The Scottish Government has published its analysis of the responses to a consultation on responsible dog ownership in Scotland.
The consultation sought views on compulsory micro-chipping of dogs as an effective method for re-uniting lost or stolen dogs with their owners. It linked the issue of permanent identification with the problem of dangerous and out of control dogs, and asked whether micro-chipping could protect the public from dog attacks and/or whether dogs should be muzzled in public. OneKind, while supporting micro-chipping, felt that neither of these questions was really relevant when the majority of dog attacks take place on private property, and other respondents expressed the same view.
As it turned out, over 97 per cent of those who responded were against the proposal for muzzling and Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill MSP has already announced that this proposal will be taken no further.
The age-old problem of owners who fail to clean up after their dogs was also covered, along with new developments such as commercial dog walkers and doggy day-care. Education was not specifically covered but was seen by respondents as a key part of responsible dog ownership, arising spontaneously and repeatedly from the responses of the majority of organisations and individuals. It will be interesting to see how the Scottish Government takes this essential work forward.
Meanwhile over in the rural affairs department, Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead MSP, who holds the animal welfare brief, noted the “overwhelming public appetite for some sort of compulsory micro-chipping scheme”. However, Mr Lochhead said that it was necessary to explore the practical aspects of such a scheme, including costs, before making a definitive decision.
Certainly no-one is going to accuse the Scottish Government of indecent haste over this matter. In Northern Ireland, micro-chipping of dogs over eight weeks old, with a few specified exceptions, has been compulsory as part of a traditional licensing scheme since January 2013, while similar regulations in Wales (without the licensing) are scheduled to come into force on 1 March 2015. At Westminster, following a Government commitment from early 2013, regulations were laid last week that will make micro-chipping mandatory for all dogs in England from 6 April 2016. Their experience should provide useful models for all the relevant practical questions.
OneKind submitted a detailed response to the Scottish Government’s consultation and proposed that micro-chipping should be a condition of a light-touch system of general licensing. This would be free to all owners and require nothing more than compliance with basic rules of responsible pet ownership. We were disappointed that the consultation analysis gave little coverage to this innovative and pragmatic proposal.
We continue to commend our general licensing proposal to all administrations and hope to see a comprehensive package of measures devised to help people and dogs live together happily, as they should. It really is time for a bit of thinking outside the dog kennel.
Read the Scottish Government analysis.
Read the OneKind consultation response.