Action I seek will lead to ASBOs for danger dogs

Dec 18 2008 by Margaret Shaw, Hamilton Advertiser

I REFER to the letter that appeared in last week’s Advertiser concerning a dog attack in Larkhall.

I am deeply concerned at this incident and hope the dog that was attacked, Glen, has now fully recovered.

This type of attack is, unfortunately, all too regular and I fear it is not long before another child is mauled by dangerous and out-of-control dogs. This is precisely the reason why I am introducing a Bill before the Scottish Parliament to legislate properly against out-of-control dogs.

The 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act has never worked in the way it was intended to. We have not seen a reduction in dog attacks and so a different approach needs to be taken.

My proposed Control of Dogs (Scotland) Bill will allow the police and local authorities to issue Control Orders against owners who allow their dogs to be out of control or dangerous.

Control orders, dog ASBOs, will be issued by courts to the owners of dogs who are, in the eyes of police or local authorities, out of control or dangerous. The dog will be microchipped to track its future behaviour and the owner will be instructed to carry out a range of measures to improve their pet’s behaviour.

Innocent dog-owners have nothing to worry about with this Bill. The Bill is aimed at the owners of dogs who are letting their animals get out of control or are encouraging dangerous behaviour from their dogs.

My Bill is due to be published in Easter, to then go through the Scottish Parliament’s scrutiny procedure.

I hope that it will get the necessary support from MSPs to become law and help protect innocent dog-owners, their pets and other members of society from attacks such as mentioned in the correspondent’s letter.

Alex Neil MSP.