Government Response

The Government responded to this petition on Tuesday 24th January 2023

We currently have no plans to repeal the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. We are considering improvements to the existing legal framework through the Responsible Dog Ownership working group.

We recognise that dog attacks can have horrific consequences, and we take this issue very seriously.

We recognise that some people are opposed to the prohibitions placed on the four types of dog under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. However, the Government must balance the views of those who want to repeal or amend breed specific legislation with our responsibility to ensure that the public is properly protected from dog attacks. We currently have no plans to repeal the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and replace it with a new legal framework.

Simply repealing the breed specific provisions contained in the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 with no other changes may increase the risks to public safety, which the Government is unwilling to do. Any changes to current legislation would require careful consideration to ensure that public safety remains at the heart of the regime.

The existing legal framework equips the police and local authorities with appropriate powers to tackle dangerous dogs and irresponsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog.

Under section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (“the 1991 Act”), it is an offence to allow any dog to be dangerously out of control in any place. For the purposes of the 1991 Act, this includes any occasion on which there are grounds for reasonable apprehension that the dog in question will injure someone, whether or not it actually does so. The maximum penalty for such an offence is fourteen years’ imprisonment if it results in the death of a person; five years in the case of injury; three years if it is an attack on an assistance dog and six months where no injury is caused to a person.

Section 2 of the Dogs Act 1871 allows a complaint to be made to a Magistrates’ court where a dog is “dangerous and not kept under proper control”. The court may make any Order it considers appropriate, to require the owner to keep the dog under proper control, or if necessary, that it be destroyed.

Additionally, the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 includes specific powers to enable the police and local authorities to tackle irresponsible dog ownership. These powers can help prevent situations involving irresponsible owners of dogs becoming more serious by facilitating intervention earlier on.

The main tool to tackle this form of irresponsible dog ownership is the Community Protection Notice (CPN). These notices can be issued by local authority officers or the police to dog owners, or anyone temporarily in charge of the dog at the time. Failure to comply with a CPN is a criminal offence.

Under the 2014 Act, local authorities can also use Public Space Protection Orders to deal with a particular nuisance or problem arising in an area by imposing conditions on the use of that area. For example, a Public Space Protection Order may be used to exclude dogs from designated spaces (e.g., a children's play area in a park), require dogs to be kept on leads, or restrict the number of dogs that can be walked by one person at any one time.

The Government is determined to crack down on irresponsible dog ownership and to that end we are encouraging police forces and local authorities across the country to use these powers.

We recognise that improvements could be made to the existing legal framework. In December 2021, Defra published research in collaboration with Middlesex University investigating measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. The Middlesex University Report made several recommendations with regard to improvements that could be made, specifically relating to consistency in enforcement practice and greater use of preventative enforcement models, improved knowledge and awareness of appropriate behaviour around dogs, strengthened accreditation of dog trainers, improved data recording and collection, as well as the introduction of new legal requirements of dog ownership.

We have established the Responsible Dog Ownership working group to consider these recommendations and identify potential reforms that could be taken forward in a holistic way. We will also be considering the effectiveness of dog control regimes internationally and what learnings we could take from these approaches. We expect the working group to make its recommendations later this year.


Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

This is a revised response. The Petitions Committee requested a response which more directly addressed the request of the petition. You can find the original response towards the bottom of the petition page (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/624876)

Parliamentary Debate

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