Tighten up dog laws

Sep 22 2010 Harrow Observer

YOUR readers may have heard Deputy Mayor for Policing Kit Malthouse's call to strengthen dangerous dog laws. As the former portfolio holder for environment and community safety at Harrow Council, I have a great deal of experience in this area and I strongly believe residents should back his call.

Talking about dangerous dogs isn't scaremongering or being alarmist but rather recognising a serious and worsening problem, with statistics that speak for themselves. In 2006, the Metropolitan Police confiscated 263 dogs across London; the number shot up to 1,152 in 2009.

The deputy mayor has proposed an increase in the penalty for owning banned breeds, to bring it in line with carrying an offensive weapon. In addition, he rightly highlights the problem of so-called 'weapons dogs'; which may not be banned breeds, but have been bred and trained by irresponsible owners into dangerous status symbols, little more than snarling Uzis on legs.

In Harrow we discovered that owners of weapons dogs were encouraging their animals to clamp their teeth on to the seats of swings in our parks and hang off them, strengthening their jaw muscles. This is a good example of the lengths people will go to in order to make their weapons dogs more aggressive.

In response, we had the seats remade containing a foul-tasting chemical that the dogs wouldn't bite into.

Before our administration lost power, recognising that housing estates are often plagued by weapons dogs, we proposed referring possibly dangerous dogs from estates to the police and the RSPCA for independent assessments

and expert advice, allowing us to act accordingly on their recommendations.I strongly encourage Harrow residents to sign the petition on the GLA website at www.london.gov.uk/ dangerous-dogs-petition.

COUNCILLOR SUSAN HALL Leader of Harrow Council's Conservative group