Re-homing if a dog bites, choice or legal requirement?

[AdoraBell]

Inspired by Charliesmum

Firstly, I hope your DS is okay, and I didn't want to hijack your thread.

As I live abroad and never owned a dog in the UK I am unclear on the rules relating to dog bites. Google has not enlightened me.

Is it a legal requirement in the UK to remove a dog that has bitten from the family home? I fully understand the emotional need in these cases, and the risks involved of not taking the situation seriously. Here, Chile, my DD was bitten by a friend's dog and there was no mention of re-homing or destroying the dog. I was told by Dr at the hospital that the dog should not be destroyed but observed for unusual behaviour, related to rabies.

I'm not asking out of morbid curiosity, we may be moving back and would bring our dogs.

No, there is no legal obligation, and I believe that if a dog bites within the Owner's property, the police can't size thedog anyway.

I think an animal would only be forcibly rehomed if its owner were being cruel to it.

A dog would be put to sleep if it were thought to be dangerous, however, it wouldn't be rehomed as this would just be moving the problem elsewhere. If an owner couldn't cope with their dog's behaviour, they could voluntarily organise for it to be rehomed. However, to be honest, I think the end result for a difficult, biting, dog in many cases would be being put to sleep as it would be difficult to find somebody to take it on.

Firstly, OP, the law on dogs is quite complex, and much depends where the dog is when it bites, ie on your property, in public etc, and who/what it bites - law is different if it bites another dog or a human.

I would strongly recommend that all dog owners attend one of the courses run by Trevor Cooper of DogLaw - see here for a list of his forthcoming seminars. I am not related in any way, but think it's important that dog owners understand their legal responsibilities in a complex area of legislation. He also runs more detailed and complex seminars for professionals (rescue organisers, vets, dog wardens etc) and these too are very good.

To make things even more complex, it is likely that the devolved administrations of the UK will be taking slightly different approaches, Wales has already announced that it will be looking at this area of law in 2013.

Dogs that have bitten can and do get rehomed. A great deal depends on the circumstances of the original situation - most rescues recognise that dogs are not robots and even the best dog will bite if it is in pain, threatened etc. Some dogs are not suitable for homing in a family environment but do very well in an adult only home for example.

In the UK we have a legal and moral obligation to protect children from any sort of harm if social services are made aware of the fact there is a dog in the house that is putting a child at risk they will investigate and take appropriate action to protect children.

Thank you for the replies, Scuttlebutter thanks for that link.

We've never had a problem with any of our dogs (4 German Shepherds) but a few weeks ago I walked into the kitchen to find DD2 curled up asleep, nestled between the four dogs. All of them contentedly snoozing. DD is having trouble seeing why this is not a good idea and I know that she would be devastated if we had to rehome any of them.