Dog Owners - Do You Know Your Legal Rights?
Posted By Freelance Writers Date: 7/01 Posted Under: Dog Advice, Social IssuesWritten by Hamish Lazari. All rights reserved.
Your dog chases livestock, what should you be aware of?
You may be prosecuted by the police under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953. In a worse case scenario the farmer can shoot your dog if it is worrying animals and causing death or injury. However a farmer cannot contain a dog then go off to get a gun and then shoot the dog. The legal definition of livestock is fairly extensive
What dogs have to wear muzzles in public by law?
Legally registered Pit Bull Terrier dogs have to be muzzled in public as part of the conditions imposed under the Dangerous Dogs Act. Any other dog that has had a control order made by a court as a result of being out of control may also have to wear a muzzle when in public, this may also include the dog having to be kept on a lead too.
Many people (usually non dog owners seem to think that a plethora of breeds have to wear muzzles when out in public, it is usually large breeds that are mistakenly identified as candidates?
You allow your dog to take itself for a walk.
The local authority where you live has a statutory duty to deal with stray dogs and a dog taking itself for a walk is a stray dog! The council do not have to release dogs back to their owners without first charging for its release.
My dog was involved in an incident where a person was bitten, the local police have told me to get the dog destroyed.
If the police are pressurising you to have your dog destroyed this has to be agreed by yourself. A court imposed destruction order is the only legal process in which your dog can be delivered up for destruction.
My dog has been seized by the police who believe it is a Pit Bull Terrier type.
Contact as a matter of urgency a lawyer who deals with such cases and also contact one of the organisations that help dog owners in such situations. The onus is on the dog owner to prove that their dog is not a Pit Bull Terrier type.
My dog went missing several months ago and I know who has him, what can I do?
check with your local dog warden or with the dog warden where your dog is if it is not in your area. If there is no record of your dog being reported to the council or seized as a stray dog you should go to the police and report that you know where your dog is being kept. Even if your dog has been with the ‘new’ keeper for a long time, the dog is still legally yours.
I bought a dog ‘off a bloke’ in the pub for fifty pounds and at the vets they found a microchip.
The dog may be stolen and the last owner should be contacted to find out the status of the dog. If it is stolen you have to give it back and you should realise that you should on no account ever buy a dog in a pub!
Out walking the other day I found a dog and took it home, what do I need to do?
The law is simple, you have to do the following:
Return the dog to its owner forthwith.
Or
Contact the local authority dog warden
Or
Contact the police station nearest to where the dog was found (up to 6th April 2008)
Failure to do any of the above means you are holding on to somebody else’s property also known as theft.
I have discovered that the dog warden seized my dog as a stray a couple of weeks ago, what can I do?
Local authorities only have to hold a dog seized as a stray for seven days before ownership transfers from its owner to the council. This transfer enables dogs to be rehomed and it is also why it is important that you report your dog missing as soon as possible.
My dog is a bitch and when she was urinating a council enforcement officer approached and said she had fouled and issued a fixed penalty notice.
When the penalty was issued the officer should have identified the actual fouling, you have fourteen days to pay the penalty, write to the council to explain what occurred you could also wait to be summoned to court where the council would have to prove your dog had fouled.
My dog is an assistance dog and recently we were refused entry into a shop by a member of staff.
Write to the shops head office detailing the incident and what was said as assistance dogs are allowed into shops with their owner
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Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 2:25 am and is filed under Dog Advice, Social Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I was just trynig to get the facts.. I have a Lab puppy, a male, less that a year old, and he has just started wandering to our neighbors house who has a female dog. Just last week they apparently shot him in the hip with what I suppose was buckshot. Rather than call us to let us know he was there. We live in the country on 85 acres and I hate to keep him chained all of the time. We have had dogs in the past and they never did this. Is it legal for someone to shoot your dog?? Even though I did not witness it, my son was in the yard playing basketball at the time and heard the shot, then the dog came running with blood all over his hip, he was not seriously hurt , but he could have been. Thanks
Your dog was straying, which could led YOU to charges of dangerously out of control. There isnt enough details to say if a aw has been broken. If there is livestock on the land they have every right to shot a dog they beleive is worrying the livestock.
the overall answer is very simple. Stop your dog getting out. Be thankful he wasnt hurt and keep your dog under control!
my dog got out one day from the yard and was in the green infront of the row of houses i reside in he is a beautiful newfoundlander and a lady at the end of the row of houses or around the coner took him in to her house /yard and had him locked up meaning the dog could not return home and then later put him into the pound for 5days and reclaimed him as hers leagly from the pound as i did not search the pound as he is so lovely and friendly and never strays from around the house that somone had him in ther house, i did call to a large number of house asking residents and children had they seen the dog givin his descrition etc and contact the animal shelter in or town as that is where any would leave such a pet, as its closer than the pound and they find homes for the pet rather than destroy them, i knew in my heart somone had took him and i made the mistake of not contacting the pound, the dog was not walked as i would have saw him it was my beleive that that this lady knew i was loolim for him or he would be spotted, until 8weeks after he went missing i saw him with her daughter on a lead aroubd the conner from where we live, i hav asked her for the dog back, she told me that she is now the leagle owner through the pound and taken him to give him a home. we as a family loved this pet and miss him so much and now this lady says she is the leagle owner of the dog as i did not claim him. my daughters do not know that there dog is a home around the coner and will have to this ladys daughter walking him, do i have any rights to reclaiming the dog after release from the pound to this woman.
Hello Siohban
Whereabouts do you reside, are you in the UK?
If you are and the dog has not been seized by a Dog Warden because you write it was taken to the local animal shelter instead of the pound this may mean your dog was not seized legally?
If the dog was taken to a non statutory organisation and they have not contacted the local council to report the dog being handed in, then it has not been seized as a stray, you should be able to get the dog back.
If the dog is seized by the dog warden under section 149 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and it has done its 7 days in the care of the council, then unfortunately you cannot get your dog back, the law is clear in this respect, although dog wardens will porbalby ask the new owners if they will hand it back?
If however, the dog was seized in accordance with section 150 of the same act and you can prove to the council that the dog is yours, the new keeper has to return it to you, that is the law as well.
If you are outside the UK, then you will need to check on the laws of your own state or country.
If you are in the USA, check with the local branch of the National Animal Control Association, they usually have a state organisiation.
I hope that this is of some use to you?
Thank you
Neil Burton
Chairman
National Dog Warden Association
What laws can i consider when giving out my puppy for adoption after the death of its mother. Can I just hand it over to some one and call it an adoption?
thanks