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

[Eurghh]

This is not a dog-bashing thread.

Dog poo is a massive issue in the UK - I agree some areas are worse than others, but i have lived in various places, holidayed all over, and it really is pretty bad pretty much everywhere. This country is already on its knees with paying for services out of the public fund, but SOMETHING has to be done about the huge number of people who let their dogs mess on the ground for the rest of us to contend with.

I think we need to bring back licences, which will pay for:

• dog wardens to regularly patrol problem areas, and issue fines
• a nightly hose down of pavements in problem areas and also all around pavements leading to schools
• cctv to identify people who don't pick up after their dogs
• dna database

All of this needs to be funded by dog licences.

YABU - the system is fine as it is
YANBU - please bring in licences for dog owners

Atttached to show a photo I took today which prompted me to write this, this quantity of poo is common round here, and I live in a naice well-to-do London borough.

We don’t even have enough police to patrol the streets for crime
whos paying for the dog wardens to do their patrols

It's awful where I live too. Utterly antisocial behaviour. If there's anyone on here who leaves their dog's poo in the street (statistics suggest there must be), I'd love to hear your justification as I cannot think of any.

If it could be self-funded, then absolutely. I don’t think it’ll be done any time soon though, given the state of everything else… Though it should be brought in to discourage people who just think ‘ooh what a cute puppy’ then either abandon it when it all gets too much for them, or let it do what it likes so it becomes a danger to children (and adults). My friend is a social worker and the number of times she comes across children living in houses with poo-covered floors and/or aggressive dogs is unreal.

Well, quite. I have actually never even seen a dog warden in my entire life (assume they'd have a uniform - maybe they are undercover though and that's what we don't see them).

WE don't have enough police let alone funding dog wardens.

As a postie I agree wholeheartedly. It's getting so much worse, I have to dodge massive piles of shit constantly on every walk I do in every kind of area from the big posh naice houses to the little council terraces to the high streets. It's vile. Nearly every van has had crap smeared on the floor at some point from some poor postie stepping in it.

Well, yes. Hence the need to not use public resources on dog wardens, which are sorely needed, and, I think, should be funded by those who have dogs, by way of a licence fee.

We did used to have dog licences but they were scrapped a few decades ago.

Typically UK - scrap something rather than do it properly!

Yes. £100 per dog per year, except for service dogs.

We used to have dog licences but they were very inexpensive so I can’t imagine the cost of the licence would have funded much.

I agree with you though as I’m sick of the state of our pavements too - it’s disgusting. I think it is worse at this time of year as the dark evenings and mornings make it easier to avoid having to pick up after the dog.

I agree. Raise some funds to fund councils to employ street wardens who can deal with dog shit, and also other anti social behaviour such as littering, spitting, etc., which already are illegal but never enforced.

Have you raised this with your union? It's a health and safety hazard.
Who has to clean it up?

The dog licence would go towards cleaning the van.

Yes, needs to be at a level where it's worth doing and will fund street wardens. If you want a dog, then it's a cost of ownership. Just like road fund licence is a cost of having a car.

The new licence fee would have to be worked out to make sure it covered the cost of all that is needed to deal with the dog poo/other dog problems.

I rescue dogs that no one else wants, usually because of how they’ve been treated by humans in the past. I’d happily pay a hefty price for a licence but to try and stop shit people owning and abusing dogs more than for street cleaning purposes. Will the nightly hose down get to bypass any non dog related mess?

The litter round here is also awful, though I think much of it is a bin problem on bin day, with the recent high winds, plus busy little foxes. A nightly sweep/hose down of the pavements for dog poo would naturally clear up the litter/spit/puke too.

I wouldn't have a problem paying for a dog licence but what plans do you have for the dogs that remain unlicensed? I understand that shelters are already overwhelmed with illegal bully dogs. I can't imagine such careless owners would stir themselves to bother with a dog licence.

x-post. Well, I am not the government official, but if i were in charge, clearing up non-dog-related mess would of course happen too. But by far the bigger issue in my area is dog mess, not general rubbish.

I don’t think people would pay! I picked up a dog that was running on the main road, paced up and down trying to find an owner to avail! Took them to the vets to look for a microchip and they couldn’t get ahold of the owner so they held onto the dog and tried several more times. 3 days later they then went to the dog warden and was in kennels for a week. The owner did contact the kennels but said he wouldn’t pay the £80 to release him.

There are many dog owners out there that really should not have dogs at all. They do not care about them enough and would rather they were taken than pay any fine!

Great idea. I like dogs but the sheer number now means pavements, trees and verges are being trashed so there should be a cost for them in urban areas

Yeah nobody is going to pay that, I'm sorry but the dog shit police aren't going to happen. Also how do you enforce the rules against those who have a dog with no license? I imagine thousands wouldn't bother and police hardly do anything about actual actionable crimes let alone reports of somebody who doesn't have a dog license. Charities are already overrun so no impending of unlicensed dogs.

Dog haters who have no idea how a society actually functions will come along telling you that it's a marvelous plan though 😉

How much would it cost to set up and run the bureaucracy of the licencing system? Someone has to check the paperwork, issue the licence, send annual reminders, maintain the database and keep it up to date. Surely most of the licensing fee would need to go on that?

And given that people buy and sell animals on gumtree and Facebook with almost no checks, how would licencing be enforced? Compulsory carrying of a licence when a dog is in public? Who would check that? How many dog wardens would you need to have them do spot checks on random dog walkers to see if their paperwork is in order?

The reason they abandoned the licences in the UK was that they were widely ignored and impossible to enforce. You’d end up with a situation where responsible dog owners paid a huge fee (which it would have to be to make any money for dog wardens and nightly hose downs) but they are the ones already picking up after their dogs and keeping them under control. Meanwhile irresponsible dog owners would just ignore the licence (they already probably don’t get their dog chipped, which is theoretically a legal requirement) and let their dogs foul everywhere.

That will only make it easier for people to leave their poo unchecked though, if they think someone else is going to pick it up .

I don't object to a dog licence, but don't really see the point, I remember them being around and they were very cheap, probably about a fiver in today's money. The money went into general taxation (I think). There was much, much more poo back then (usually white and crumbly due to the high amount of calcium in dog food back then).

The thing is if I as a dog owner have to pay for dog wardens, street cleansing etc then can I have a refund on services I don’t use? Licences won’t work unless you have admin to make sure people buy them.
BTW I do pick up my dogs poo but equally have to frequently dodge dog poo even right next to a bin. Some people will never pick up after their dogs.

I'm interested in the proposed new Code of Practice for getting a dog that is being drawn up in Scotland. Whereby people are expected to read a checklist of all the things owning a dog involves and sign to the effect that they have read this.

I don't know if whether it will have any effect but any moves to try and address all the problems irresponsible dog ownership is causing people everywhere has got to be welcomed.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceq9g31v88ro