Currently there is no legislation regarding dog on dog aggression, except for if humans have instigated their fights and possibly if the injured dog is a guide dog.

For the purpose of this thread I refer to attacks that occur at random when out and about with our dogs, not organised dog fighting.

What laws would you like to implement?

How serious would the attack have to be before the authorities stepped in?

What penalties would you like to see against a dog that’d done serious damage to another dog?

Who would police it, how would they collect evidence and prosecute offenders?

How could it be proved which dog was the instigator and which dog was acting in self defence when an altercation occurred? Because sometimes a dog that instigates a fight ends up being the one who gets injured most so I think it would be very difficult to be sure in a lot of cases.

Where would you see the extra funding come from to pay for the laws being enforced when we are already seeing cuts in many services including the Police?

Would we need to have compulsory dog insurance to cover liability and legal fees if dog on dog aggression was legislated against, similar to car insurance?

Thanks for reading. I look forward to reading the replies

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Good questions.. But a tough one...

If everyone started claiming on insurance against other dogs wouldn't it get quite pricely?

I dunno who should police it.. But I think if a dog is attacked.. the attacking dog should then be muzzled when out in public.. and Im afraid if the owners didn't then either they should be fined or dog taken of them but then where do the dogs go.. so not a well thought out plan.. Im just drivelling here aswell.. Oh dear.. Im going to go away and have a good think..

I think you have brough up good issues.. even though thye have been discussed before and it always comes down to.. The government would not back up any plan..

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If a dog is known to be aggressive it should be muzzled and onlead or on a lunge line. I think if it attacks after this the people should be fined and dog put in a shelter. It will never happen I doubt which is a great shame it wouldn't be hard to do. Dreadful when you hear of one dog killing another innocently minding it's own business

I don't think there would be much room for error quite simply if you can't probe which dog did it fine. But the dog who started it will likely do it again hence the owner will get caught out. If it doesn't do it again as the owner thinks oh crap we might get in trouble even better.

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Shelters would be over run and these peeps would possibly go out an get new dogs?

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Exactly, the trouble is people want to put human emotions and "rules/laws" onto what is an animal.

This is why the police cannot get involved,its a legal nightmare.Can you imagine a court with barristers etc trying to work out who was to blame

The Police cannot just go on the word of the owner.

Like you say,a lot of dogs who come off worst often started it.I personally saw a Lab get spanked after starting the fight but the owner went bonkers at the other person and made all kinds of threats about Police action

At the end of the day, the Police have better things to do than get involved with animals scraping just because its your "baby".

Myself and my dogs are more than capable of repelling a fighter and I do feel for those who are not but that does not automaticly make it a Police issue.

I dont know the answer to this but good post,I was thinking of posting much the same myself some time but I wont now

In severe issues where the dogs attack and injure severly and even nearly kill a dog I think the dogs should be taken away. I'm not sure what to do with them :/

That's a really interesting question, which I don't know how to answer. Maybe that's why there is no law that covers dog on dog aggression, because the powers that be don't know how to answer it either!

I would rather see such funding go into widespread education programs and local socialisation programs so that dogs have better bite inhibition and are socialised well thus coping better with different situations.

Perfect world and all that

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Anne, owned by Rufus & Tripod

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"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts." - John Steinbeck

"If you don't want your dog to bite you, don't be an a**hole to him." ~ Dr. Ian Dunbar

I like your thinking prevention being better than making laws to deal with the aftermath.

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The only people to allow that would be byb and I think the dogs would be better off in shelters or PTS than with the owners they currently have if recurrent biting happens.

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