IS TIME WE REINTRODUCED THE DOG LICENCE?

It seems bizarre that you need a licence to watch TV or catch a fish but can go and buy any dog from anyone regardless of your intentions towards the animal.

Just this morning I had to put a dog to sleep that had bitten the family he was placed with. This dog started his “rescue” life as a stray – someone somewhere knew he was a biter but instead of doing the right thing or asking for help, they chose to let the dog lose on the streets, not only putting the general public at risk, but also all those that came into contact with him during his time in rescue. Sadly, he was the perfect gentleman in rescue and the perfect gentleman for the first 3 months of his “new life”, not declaring his true colours until everyone in his family had grown so attached to him that giving him back was quite possibly the hardest thing they’d ever had to do.

My idea for a dog licence would have prevented this from ever happening ….

Forget the 37½p bit of paper you used to have to buy from the post office, I’m not even suggesting that anyone should sit an exam to prove they are capable of looking after a dog, but what I am suggesting would mean that no one could abandon their dog on the streets, that no one could put their dog in a sack, tie a brick round it’s neck and throw it in the river, that no one could starve their dog to death or leave it wandering the streets whilst they were at work without a very high risk of being caught.

The system is simple and would be easy to implement. All it requires is that every dog is micro chipped before it is sold by it’s breeder. Remember, not all “breeders” care about what they are doing and not all breeders intended for their dog to have a litter at all but if you buy a puppy and are not given a document of registration you will be unable to apply for a dog licence and no dog licence would be illegal.

In a similar way that our cars are registered with the DVLA via it’s number plate, all dogs would be registered to an owner via their microchip number. In order to obtain a dog licence all dogs sold by the person who bred it must supply a registration document to the buyer. This document simply states that the name of the breeder, the animal’s date of birth, sex and the chip number is true and accurate and this is submitted in order to obtain a dog licence. If you have any convictions against you for cruelty or have been banned from keeping animals at any time you will be refused the licence and you must have the licence before you can take the dog! It would be illegal for the breeder to allow you to take the puppy until you have this document. This stops people buying a puppy on impulse and ensures that the seller is confident that the person they have sold to hasn’t already been convicted of cruelty or neglect.

That licence is only for that dog and the registration document stays with the dog just as a registration document stays with the car, registered through the microchip number of the dog. Should the dog change hands, the sale/rehome would be recorded on the registration document and the new owner would have to apply for a licence in the same way the original owner had  to do.

What would the benefits be of a licensing system such as this?

• Strays could be immediately traced back to the owner, forcing people to think twice about abandoning their dogs in the first place. 
• Dog’s killed either deliberately or in accidents could also be easily traced back to it’s owner.
• It would be harder to obtain a dog as the process of having to apply for a licence would prevent impulse buys.
• Dog owners would more readily spay or castrate pet animals as offspring from an accidental mating would still require the pups to be registered.
• You would be unable to take a puppy under the age of 8 weeks as you have to present the licence to the breeder before you can take the dog
• Breeders would have the opportunity to state on the registration document if they wanted their pups back if they ever needed rehoming in the future.
• It would be harder to have 30+ dogs purely for breeding purposes, or to end up with more dogs than you could cope with as there would be a limit on the number of licences one household could apply for making puppy farming very difficult.
• Cases of cruelty and neglect would drop dramatically as owners could be traced. If you’ve been convicted of cruelty or neglect you will be refused a licence.
• The number of strays would drop dramatically as owners could be traced.
• The number of dogs going through rescue systems with no history would reduce dramatically if not almost disappear
• The number of dogs being sold on street corners, in pubs and on petrol station forecourts would be dramatically reduced if not totally eliminated.
• Each registration document would keep a record of medical treatment and any incidents that involved the police making it harder to abandon dogs that have bitten or shown aggressive tendencies in the past.
• And if medical records were recorded by microchip numbers the vet would have to scan every dog that came through his practice to confirm that is the right dog on the table. This would reduce the number of unfound thefts and drastically reduce the number of dog thefts full stop as the moment the dog went to the vet he’d be found. Dogs with no chip numbers would be subject to investigation and owning a dog without a microchip would result in a heavy fine.

We already have a department keeping microchip numbers, the kennel club keeping pedigree registrations, vet practices keeping medical records and vaccination records so we have the majority of the data already stored.

A Poll run by Bulldog Rescue between  since 9th June - 31 August 2008 saw 202 votes received

192 were in favour of the reintroduction of the dog licenced and 10 were against.

Click Here for Results and Comments