Can I see some ID?

Dear Dogs Today,

Can you settle an argument? My sister is adamant she only needs her phone number on her dog’s collar, but I am sure you need an address too, and my dog’s tag has our surname, first line of our address, postcode and telephone number.

Who is right?!

Yours faithfully,

Mrs E. March, by email



Dave Griffiths, Senior Policy Adviser, National Dog Warden Association, advises...

Dear Mrs March,

I am delighted to tell you that you are absolutely spot on. The Control of Dogs Order 1992 makes it an offence for a dog to be in a place to which the public have access unless it is wearing a collar bearing the name and address of the owner. Interestingly, working dogs are exempt from this law but only while they are actually working.

From a Dog Warden’s point of view, the information that you have on your dog’s tag is ideal. The addition of a phone number makes it much easier to contact the owner and arrange to get the dog back home; all the better if there is a mobile number too.

This legislation was made before microchips became commonplace so chipping your dog is not an alternative; you still need the collar and tag to comply with the law. However, knowing how often my dogs have managed to lose their ID tags (and, on occasion, the entire collar), I would strongly recommend that you microchip as well.

It is very unlikely that your sister would be prosecuted for not having the correct information; the main thing for a Dog Warden is that there is some sort of contact information. You are definitely the winner of the argument though!

Irresponsible dog owners - what can we do?

Hello

I'm emailing on behalf of my mum and myself. We are very concerned about a French Bulldog puppy that our neighbours have recently acquired. To our knowledge, they haven't owned a dog before, although the owner's mother also has a French Bulldog. The problem that is worrying us is that the dog, who is not yet a year old, is allowed to roam freely outside with the children, who are both very young and have hardly any knowledge or respect for dogs (the youngest child runs up to our own dog when we walk past and touches his face, something his mum warns him not to do but does not make any effort to stop him).

Their puppy does not wear a collar, which we thought was illegal, and is dangerous in itself since there is nothing for the owners to hold on to. Earlier today, when we were walking our own dog, we attempted to cross the road near their house, and the puppy appeared out of nowhere and ran into the middle of the road to follow us! Thankfully there weren't any cars about at the time. We live in a cul de sac, which is usually relatively quiet, but the people in question live near the entrance to our road, and cars often come speeding down. We stopped and one of the children (their mother was no where to be seen) came running to pick the dog up, but he had a struggle as the puppy is growing rapidly!

On our return from the walk, the mother was on the front with the children, holding the puppy in her arms. My mum told her what had happened and she exclaimed "Really?" but then went on to tell one of the children off - it was like we hadn't said anything!

We'd like to think of ourselves as responsible owners, and as a big dog lover myself I'm very worried that the puppy will be hit by a car. Their overall lack of canine knowledge (when they first got the puppy they were literally clueless, having no idea what a KONG looked like or the purpose of crates) makes me wonder why on earth they have a dog in the first place.

Is there anything that we can do?

Thanks.
Name and address supplied