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.

It didn't "used to work", though. Responsible owners paid for the licence, the other 50% didn't. There was ZERO enforcement and dog shite EVERWHERE.

Whose they? Local underfunded councils? Will the police be carrying out arrests? They can't even cover attending burglaries. Where do you think all this money is coming from to fund the multiple agencies required to cover such a massive undertaking? It's not from a £100 a year license from those who you can get to pay. Think of the resources needed to hunt down dog owners who haven't registered for a license -which were abolished for just that reason in the 1980s. Catching those who let their dogs shit and proving it was them -how? Full coverage CCTV everywhere? Nobody is scraping up random dog shit for DNA testing.
I'm not trying to crap on your idea; I get why you want it to happen. It won't though, simply because it just won't work. I'm as sick of dog shit left on paths as anyone (and don't get me started on the cats shitting on my drive!) but licensing won't pay for pavement hosing. The cost of licensing will pay for licensing admin.
Our village is actually very good for dog poo picking up and the vast majority do it. Locals leave dog poo bags on the top of bins for people to take -I add a few rolls a month for people to use. Seems to help. It's a start anyway.

This. It never worked!

But it won't stop the bad owners. They just won't bother to licence the dog. Just like those who drive without a licence or insurance.

I think we should have licensing for all pets. That might reduce the issues rescues are having to deal with. And compulsory microchips for dogs and cats and maybe others.

I do think dogs should be licensed annually and must show proof of vaccinations to get one and a reduction if they are neutered. But you are living in cloud cuckoo land if you think hosing down pavements and checking cctv for non scoopers is ever going to happen!

I love dogs and I am writing this from a place of concern about their welfare.

I think we need a total rethink about dogs and dog ownership. The problem starts because it's too easy to breed dogs and too easy to buy dogs. Animal shelters are overwhelmed with the poor creatures being abandoned. The amount of dog mess on the pavements is disgusting. I don't know what the answer is - is it more licensing, registering breeders, compulsory sterilisation of dogs, heavy fines, dog wardens, spot checks, cameras in the worst dog fouled areas to catch owners (I'm sure it's the same few dog owners who allow their dogs to do this over and over)? It seems yet another thing that as a country we won't be able to afford but for the sake of the welfare of dogs and the places where we live, we have to do something.

Someone on my road put a very polite notice on their lawn asking people not to let dogs foul on the grass, and some mean minded, spiteful person hung a full dog poo bag on the sign. This, sadly, is a sign of the poor attitude and contempt of some people when asked politely not to do something so maybe we need things to be compulsory and enforced with penalties.

The problem was it was usually those who couldn't care less about other people and kept very violent dogs who didn't bother with such things as dog licences, same as they didn't bother with car tax, working for a living, tv licences etc., they were life's perpetual takers.

Microchipping dogs has been compulsory since 2016.

Agree 💯- sick to death of toddler and small child stepping in the mess.
I've actually seen my neighbour letting his dog foul on a green nr our house. Was nightime and he thought he'd get away with it. We don't speak since that as I had a massive go at him.

Also the doggy poo bags everywhere you go ,stuffed into crevices and hanging on trees. Even in the most beautiful spot in the Lake District I saw this recently. I cannot understand the mentality...

Yes people should have to buy an annual licence to keep a dog. The revenue could be used to fund a dog enforcement team, a bit like traffic wardens, who patrol the streets and issue fines to people who don't obey the rules. They could have the power to confiscate animals or arrest owners for more serious offences like not picking up excrement or putting it in a stranger's wheelie bin.

Ideally there should be a test you have to pass to get a licence, the same way you do to drive. There would be a theory test and a practical test covering things like restraining a violent animal.

The licence could also resemble a driving licence in that there are different tests for different types of dog. Say you want to ride a powerful motorbike, you can't just take a test for that class, you have to pass tests and gain experience on lower-powered machine. People should have to spend a few years getting experience with tiny dogs before they can move onto something larger like a labrador.

I'd happily pay a dog licence fee and hand over a DNA sample of my dog. I'm as fed up of the next person of stepping in dog shit or not being able to take my dog to places where they're now banned because of the irresponsible behaviour of other owners. I don't think a license scheme will change much though.

The cost of the scene will never be covered by the revenue it raises. No government will ever set it at a rate that would cover it because it would be prohibitively expensive, deeply unpopular, and ethically questionable. Existing legislation exists for tackling dog poo that allows a £100 fixed penalty notice up to £1000 fine if not paid within time. To increase it even marginally you'd
require new legislation and fines are always set within established parameters. You are not ever going to see a £50,000 fine for dog fouling. So the revenue will always be limited.

There are better ways to tackle the issue of dog poo. The last time we ran a pr campaign on dog fouling it reduced it by nearly half, and up to 90% in some areas.

So, are we adding in a cat license with this? Cats who roam and shit all over your garden. Are you going to add in provision for hosing down gardens every night?

It shouldn't even be about paying for cleanup. If there were a DNA database it would be much easier to enforce fines against those who fail to pick up. This would act as a deterrent.

Agreed. What about kid licensing? Statistically you're way more likely to be attacked by a man than a dog. Somebody raised them, better sort that out. It means only people with children need to pay education taxes as well. Perhaps, as we are heading towards privatisation with regards to medical care it could roll that in too. If people can't afford it we will take them off them and send them to work houses like it's 1880 😂

It’s never cats on here. Or smokers and their 27 billion discarded cigarette butts each year (each one taking around 12 years to degrade). Or laughing gas canisters, graffiti, vandalism. Just dogs.

I completely agree with you OP. As a society we have to pay to clean up dog mess and deal with the other issues associated with dogs. That money can either come from everyone's taxes or it can come directly from dog-owners. I think the latter is the fairest way, because the general public do not benefit from people owning dogs.

It's not the dogs fault the owner doesn't have a license (if this were to come in) so putting the dog down - "destroying it" is a bit drastic.

Cats don't cause a public nuisance. They don't attack people or foul in the street. Many things cause private nuisance but that's a different issue.

Cigarettes are already taxed. Personally litter bothers me as much as dog mess.

Dog licenses were in the 70’s, I remember my late father renewing the license every year. We could bring them back.

When i was a child we did have a dog licence system. The same type of people ignored that as would ignore it again. I don’t know the answer but agree something should be done to deal with irresponsible owners.

It wont do anything. Responsible owners already pick up after their dog. Irresponsible owners don't, and they will not be the type to get a license if they came in.
Seizing dogs and destroying them seems very drastic. The dogs will have done nothing wrong, and not a danger to society.
As to DNA testing poo. What happens if a dog manages to escape, and poos whilst it is out on the run? What about people who are walking someone else's dog for them?

It's already compulsory to microchip these animals. Guess who gets it done and who doesn't get it done?