Written evidence submitted by Jessica Ramsden (DDL0172)
Thank you for conducting this inquiry .
Summary
Basically BSL is not working, indicated by the rise in dog bite incidents, mostly from non banned breed types. All BSL has done is victimise bullbreed dogs, along with the media it has enhanced ignorance towards them.
Science and Education is what is lacking .
BSL should be scrapped for breed neutral approach, the dogs behaviour & welfare & circumstances (environment, people involved & their actions), of the bite should be looked at. It is vital the government to talks to & learns from & is advised by people who work with dogs, dog behaviour experts, vets & dog rescue charities. Listen to what they say. All facts & figures should be centralised, so progress can be seen & learning can continue.
Dogs should not be made to pay for human stupidity & error. Under proper management many dogs can be rehabilitated & lead the life of a happy pet.
Education is massively important to dog bite prevention, children of all ages, parents & those caring for children especially need to be able to recognise dog behaviour & how they should behave around dogs.
The government needs to take animal welfare more seriously. Animal cruelty, over population from back yard breeders, dog fighters & others actively encouraging aggressive dog behaviour need to be stoped. More effort needs to be put in to enforcing laws properly.
Responsible dog ownership needs to be encouraged, happy dogs makes for happy people.
The millions of pounds saved by not seizing & kennelling dogs could be used for these schemes.
1.How Effective is BSL
The government’s current approach of protecting the public against dangerous dogs attacks is a disgrace. I am ashamed by the UK’s backward stupidity and cruelty of this law.
BSL does not work, the number of dog bites has gone up since this law has been in place. Dogs have not changed their behaviour this is entirely a human cultural based problem.
There is no scientific evidence to support physically how a dog looks like is an indicator of how it wil behaves. The government has gone on to ignore the views large animal organisations such in the UK - RSPCA, BVA(British Vets Association), Dogs Trust, Blue Cross, The Kennel Club . In the USA - ASPCA, AVMA (American Vet Medical Association) & globally The Humane Soceity who are all completely against BSL and I’m sure theres more. There’s also the views expert individuals in animal behaviour, dog trainers and dog expert witnesses that the government also ignores
I was shocked when I learnt via social media from organisations like Born Innocent and dog owners that had been affected by BSL how awful this law is & how badly it is conducted. Most of the dog owners effected by this law are completely unaware when that they own a banned breed when they have their pet seized because of the ‘Type’. Not only has BSL in the UK banned Japanese Tosa , Fila Baziliero, DogoArgentino and American Pitbull Terrier breeds but the add ‘Type’ ,so any dog with a smudge of something that looks similar. All the banned breeds contain Bulldog (Tosa, Dogo & Fila Braliero) or staffy ( American Pitbull Terrier)legal breeds in their makeup, dogs do not come from cookie cutters & are not all bred to breed standard. This makes breed identification very difficult. Do the Police and authorities even have enough awareness of the different bullbreed dogs that are legal in the UK? would you recognise an American Staffy, or the different types of Americanbully, ? Basically what BSL has done is victimise any athletic looking bull breed dog. But under UK BSL laws DNA is not taken in account – is their any other law in this day & age that refuses to use up to date science?!
So many Staffy cross breeds are seized because of the way they look 92% of these have never been involved in an incident. They are well behaved pets , often living happily with other pets, cats, dogs & children. How is taking well behaved pets out of their home protecting the public?
Seized dogs are taken to secure police kennels at the tax payers cost of how many millions after 27years? – you do the maths 3million in 2017. Poor police communication with Defra comes in to action where IES could be applied to good dog owners but rarely is. This would save money, save the dog & owner from even stress & better maintain the dog’s welfare. Seizing pets is not a good use of police time.
Dog owner who have their pet seized are given a massive amount of emotional & financial stress. BSL must be one of few laws in the UK where you are guilty til proven innocent, this is appalling. As the public is so unaware of this law they are lead by the Police, & owners have felt obliged to sign documents that have allowed police to go ahead & destroy their dog. As they do not realise they can fight the law.
If the owner decides to contend the law the whole process can take years to resolve with many mess ups in court dates & other delays all at a massive cost in time and money to the owner. This is not a good use of court time.
The dog meanwhile has been isolated in kennels, it’s pot luck how the dogs are treated. Sometimes not enough metal and physical stimulation is given & their needs are not met. This is abuse. The dogs are supposed to perform behavioural test while under these stressful conditions, just ask your expert dog witnesses how what they think? I know my own dogs would be hitting the ceiling if they were stuck in kennels for even after a few days.
