How did you guess? Except that I did blog about it - in September 2009. Back then, I wrote a post disapproving of plans by the Labour government to introduce a national database for dogs.
Those who share my increasing weakness for the view that whoever you vote for the government gets in will not be surprised that the very same proposal has re-emerged as a Coalition plan.
This time the pretext being used is attacks on postmen rather than the theft of dogs belonging to Bruce Forsyth's daughter. I am sure those attacks are a problem that deserves more attention, but I do not see how microchipping dogs will help.
I suspect that the sort of people who keep dangerous dogs are the least like to have them microchipped. I suspect this law will be a burden on the law abiding and leave the people who cause the problem untouched.
2 comments:
"I suspect that the sort of people who keep dangerous dogs are the least like to have them microchipped. I suspect this law will be a burden on the law abiding and leave the people who cause the problem untouched."
It would be interesting to know what proportion of law abiding dog owners already have their pet microchipped - if the dog gets loose at least there is a reasonable chance of reuniting it with its owner.
As I understand it the cost of having a dog microchipped is around £20-£30. Should anyone who can't afford that be keeping a dog anyway? How can they afford vet bills and/or insurance premiums if they can't find £30 to have the dog microchipped?
As for those who are not law abiding - then the law should require all dogs to be microchipped, followed by seizure of any dog found without a microchip after a suitable period of time (enabling all the law abiding owners to have their dogs microchipped). And if dogs found without microchips cannot be found good homes then they should be destroyed humanely.
I agree that just requiring microchipping without some fairly draconian sanctions for those who don't comply won't work. But this is too serious a problem to be left on the back burner.
On the continent many countries already require dogs to have a chip - and also a vaccination against rabies (which is still quite common).
If your dog bites someone and you can't prove that it's been vaccinated - then you're in deep shit:
The bitten erson will have to get the vaccine and the dog's owner has to pay for it ...
So if you do a lot of traveling with your dog (like us ...), chipping and vaccination are a must.
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