If you are walking or taking care of a dog, there are several laws you should be aware of. Below are some of the most important legal issues for dog carers.
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Public Space Protection Orders
Some public areas in England and Wales are covered by Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) - previously called Dog Control Orders (DCOs).
In public areas with PSPOs, you may have to:
keep your dog on a lead
put your dog on a lead if told to by a police officer, police community support officer or someone from the council
stop your dog going to certain places - like farmland or parts of a park
limit the number of dogs you have with you (this applies to professional dog walkers too)
clear up after your dog
PSPOs only apply to public land.
PSPOs in your area
Local councils must let the public know where PSPOs are in place. If dogs aren’t allowed in a park, there must be signs saying so. Most Parks and Public land will have a notice up near the entrance.
If the council plans to put a new PSPO in place, it must put up a notice and publish it on its website.
The notice must tell you:
where the new PSPO will apply
if there’s a map and where you can see it
Dog Fouling
On 17th June 1996, the Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996 - England and Wales came into play. Big change came about regarding dog fouling, up to that point the restrictions to where dogs could foul, and you could leave it were very limited. This was a big change for everyone. It was suddenly noticed that dog poo is an eyesore and a health hazard. Dog carers were suddenly given a legal duty to clean up every time their dog pooed in a public place. Registered blind people and people with limited mobility are not required to clean up after their assistance dogs. There is also exemption for dog owners on some kinds of public land in England and Wales, including:
Land used for agriculture or woodlands
Rural common land
Land that is predominantly marshland, moor or heath
Highways with a speed limit of 50mph or more
Most local councils require dog owners to carry disposable bags whenever they take their dogs out to a public place. Some councils offer free scoops: ask your council’s animal warden unit.
Look out for bins marked as dog bins to dispose of your dog bag. If you cannot find a dog bin, then double wrap the dog bag and place it in a normal litter bin.
If your street is littered with dog waste, you can ask your local council to clean it.
Fines and criminal offences
In England and Wales, local authorities can introduce public spaces protection orders, making it an offence not to clean up dog mess in certain areas. Under those orders, a person who doesn’t clean up after their dog may face an on-the-spot fine of up to £80. These fines are known as fixed penalty notices. If a person refuses to pay they can be taken to the local Magistrates Court for the dog fouling offence and fined up to £1,000.
The system of controlling dog fouling under public spaces protection orders was introduced by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. It replaces the old system of dog control orders under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005.
Contrary to popular belief, you can’t get out of paying the fine if the dog doesn’t belong to you.
The Dog Fouling Act of 2016 places responsibility on “the person in charge of the dog” at the time of the misdemeanour.
If you see a dog carer who is continuously breaking the dog fouling laws, you can report them to your local council.
Animal Welfare
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 was introduced on 6th April 2007 and makes owners and keepers responsible for ensuring that the welfare needs of their animals are met. These include the need:
for a suitable environment (place to live)
for a suitable diet
to exhibit normal behaviour patterns
to be housed with, or apart from, other animals (if applicable)
to be protected from pain, injury, suffering and disease
Anyone who is cruel to an animal, or does not provide for its welfare needs, may be banned from owning animals, fined up to £20,000 and/or sent to prison.
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 contains the general laws relating to animal welfare. It is an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to any animal. Unlike previous legislation, the Act applies to all animals on common land. The Act contains a Duty of Care to animals - this means that anyone responsible for an animal must take reasonable steps to make sure the animal’s needs are met. This means that a person must look after an animal’s welfare as well as ensure that it does not suffer and apply to all animals. The Act increased and introduced new penalties to tackle acts of cruelty, neglect, mutilation, tail docking, animal fighting and giving pets as prizes. In addition to this it introduced a duty of care for all pet owners to provide for their animals a suitable environment, a suitable diet, the ability to exhibit normal behaviour patterns, protection from pain, suffering, injury and disease and consideration of the animal’s needs to be housed with, or apart from, other animals.
Enviromental Matters
Local authorities, parish councils and similar authorities have powers where a dog is not under enough control in a public place, or its faeces have not been collected. Under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, local authorities, etc. have the power to make Dog Control Orders in relation to public land. Dog Control Orders were introduced by some local authorities for offences including:
failing to remove dog faeces
not keeping a dog on a lead
not putting and keeping a dog on a lead when directed to do so by an authorised officer
permitting a dog to enter land from which dogs are excluded and taking more than a specified number of dogs on to land.
