being banned or limitations (say size of house, or no previous criminal record of anyone in the house). Alongside this the breeding of said breeds could have restrictions.

Completely pointless. The people that would bother to get one are the responsible owners. The idiots wouldn't and who is going to police it? How? At what cost?

Good idea in theory, but impossible to police. Better to require ALL dogs to be muzzled and leashed in any public place, and owners having to maintain a suitable fence around their property. I can't believe how these fecking things are attacking and killing people every other day and no-one is doing anything about it. Personally I'd like to see them cease to exist, except perhaps for the very few useful working animals such as sniffer dogs, as they are not only utterly pointless and unnecessary but cause such problems to society, and are such a massive waste of resources.

Need to stop calling a dog licence. Just make chipping compulsory, responsible dog owners will do this anyway. It's easy to check and difficult to forge. Have a central register.

No chip, dog is taken from the owner. Big fine.

Not sure at what age a dog can be chipped but you could even make it the legal responsibility of the breader / seller.

Again big fines for non compliance.

Better than faffing around with a bit of paper.

Same for cats

Chipping for dogs has been compulsory since 2016. We had both ours done at eight weeks.

Chipping is compulsory by 8 weeks old now - there's a £500 fine otherwise. It's much better as a fine, because taking the dogs away would just result in thousands more completely innocent, healthy dogs being killed than already are.

Of course, whether the fine is big enough...that's an entirely different conversation. I'd totally support adding a zero to that number - make the consequences really painful.

Irresponsible owners are the problem .. and the irresponsible ones won’t get a licence even if they are compulsory.

I think all dogs should be on leads in public places - only off the lead in your own garden, or identified dog exercise areas.

Chipping should be compulsory… plus a crack down on dodgy breeders - I am sure some dogs have behavioural issues because of traumatic starts in life.