Why do I need to know about dog law?
As a responsible dog owner, you need to know about dog laws – your rights and responsibilities, in order to protect yourself, your dog and other dogs. The Central Bedfordshire Canine Trust has a key objective of representing dog owners, ensuring they know dog related legislation and we work with parish, town, county and natonal government constantly representing owners and lobbying to ensure that legislation benefits responsible owners.
On the following pages, you can read about the laws which affect you and your dog the most.
Animal Welfare Act 2006
The Animal Welfare Act was introduced on April 6th 2007. From this date, the Act repealed the Protection of Animals Act 1911 and the Abandonment of Animals Act 1960. The new Act increases and introduces new penalties to tackle acts of cruelty, neglect, mutilation, tail docking, animal fighting and the giving of pets as prizes. In addition to this it introduces a duty of care for all pet owners to provide for their animals a suitable environment, a suitable diet, the ability to exhibit normal behaviour patterns, protection from pain, suffering, injury and disease and consideration of the animal’s needs to be housed with, or apart from, other animals.
The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005
Under this Act, you could be fined up to £1,000 for breaching dog control orders. Local authorities can make orders for standard offences including: failing to remove dog faeces, not keeping a dog on a lead, not putting and keeping a dog on a lead when directed to do so, permitting a dog to enter land from which dogs are excluded and taking more than a specified number of dogs on to land. The Central Bedfordshire Canine Trust works hard to ensure dog owners in Central Bedfordshire are represented during consultations on these order and that they know about these orders as and when they come into effect.
The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act also updates the law on stray dogs by transferring the responsibility for strays from the police to the local authorities. It is highly recommended that your dog is microchipped. If you lose your dog, you should stay in regular contact with the local council, Petlog, vets, dog shelters and the police, and put up posters in the area where you lost it.
Dog wardens are obliged to seize stray dogs and the police, for now, still have discretionary power to seize stray dogs under the Dogs Act 1906. The finder of a stray dog must return it to its owner (if known), or take it to the local authority or police (although from April 2008, only the local authority will receive stray dogs). It is illegal to take a found dog into your home without reporting it to the police first. If you want to retain the dog, this might be allowed, provided you are capable of looking after the dog and agree to keep it for at least 28 days. However, the original owner could still have a claim for the dog’s return.
Byelaws on noisy animals
If your dog’s barking causes a serious nuisance to neighbours, the local authority can serve a noise abatement notice, which if unheeded can result in you paying fines and legal expenses.
Breeding and Sale of Dogs (Welfare) Act 1999
Breeders who breed four or more litters per year must be licensed by their local authority. Breeders with fewer litters must also be licensed if they are carrying out a business of breeding dogs for sale.
Licensed breeders must:
This mandates that any dog in a public place must wear a collar with the name and address of the owner engraved or written on it, or engraved on a tag. Your telephone number is optional (but advisable).
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (section 3)
It is a criminal offence (for the owner and/or the person in charge of the dog) to allow a dog to be ‘dangerously out of control’ in a public place, a place where it is not permitted to be, and some other areas. A ‘dangerously out of control’ dog can be defined as a dog that has injured someone or a dog that a person has grounds for reasonable apprehension that it may do so. Something as simple as your dog chasing, barking at or jumping up at a person or child could lead to a complaint, so ensure that your dog is under control at all times. If your dog injures a person, it may be seized by the police and your penalty may include a prison sentence and/or a ban on keeping dogs. There is also an automatic presumption that your dog will be destroyed (unless you can persuade the court that it is not a danger to the public, in which case it may be subject to a control order). You may also have to pay a fine, compensation and costs.
Dogs of the following type are banned under the Dangerous Dog Act:-
The Road Traffic Act 1988
It is an offence to have a dog on a designated road without it being held on a lead. Local authorities may have similar bye-laws covering public areas. Dogs travelling in vehicles should not be a nuisance or in any way distract the driver during a journey.
If a dog is injured in a car accident, the driver must stop and give their details to the person in charge of the dog. If there is no person in charge of the dog, the incident must be reported to the police within 24 hours.
Animals Act 1971
You could be liable for damage caused by your dog under this Act or under some degree of negligence. It is highly advisable to have third party liability insurance to cover this, something that is included in most pet and some household insurance policies.
Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963
Anyone boarding animals as a business (even at home) needs to be licensed by the local authority.
Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953
Your dog must not worry (chase or attack) livestock (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses and poultry) on agricultural land, so keep your dog on a lead around livestock. If your dog worries livestock, the farmer has the right to stop your dog (even by shooting your dog in certain circumstances).
Dogs Act 1871
It is a civil offence if a dog is dangerous (to people or animals) and not kept under proper control (generally regarded as not on a lead nor muzzled). This law can apply wherever the incident happened. The dog can be subject to a control or a destruction order and you may have to pay costs.
As a dog owner, you should be aware of laws which affect you and your dog. The Central Bedfordshire Canine Trust is the best place for advice on these issues and provides many services to help you to be a law abiding, responsible dog owner.
Dog Law Links
Acts Of Parliment
Below we have assembled the full Acts Of Parliment for all the acts mentioned (left) they are in PDF format for viewing, downloading and printing.