Legislation on Dangerous Dogs

Anna Firth Excerpts

Monday 27th November 2023 Westminster Hall

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Caroline. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Nick Fletcher) for so ably leading today’s Petitions Committee debate. In my constituency of Southend West, 192 of my constituents signed the first e-petition, 642876, and a further 693 signed the e-petition ending in 611.

[Mr James Gray in the Chair]

It is that first petition that I particularly want to speak about today. Specifically, I want to speak about the need for early intervention to prevent dog bites and other dog-related issues. The Minister will not be surprised to hear that I am going to focus on dog-on-dog attacks.

Recent estimates show that there are some 13 million dogs in the UK; we are literally a nation of dog lovers, with nearly half of all households owning a dog. We all know that dogs are not just pets; they are much loved members of the family and true companions. That was very much the case with a much loved bichon frisé called Millie, who was the constant companion of one of my constituents, Michael. The Minister knows that Millie was viciously attacked in Chalkwell Park in Southend-on-Sea. It is really as a result of that vicious dog-on-dog attack that I wished to speak today.

Most dog owners are responsible, but there must be consequences for the small minority who are not. It is clear to me that normally it is not the dogs that are the problem—although there may well be a legitimate need to single out the XL bully dog. Most dogs in themselves are not a problem, but dogs have owners, and every dog owner has a responsibility to ensure that their dog does not fatally attack another dog; they certainly have a responsibility to ensure that their dog does not attack a human being, let alone fatally attack someone. A growing cohort of evidence suggests that if we tackle dog-on-dog aggression and attacks, we might well prevent dogs from going on to attack other animals, adults or even children.

In recent years, laws both civil and criminal have been strengthened to protect the public when a dog poses a risk to public safety, whether in a public or a private place. It remains the case, however, under section 3(1) of the Dangerous Dogs Act, that a dog owner is not liable to any form of criminal prosecution when their dog fatally attacks or seriously injures another dog, unless that dog is a guide, assistance or service dog, unless their dog bites a human in the course of the attack, or unless—to quote guidance—there is “reasonable apprehension” that the dog will injure a person. That is not always the case, and certainly not when a larger dog, such as a boxer-type or XL bully dog, makes a beeline for a much smaller dog. That is exactly what happened in the case of my constituent.

In the previous Session, I had the privilege of promoting a ten-minute rule Bill that would have required a person in charge of a dog to take all reasonable steps to ensure that their dog did not fatally injure another dog—in other words, early intervention. It was called Emilie’s law. Sadly, the Bill fell when the House was prorogued, but that loophole still needs to be plugged. I have been inundated by emails from people all over the country expressing concerns about dangerous dogs attacking their dogs. I urge the Government to initiate an immediate review of existing legislation on dog attacks, with a view to amending the law to afford pet dogs the same protections that exist already under the law for service, guide and therapy dogs.

In preparation for my ten-minute rule Bill, I submitted freedom of information requests to all 43 police forces in the UK to ask if they record dog-on-dog attacks as a separate offence, and if they do, how many they had recorded over the past five years. I was shocked that only 14 police forces record dog-on-dog attacks as a separate incident and that, in those 14 areas, the number of dog-on-dog attacks has increased exponentially. In 2016, the 14 police forces reported and recorded 1,700 dog-on-dog attacks; in 2021, five years later, those same forces recorded 11,559 attacks. That is a 700% increase, with a shocking 2,264 attacks in London alone. I intend to resubmit those freedom of information requests, because I suspect that with all the media coverage of such incidents, the number will have increased still further.

I urge the Government to take notice of some of these terrible stories, in particular those of Millie and Michael in my constituency, because of the long-standing mental-health issues that such attacks cause. Even though it is now nearly two years ago since Millie was savagely attacked by an off-the-lead, out-of-control dog while on a walk on the lead in a rose garden in Chalkwell Park, Michael is still deeply affected by the attack. He still comes to see me and is very upset that Emilie’s law has fallen.

That is not atypical. Such attacks, when people irresponsibly allow their dogs to become dangerous and to attack other people’s dogs, have a lasting impact. It is the responsibility of owners to take necessary steps to ensure that we do not have such horrendous, unnecessary attacks. Millie was pretty much torn apart in front of Michael’s eyes. He had to carry her, bleeding and with serious open wounds to her abdomen, to the nearest vet to be euthanised. He had no recourse whatever, because he did not feel that he himself was at risk. It was obvious the dog was going for Millie; he did not feel under any reasonable apprehension of injury. The test is worded as an objective test, but it is interpreted by police forces as a subjective test, and that is the essence of the problem.

Part of my Bill would have required all police forces to record incidents where a dog has attacked another dog. Recording such incidents remains hugely important, because until we have the full picture and can assess the true impact of dog-on-dog attacks, we cannot take the next step of predicting whether attacking another dog is the first step towards attacking a human, including children, or another pet.

Protect Our Pets, which is a large Facebook campaign group, advises me that dog-on-dog attacks are nearly always the precursor to an attack on a human or another pet, so reporting in this area will allow for early intervention. Hopefully, it will also allow us to prevent some of these awful attacks, some of which are fatal. I urge the Government once again to look closely at the provisions of Emilie’s law and to work with me to make sure that we have all the necessary measures in place to prevent dog-on-dog attacks, so that people like Michael do not have to suffer the unnecessary loss of their beloved pets.