Dogs are generally seen as our best friends and for most dog owners they are fantastic companions who enrich our lives. However not all dogs – or dog owners – are seen in such positive light by the rest of society due to two potentially serious issues - dog fouling and dog attacks.
Every year 200,000 people are attacked by dogs in the UK. In excess of 100 people attend UK hospitals each week due to dog bites, a figure that has increased in the last 10 years by 66%. At the same time Keep Britain Tidy calculates that around 60% of UK dog owners do not pick up their dog’s faeces. So these are big issues for the dog world – and this is why I’m lending my support to a brand new campaign being launched by canine behaviour specialist Jez Rose.
Inspired by Jamie Oliver’s successful campaign for school dinners, Jez is leading a national campaign encouraging responsible dog ownership, to reduce the incidence of dog attacks and the amount of dog fouling left in public spaces.
“The focus needs to be on prevention and encouraging dog owners to be more responsible and accountable – most dog attacks are preventable.” Rose insists “local and central Government need to develop a five-year strategy to prevent future attacks as opposed to destroying dogs when they do. We create the dogs that we live with – any dog can be dangerous but on the whole they are not. In my behaviour practice, owners frequently present problems with their dogs caused largely by a lack of early socialisation or ineffective training methods. When behaviour results in aggression it is commonly due to fear and in most cases easily resolved with the correct training.”
You can find out more about the campain at http://www.nationaldogcampaign.co.uk/
