I think you should have a licence and possibly even do a 'basic training' type course. if they can implement citizenship tests for people moving to the uk surely it could be done?

if you intended to breed you would need a more expensive licence and again attend some kind of course

of course the people who really need to be licenced are the ones that will find a way around it all unfortunately, and how would it be policed? like when you get pulled over and asked to show insurance and licence docs in a car?

Ours are £5 per dog & going up either end of this year or beginning of next year to £12 per dog. Ive no objections to licencing altho as has been said before, there are those that are responsible & licence & those that dont & wont & whose going to enforce it........ Lots of new leglistration coming out too including attacks by dogs on other dogs & pets that is going to be an offence.

http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/ne...resses-new.htm

So the majority of you do not think that licensing would be a way to regulate dog ownership - mostly because of the cost? I think most of you are looking at it from personal point of views and not the bigger picture.

So what do you think about dog passports? All sheep now have to be traceable, all cattle have to have passports and have movement restrictions, all horses have passports that have to stay with the horse. It lists vaccinations, change of ownership etc and has to be produced if you are stopped whilst travelling. It is illegal to buy a horse without a passport.

Could you see passports for dogs being a step forward? By the way a horse passport costs around £30 (non breed specific) but obviously this is a one off purchase as it accompanies the animal for life and therefore the cost would be born by the breeder.

I'm with you, obviously.

My belief is that all it takes is one round of dog attack publicity to strike and it will be the straw that breaks the camels back on this one.

We may as well face it, it will come in at some point; may as well embrace it positively and debate how it would work (rather than just giving reasons it wouldn't). That way the day it comes along the powers that be can be lobbied to do it the right way rather than just stand back and watch us all pointlessley bicker about it.

Your spot on, look at the bigger picture!

Cost of licence is irrelevant, the dogs wandering the streets attacking, people or other dogs, the chav wandering down the road with his status dog growling and snapping, at all who pass, will not be licenced. Unless you have police officers stopping every dog owner demanding to see said licence it's not going to work, same for ownership tests. Will only be a tax on good owners. Even if it was a requirement to show a licence or test certificate before purchasing a dog was bought in, this wouldn't work either bad owners would use back yard breeders who wouldn't worry about paperwork.

I am against licenses because it does nothing to educate or change behavior, only responsible people will buy a license

All they need to do is make micro chipping compulsory by the breeder and make it an obligation to register a new owner and keep it up to date.

Most people already Micro chip.

If the registered owner is the one responsible for a dogs actions they will definatly let the chipping company know if the ownership has passed on.

Chipping company should keep breeder details on file also which they won't now.

Nothing will make a difference if nobody will police the control measures

And what exactly is a "dangerous" breed? and why should it cost more? If the point is to promote responsible ownership then why/how do you decide what is an appropriate fee for the licence on an individual dog?

Well considering we ARE the dog owners of the country etc of course we are looking at it from a personal pov! We ARE the bigger picture. The members of Dogsey, on the whole and in general, are probably the more responsible dog owners....compared to many in the country anyway.

You can get a dog passport if you want/need one.
Livestock such as sheep and cattle - thats because we eat them. Theres a black market in horses.....

Born by the breeder and passed onto the owner, as a one off cost I don't suppose its too bad as long as they dont charge for every change of owner etc or thats a high cost for rescues etc

As for breeders, some dobe pups are around £950 at the moment for pet quality, some are cashing in on this but some arent making any money from that price - some losing money, add on the usual, chipping, bedding, vaccinations, leads, classes etc, your well over a grand for a new puppy already - how many more costs? Someone may be saving for a pup and get one plus all the usual allowances, but that dosnt mean they can afford to keep renewing licences etc on top of vet fees, insurance......For the responsible people who pay - what do they get out of this licensing fee?

I'm just not sure my dogs would fit on the seat on those photo-booths for their passport photo? I don't think they like foreign food either

Or we can use the fact that we live in (apparently) a democratic society (who is in a recession btw) to lobby against it and for other enforcement measures for abused animals instead of picking on responsible owners and making them pay.

The big picture is this country is in a recession and every second of the day, we have children living in poverty and/or abusive homes. Do we now microchip children?

The point is there are many people who are great dog owners living in poverty who are scraping along to keep their pets, who do not need to pay another bill to prove it!

The people who dont care, wont pay. The people who do care and cant - what happens to them? The people who think they have enough for their dogs food and £20 savings towards vet bill account that month - only to have to give it to the tax man, what about them?

I understand they have dog licenses in Ireland.

Do you think that Ireland has similar, worse or better dog treatment.

Fewer strays? or less dog bites, than here