I know it's not AIBU, but AIBU to wish the government....

[GinIsIn]

Would bring back the dog license? Not a TAAT, but inspired by an awful, awful thread on here.

So many people just buy puppies on a whim off gumtree that it makes me feel ill. There are people who just shouldn't be allowed to own a dog.

I think the hoops that shelters make you jump through to re-home an animal from them should be the standards applied to anyone who buys an animal.

toosexy - nobody is saying that poor people can't have dogs. Why would it need to be an expensive course? Do you complain that the driving test descriminates against poor people because you have to pay to take it? And if you are so poor you can't afford to pay for a course to ensure you look after the dog, how will you pay for the food, care and vets bills that animal might need? The insurance? In that sense, no, people who can't afford it probably shouldn't get a dog.

The crux of this is that pet ownership is s privilege and a responsibility, but too many people view it as a right.
There are so many dogs flying under the radar and so many backyard breeders not adhering to the legislation we currently have that I can't see that adding more legislation would help.

Exactly - people don't NEED a dog. It's an amazing thing to have one if you are in a position to offer that dog a good home, but a dog NEEDS a good home and if you can't afford the £80 or whatever for the test how will you afford food, treats and medications?

So basically you are arguing that only rich people should have dogs.

Of course they have. They are saying that you should only be allowed a dog if you can afford to pay for what would have to be a very expensive course.
Ergo, only people with plenty of money are allowed a dog.

Bull shit! What do you deem constitutes poor people since you think I'm saying only rich people should have a dog - yet I'm a single mom on benefits?!?

The course could be cheaply administered by having course online, with data to read through and videos to watch - so once up and running, could even have it's upkeep costs paid for by the test and licensing fee.

The test and licensing fee would not need to be that expensive - and in comparison to the cost of buying, feeding and insuring a dog would be practically nothing. So to be quite frank if you can't afford a fairly low cost test and licensing fee before getting a dog, then you can't afford to actually provide even the most basic level of care a dog will require once you own it.

No live animal should be sold over the Internet. Ever.
People should have to get a licence and preferably have some kind of training before they take on a pet. Far too many idiots buy a something cute pup off the internet. No thought of costs or health testing. Never train the bloody thing and then it ends in rescue.

LoneCat - spot checks and ability to enforce extremely high fines - which in turn go into paying for the system to work.

We have dog licences in N Ireland. It is useful in some ways but it doesn't stop puppy farming and irresponsible owners.

Dog licences in Northern Ireland mean nothing, you buy them online for a fiver. The chances of you being caught and fined for not having one are practically zero, and it's also a reason people don't reclaim their dogs when they are caught straying.

BLUE Treasury rules mean that fines go to them, not into the cost of running the scheme (that's what the licence application fee is supposed to cover)

Olen government can and do put the money back into the thing which has "earnt" the fine.

Also if they ran it as an independent regulatory body, like GMC, the fines would be just like private parking company fines, just with legislative back up.

Whoa! Agree with much of what is being said...BUT finding an approved breeder, going on a waiting list for a pedigree dog does not rule out irresponsible ownership. My doodle cross and I spend time avoiding a particularly boisterous untrained short haired German pointer who is the same age as my pup. And I could go on ad nausem.Training lets go has been my friend! Also, although puppy farms are horrendous, there are plenty of people who genuinely want their bitch to have a litter often with a friends dog or a stud dog and who do advertise in a local paper or internet.
Discouraging puppy farming is key but making every owner training aware...and how much is needed, boosting the services of accredited trainers. Mutty and I have done puppy class, one to one training, group socialisation walks and she is going to start agility training in the autumn. I have had two pedigree dogs and I am not going to apologise for my mutt...who is lovely, sweet natured and very trainable. It is the owners who need to be trained to train and engage appropriately with their dogs. What legislation can deal with this?

Please tell me that that horrible thread was deleted for being a troll? I don't want it to have been real

Yes, that thread made me feel really sick. Especially when the dog haters came across it and spewed their stuff about all humans good, all dogs bad.

Anyway, I think I may have failed a puppy test! We were hopeless when we got our dog. Absolutely clueless and I nearly had a nervous breakdown. However, no one would have ever laid a finger on him and now he's dozing (and farting...) on my feet and is the heart (and heat...) of our home.

They deleted it for PAs, not for it being a troll

YES. Absolutely.

It is so much worse here. Every year these seems to be a new "popular" breed which everyone will buy. It seems to be the Border Collie, but I have seen indications that the Samoyeda is next.

To make things worse, breeders are considered a luxury and pet shops are completely trusted (I admit my family dog was bought from a pet shop; I now only frequent pet shops that don't sell animals).

In my mind, this is how it should go:

Mandatory lessons on behavior, responsabilities, etc. Maybe 6 half days avaliable every Sunday or so. Lessons show different training methods, making it clear what is considered animal abuse. A test has to be taken, license lasts 10 years. No necessity to renovate for the same dog, assuming it lives 10+ years AS IT SHOULD.

For the license to be enforced, breeding should be restricted to breeders. I LOVE the idea from Belgium. Mandatory microchips implanted at the breeder could contain basic information: Owner, license status, spayed/not spayed and age. These microchips could be scanned at random.

Additionaly, I would like to know if the dog has had any formal training to walk off leash. I am a dog person, but I was walking my cat the other day (yes, I know) and what I believe was a Setter chased Dkitten up a tree. She had never climbed before and fell some 5m. Thankfully I managed to grab her before she hit the floor.

Yes, that thread made me feel really sick. Especially when the dog haters came across it and spewed their stuff about all humans good, all dogs bad

you must have been hallucinating because that is nothing at all like what happened on the thread

I only read some of it, admittedly, and I also saw people saying the child was a psychopath in the making. I presume the comments along those lines must have got worse as the thread went on.

In any case, the whole situation was just horrible.

That poor puppy

I think dogs should have to have basic training like when you buy a motor cycle. I used to buy a licence when it was the "law", but irresponsible dog owners wont buy one anymore than they will have their dogs neuterred or pick up the poo.

In the US you need a license, ($6) to get a license you have to prove that your dog has has a rabies inoculation