Anyone remember I spoke about my 4 dog attack well I received this today what are your thoughts on this. cute dog is not mine mine is here with the wounds she received I received some also February 2011, the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 introduced the Dog Control Notice (DCN) regime, which contains measures to emphasise the importance to dog owners of taking responsibility for the actions of their dogs. The focus of the 2010 Act concentrates on the deed not the breed approach in tackling irresponsible dog ownership. The provisions of the 2010 Act are designed to highlight the responsibilities of dog owners by identifying out of control dogs at an early juncture and by providing measures to change the behaviour of these dogs and their owners before dogs become dangerous. We consider this is fundamental in helping reduce the number of attacks by dogs of all breeds as it acts as a deterrent to stop dogs from being out of control in the first place. The DCN regime makes it possible for local authority appointed officers to serve a DCN on dogs that are deemed to be out of control. Under the 2010 Act, a dog is deemed to be out of control if: * It is not being kept under control effectively and consistently (by whatever means) by the proper person (generally the proper person is the owner of the dog) that is in charge of the dog, and * Its behaviour gives rise to alarm, or apprehensiveness on the part of any individual, and the individuals alarm or apprehensiveness is, in all circumstances, reasonable- apprehensiveness may be as to (any or all) the individuals own safety, the safety of another person, or the safety of an animal other than the dog in question. Such a notice will generally specify control measures that have to be followed, such as keeping the dog away from a place, or category of places, specified in the notice, if the authorised officer considers that to be appropriate. Once a DCN is in place, the authorised officer can supervise the enforcement of the conditions and if a dog owner does not take the required steps to comply with the condition, then a criminal offence is deemed to have been committed and the dog owner can be prosecuted. The 2010 Act amended the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 so that a dog owner can be held criminally responsible where a dog is found to be dangerously out of control in any place. A dog is regarded as being dangerously out of control if there are grounds for reasonable apprehension that it will injure a person, whether or not it actually does so. I hope you will understand that the Scottish Government cannot intervene in the decisions of local authorities and/or Police Scotland and that it would not be appropriate to comment on the circumstances of an individual incident itself or how an individual complaint has been dealt with. It is for Police Scotland and each local authority to use their legal powers appropriately. More generally, the Scottish Government is committed to policies that will help make our communities safer from out of control and dangerous dogs and you may be aware that the Scottish Government ran a consultation on measures to promote responsible dog ownership from 27 December 2013 to 31 March 2014. The consultation was open to everyone and sought views on measures such as microchipping and licensing that may help promote responsible dog ownership. The Scottish Government also held a responsible dog ownership summit, hosted by Kenny MacAskill MSP, on the 27th March 2014. This was an opportunity to bring together key stakeholders including representatives from local authorities, the police and animal welfare charities to discuss how the current laws and approach on dangerous and out of control dogs is operating and whether further measures are needed to improve public safety. The outputs from both the consultation and the summit will feed into future decisions on different policies that may help encourage responsible dog ownership and hold irresponsible dog owners to account. The Scottish Government is committed to responding to feedback from local authorities and will consider changes to the 2010 Act to make it more effective in its aims of acting as a preventative dog control regime. The Scottish Government is also committed to facilitating the development of a protocol between local authorities and Police Scotland to clarify responsibilities relating to control of dogs and revise and update the statutory guidance used by local authorities in implementing the 2010 Act.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:50:15 +0000