The lovely Hunter will shortly be going home to his dad thanks to the help of our wonderful solicitor, Kathryn Jamieson Sinclair and Dogs Trust for their help with the cost of his neutering!
Hunter
Reply
Exempted dogs’ insurance
Owners of registered dogs, please ensure that you renew your insurance on time. Failure to do so causes you dog to become unexmpt and can lead your dog to be re-seized and you being put back before the court. This will incur costs far in excess of the insurance renewal fee and may well result in the court deciding that your failure to comply indicates that you are not ‘a fit and proper person’ to won an exempted dog and ordering destruction on that basis.
Each force area deals with renewal failures differently and police policies change regularly without notice. Just because, when you have beena few days late in the past you have not had difficulty, or been given a few days in which to renew, or not been visited at all, does not mean that it won’t happen. The ONLY way to ensure you are not in this position is to ensure you do not let your insurance lapse for even a day.
We have been increasingy contacted bu owners in the GREATER MANCHESTER force area whose dogs have been re-seized and who are now faving court action for breach of insurance leading them to be in possession of a non exempt dog; some of these are only days out of date. This appears to reflect a change in how things used to be dealt with in the area so anyone who knows anyone with an exempt dog in this, or indeed any area, please point out the importance of renewing the insurance and informed DEFRA on time. Their dogs lives depend on them complying with the exemption
Health insurance for exempted dogs
We have been in touch with Brookes Braithwaite again regarding their health insurance for exempted dogs.
The premiums now range from £200 to £500 depending on what information is contained on the clients application form. It is worth bearing in mind that this does NOT give you the third party liability insurance that is also needed. This can still be obtained by purchasing a Dogs Trust membership at £25 per year
Welcome home Misty
A huge welcome home, on Wednesday, to Misty who after a bit of DLO stalking has been released today on the interim exemption scheme so she can get to see what Santa puts in her stocking Many thanks to the lovely DLO for pulling out the stops despite being on leave, he is a superstar (that will teach you to give out your mobile number) Misty’s owners are thrilled
LEAD Initiative promoting responsible ownership
LEAD (Local Environmental Awareness on Dogs) is an award winning initiative that is recognised as “Best Practice” nationally, and is being used by police forces and local authorities throughout England and Wales; for dealing with nuisance dogs and irresponsible dog owners.
We are happy to inform you that we have also began to receive enquires from Europe, i.e. Netherland National Police Force and the Royal Dutch Association for the Protection of Dogs, with regards to our work.”
You can download the LEAD Initiative leaflet here
Use of images by other organisations
We have been made aware of a poster being shared on Facebook that shows a selection of dogs.
Permission to include was neither sought not granted, and the implication is that the poster is a selection of dogs helped by the organisation it promotes, when in fact it is not. One of our cases is included in which the solicitor and type/behaviour assessor were instructed by us. The owner was advised by us and the police were in contact with us and were at all times fair and reasonable throughout the process of determining type. We do not condone scaremongering for glory and feel that owners have enough to deal with if their dogs are seized without also being scared out of their wits. We have requested, on behalf of the owner and with full permission, that her dog be removed from the poster immediately.
Although Facebook images are public, they can’t be used for promotional/publicity purposes
Francis – a statement by Trevor Cooper
Below is a statement from good friend and colleague Trevor Cooper who as a result of the case of Battersea dog Francis has been subjected to the most vile and disgusting abuse in the last 24 hours by facebook lawyers who clearly do not understand the law relating to strays.
We are absolutely appalled at the abuse that has been levelled at an organization whose aim was to highlight the flaws in the Dangerous Dogs Act in an effort to change it and which is now being levelled at their legal advisor who also happens to be the leading dog law solicitor in the country (and in our opinion entirely correct)
Petitions
We do not share petitions, not because we don’t care but because we don’t want to mislead people viewing the page that they can be produced at court to support registration; the reason being that the signatories on a petition most likely do not know the owner or the dog personally and therefore can do little by way of satisfying the court that the owner is fit and proper or the dog doesn’t pose a danger to public. We would always advise that owners get individual letters written by people who know and interact with them and their dog in order to put those forward as supporting evidence.
Thank you for your understanding
Dogs thought to be type and the internet
If you suspect that your dog may be type no amount of posting pictures and inviting opinion on the internet will make things any clearer in fact in all likelihood you will end up more confused than ever (especially when faced with kindly intended but incorrect suggestions that your dog is a Weimaraner cross when you know for a fact your dog has never even seen a weimaraner from across the road let alone been born of one).
A dog cannot be typed definitively from a photograph by anyone, experts included, its not true that the law is simply about the way a dog looks though obviously if the dog does not give the first impression that it resembles a dog of type it isn’t one. The ADBA standard focuses on the ability of a dog to do the job of a fighting dog and any faults it has related to its ability, agility, or stamina will have greater impact on a dogs type that those which are cosmetic only. Photographs can also be deceiving with a dog looking different on practically every one.
It will most likely be suggested if you post online that your dog has been seized, that you set up a support group and start a petition. Petitions are only of use if they are government ones related to the law itself, petitioning for the return of a specific dog to either the police, councils, or to the court are of no use in getting your dog back. The police or council will not release a dog they believe is a banned breed because a petition asks them to.
Four dogs to be released this week
Two who were on section three charges with the first being released by the court and the second after a caution, the third being a dog found to be type several weeks ago and given exemption only for it to be discovered not to be type at all and a control order being issued instead.
The fourth was dealt with by our fabulous solicitor, Kathryn, and should have been a simple substitution of person in charge but thanks to legal argument was changed to a fresh application which was granted. Huge thanks to Kathryn who was clearly wearing her wonder woman pants.
Its been a funny old week