The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act also updated the law on stray dogs by transferring the responsibility for strays from the police to the local authorities. Failure to comply with a Dog Control Order is a criminal offence, which is punishable by a maximum fine of £1000.
An authority can issue a fixed penalty notice in place of prosecution. It is an offence, punishable by a fine, not to supply your name or address, or to give a false or inaccurate name or address to a person authorised under the 2005 Act to issue a fixed penalty notice.
Since October 2014, Dog Control Orders have been replaced by ‘Public Spaces Protection Orders’ introduced under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.
It is important that before a parish council makes an Order it is clear on the answers to the following questions:
Is there a specific problem with dogs on the area of land that is being considered for a Dog Control Order?
If it is proposed to ban dogs, or require that they should be kept on lead, are there other areas of land in the parish available to dog owners where they can exercise their dogs?
Is there community support for Dog Control Orders- amongst both the dog owning public and the non-dog-owning public?
If the answer to these questions is yes, then the use of a Dog Control Order is probably appropriate.
A dog control order can be made in respect to any land, which is open to the air on at least one side and that always remains open to the air. This includes but is not limited to:
Village greens
Playing fields
Roads, highways and other right of way
Bus shelters
Railway Platforms
Outdoor markets
Private gardens open to the public
Farm land (with support of the owner)
When your dog is 'under control'
A dog is considered ‘under control’ if it is on a lead held by someone able to control the dog. A large dog would not be under control if its lead was held by a child who would be unable to restrain the dog if it strained against the lead.
It isn’t always necessary for dogs to be on leads. However, dogs must be kept on a lead in designated pedestrian zones and on land where livestock is present. Councils have bye-laws to show the areas where leashing is required, such as in public parks.
Leads, Collars, Dog Tags and Muzzles
It is a criminal offence, under the Road Traffic Act 1988 for a dog to be on a public road without being on a lead. The exceptions to this rule are some working dogs, such as cattle dogs that are used for business and dogs that are used for sport dogs that are under proper control.
The Control of Dogs Order 1992 requires every dog, with a few exceptions, while on a public highway or in a public place to wear a collar with the name and address of the owner inscribed on it or a plate, badge or tag attached to it. The exceptions include:
dogs registered with the Guide dog for the Blind Association
dogs being used for emergency rescue work
packs of hounds;
dogs used for sporting purposes;
dogs being used for the capture or destruction of vermin;
dogs being used for the driving or tending of cattle or sheep;
dogs being used on official duties by a member of the Armed Forces or Customs and Excise or a police force;
If you do not comply with the legal requirements for a collar, you can be prosecuted and fined under the Animal Health Act 1981. Furthermore, if your dog does not have a collar on a highway or in a public place, it can be treated as a stray dog and seized by the Local Authority.
Under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 it is a criminal offence to allow any dog designated by the Secretary of State as dangerous dog to be in a public place without being muzzled and kept on a lead by someone who is 16 years old or above. Where an offence is committed the offender may be imprisoned and/or fined. The Court may also order the destruction of the dog and may order the offender to be disqualified from having custody of a dog, for such period as the Court thinks fit.
Dogs of the following type are banned under the Dangerous Dog Act:
The Pit Bull Terrier
Fila Brasiliero
Dogo Argentino
Japanese Tosa
It’s also against the law to:
sell a banned dog
abandon a banned dog
give away a banned dog
breed from a banned dog
Whether the dog is a banned type depends on what it looks like, rather than its breed or name. If you were told it was a Staffordshire bull terrier, but the dog matches many of the characteristics of a Pit Bull Terrier, it may be a banned type.
Index of Exempted Dogs (IED)
If a dog is a banned breed but the court thinks it’s not a danger to the public, it may put it on the IED.
The owners will be given a Certificate of Exemption. This is valid for the life of the dog.
The dog must be:
neutered
microchipped
always kept on a lead and muzzled when in public
kept in a secure place so it can’t escape
The owner must:
take out insurance against your dog injuring other people
be aged over 16
show the Certificate of Exemption when asked by a police officer or council dog warden, either at the time or within 5 days
let the IED know if they change address, or the dog dies
Index of Exempted Dogs
Telephone: 020 8026 4296
Microchipping
In 6 April 2016, all dogs in England, Wales and Scotland were legally required to be microchipped and their details registered on an authorised database. Failure to microchip a dog could lead to a £500 fine, and the owners may be given notice to microchip the dog within 21 days. Once registered, the owners must keep the registered details up to date.
