Tighter dog control laws only beginning - Kennel Club

Associate Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced the changes today after a review of dog control laws following a series of dog attacks. Ms Mahuta said it will be compulsory for menacing dogs, identified by breed, to be neutered.

She said many councils already required the neutering of menacing breeds or types of dog but the legislation would make this consistent nationwide. Gee, big changes I see... whoa !

Ms Mahuta also announced that the process of banning breeds from importation would be simplified. What? can't you tell a Poodle from a Dingo? or, is this the wrong country for Dingos?

The Presa Canario breed, not yet in New Zealand, would be banned here. Sounds like a Spanish bird.

Kennel Club chief executive Brian Priest said the best part of the announcement was the indication that responsible dog ownership was getting the ongoing attention of government. Oh my, oh my... will we get funded for talking about dogs in schools, and in our neighbourhood? not difficult. Every $5 from our dog registration (which should be free at any rate.. hey, we've got microchipping, don't we?) could go towards dog education. Check out Victoria in Australia..

"Today's news was never going to be an instant fix for dog control problems, but it is a beginning. But wasn't microchipping going to fix that? That's what the government lied to us about... ooops, I mean 'said to us'

"Previous ministers over many years have approached dog issues thinking that they only needed to `do something' and they could then forget about dogs for a couple of years - that was the wrong course." hum... please elaborate.

The Government was due to issue a discussion document for consultation before Christmas.

Ideas being considered included: the mandatory destruction of dogs classified as dangerous; compulsory round-ups and/or faster destruction of unregistered dogs; hum... hello! why should they be destroyed, they didn't chose to be unregistered. Thank God for organisations like Dogwatch in Christchurch who rescue Pound Dogs!!

educating the public about dog behaviour; I'm a qualified teacher, and dog trainer.. all you have to do is ask and the addition of breeds of dog to dog control legislation.

Mr Priest said adding more breeds to the `banned list' would not be a solution. It's like banning ectasy without banning alcohol

It would only lead to dogs being registered under other labels and would worry owners of quality purebred dogs, he said.

United Future leader Peter Dunne warned although the changes were a move in the right direction, there was still nobody monitoring whether they would reduce the incidence of dog attacks.

"The whole point of these changes is to reduce the number of people, and young children especially, who are the victims of dog attacks.

"But no-one is accurately monitoring which dog breeds are attacking our children, or how many attacks are happening and how severe they are," he said. Oh my gosh... for once I actually agree with Dunny!

"Without that information, today's proposals will only have limited impact." Now why doesn't he use this logic towards our drug laws ?