If the dog owner goes through the court system and now finds they own an exempt dog not only must keep to the restrictions . But they now carry a stigma created by the ignorant public, finding somewhere to live can be more difficult. They will not be able to get pet health insurance for their dog. The whole guilty til proven innocent thing is still lingering over the owner’s head with any of the restrictions not being met, like documents arriving late, vindictive neighbours, can lead to the dog being re-seized any the whole court process starting again with no guarantee of a good outcome.
Change of the dogs registered keeper is made massively complicated, & requires another court trip. Although the idea is that the dog stays with a responsible owner the ‘registered keeper’ part of the law is perverse especially in the way stray bullbreeds are treated.
If they are ‘typed’ they pay with their lives when their owner does not turn up. How does this improve responsible dog ownership & how is this protecting the public? The owners will just get a new dog. Sometimes people do have an idea of the whole process of getting a dog exempt, its not worth their bother. The owner could have been in trouble with the law before & being found having a banned dog breed is not what they want. So the dog is destroyed despite offers of new homes from individuals and rescue organisations. Their life is ended because of the wrong paper work!
A dog trained and owned by the police has even been destroyed because of how ridiculous the change in ‘registered keeper’ part of the law is.
2 &3 Changes that should be made and How they can be to into action
BSL needs to be scrapped.
I think 27 years is enough time to show that BSL does not work, the government needs to take advice from people who actually work with & understand dogs, vets, experts in dog behaviour, dog charities?
The law needs to be breed neutral because all dogs breeds can bite.
The law as to be based on the dog’s previous and current behaviour.
The circumstances in which the bite occurred & how the dog was being kept & treated needs to be taken into account, because dogs only bite as a last resort. The dogs should not pay for the stupidity of the owner.
Proper centralised records need to be kept of the precise details & circumstances that lead to the dog bite, so we can continue to learn.
The government needs make education priority, especially to those most vulnerable . Making animal welfare compulsory in primary & secondary schools (animal cruelty is on the rise) Dog welfare needs to be a part of that, children need to understand what keeps a dog healthy & happy. Children need to know how to behave around dogs. They need to be able to interpreting dog body language & recognise how their our own effects a dogs behaviour.
New parents & those caring for babies & children are also need of this information.
The government needs to take animal cruelty & welfare more seriously, because dogs are more likely to bite if their physical & mental needs are not being met. The police and charities like the RSCPA need to work more closely, to stop those that actively seek aggression in dogs , like the dog fighters.
Welfare laws need to be enforced properly. How many 100s of stray ‘typed’ bullbreed dogs have been destroyed because their owner did chip them & yet this is the law?
How many people banned from keeping dogs actually stick to the law?
Over population of dogs from puppy farms & back yard breeders does not help. Churning out puppies for cash with no thought to welfare of the parent dogs & no thought to physical and mental balance of the pups is given.
The government needs to encourage responsible dog ownership in a positive way. Improved communication with communities, through vets and other dog groups, teaching dog owners the basics of dog health and welfare, training, neutering , chipping etc.
4.The UK can Learn a lot from other countries.
Just have a look at social media, see how all the breeds banned in the UK can live happily as pets in other countries. See in the USA how Pitbulls are trained as support dogs. The USA also has recused Pitbulls have been trained & serving Police dogs. Proving they can have great temperaments and highly trainable.
Some of the breeds the government have banned can suffer the worst cruelty and abuse but with careful management they can be rehabilitated into regular pets. Despite their genetic make up, some of them purposely being bred for aggression, little and rough human contact no early socialisation no vet treatments for illness and injury they can become stable, happy animals . Proving environment is the most important factor in a dog’s behaviour. This can be seen in American Pitbull Terriers rescued by organisations in the USA from being bred and brutally trained as fighting dogs. Also in the Japanese Tosa Inu, raised in horrific conditions for meat in South Korea. These dogs were transformed in to healthy well adjusted pets. The UK government is too quick to blame the dog, destroy it because it’s the quickest , cheapest option, but this is unfair as the dog was given no choice in the way it was rasied.
The UK government can also learn from places in the USA where BSL laws were lifted because it wasn’t working, the public’s voice was transformed in to votes for new governors. That’s how important a change is & strongly people feel about this law. I would vote for a political party that promises change.
BSL is just plain wrong, it fails the dogs and the people of this country.