Safety to others
If a dog is dangerously out of control in a public place, the owner and any person in charge of the dog at the time, commits a criminal offence which is punishable by imprisonment and/or a fine under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
No actual harm is required for an offence to have been committed: an offence has taken place if the dog causes reasonable apprehension to someone that they will be injured, whether they are injured OR NOT.
If at the time the dog was under the control of a person other than the owner, the owner will have a defence if they can show that they reasonably believed the person was a fit and proper person to be in charge of the dog. The Court may order the destruction of the dog and may order the offender to be disqualified from having custody of a dog, for such period as the court thinks fit. On conviction, a sentence of up to 6 months’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine can be imposed by the court.
If the dog injures or kills someone while out of control, this will be treated as an aggravated offence. If the offence is aggravated because, for instance, someone was killed, or an assistance dog injured, a higher sentence can be imposed (up to 14 years’ imprisonment if the dog kills someone).
The Government recently introduced legislative changes to the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and introduced the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to:
Extend section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in order that it covers incidents that take place on private property (as well as in public places)
Remove the mandatory requirement for police to seize and kennel prohibited dogs which they do not consider to be of risk to the public
Introduce Control Orders to prevent incidences of dog aggression.
Dogs And Livestock
Where a dog causes damage by killing or injuring livestock the keeper of the dog is liable for such damage under the Animals Act 1971. This Act also provides a Defence to any civil proceedings brought against a person for killing or causing injury to a dog where the Defendant acted for the protection of livestock and was a person entitled to act for the protection of that livestock and reported the killing or injury to the officer in charge of a police station within 48 hours.
Under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 where a dog worries livestock on any agricultural land, the owner of the dog and any person who is in charge of the dog at the time commits a criminal offence, punishable by a fine and, potentially, the destruction of the dog. There are exceptions for certain dogs – police dogs, guide dogs, trained sheep dogs, working gun dogs and for packs of hounds.
Transportation
Rule 57 of the Highway Code deals with travelling with pets and states:
“When in a vehicle make sure dogs or other animals are suitably restrained so they cannot distract you while you are driving or injure you, or themselves, if you stop quickly. A seat belt harness, pet carrier, dog cage or dog guard are ways of restraining animals in cars.”
The Road Traffic Act 1988 states that dogs travelling in vehicles should not be a nuisance or in any way distract the driver during a journey. If a dog is injured in a car accident, the driver must stop and give their details to the person in charge of the dog. If there is no person in charge of the dog, the incident must be reported to the police within 24 hours.
In January 2012, the UK harmonised its pet travel rules with the rest of the European Union (EU) to allow for easier pet travel. The changes for anyone travelling within the EU or non-EU listed country require the owner to ensure that their dog has:
A microchip
A rabies vaccination (with a wait of 21 days before travelling) following microchipping
A pet passport or an official third country veterinary certificate
Tapeworm treatment (with an exception for Finland, Ireland, Malta and Norway).
For anyone travelling into the UK and EU from an unlisted country, their pet requires:
A microchip
A rabies vaccination following microchipping
A blood test 30 days after the rabies vaccination and at least three months before travelling
Tapeworm treatment.
Prior to travelling, the vet must provide a copy of the results showing that the vaccination was successful. However, owners do not have to wait for three months if their pets were vaccinated, blood tested and given a pet passport for the EU before travelling to an unlisted country. In both cases, owners must use an authorised carrier and an approved route when travelling with pets.
If you see an animal inside a car and you’re concerned about its welfare, try to alert the owner. If this isn’t possible, contact the RSPCA via their 24-hour helpline: 0300 1234 999 for advice or if the animal is showing signs of heat stroke or distress call 999 to speak to the police.
If a dog dies in a car, the person who left them there can be convicted under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and can be jailed for six months and slapped with an unlimited fine and banned from owning dogs for a while.
In England, section 5(2)(a) of the Criminal Damage Act of 1971 says you are allowed to damage someone else’s property when: “At the time of the act or acts alleged to constitute the offence you believed that the person or persons whom you believe to be entitled to consent to the destruction of or damage to the property in question . . . .would so consent to it if s/he . . . had known of the destruction or damage and its circumstances.” So, you are sure the driver would consent to you smashing their window to help save their dog and to prevent them from going to jail and their devastation of losing their pet, you smashed the window?