What really makes dogs dangerous?


Terror is a small, stout creature. She has a dull brown coat and a white patch on the ridge of her nose. Apart from this marking, she looks much like every other Staffordshire bull terrier you pass in this part of north London, where the affluent streets of Islington meet the Hackney border. Terror's owner, Jethro, has agreed to meet me here, in a small, shaded park, to talk about his experience of the use of dogs for violence and terror, which he has come to accept as a harsh but unavoidable reality of "life on the street". Unlike the reponsible dog owners pictured on these pages, Jethro describes a world in which "a dog ain't a pet no more. A dog is your muscle".

In the past two years, the RSPCA has recorded "a huge increase in the number of calls regarding 'dangerous dogs', dog-fighting on the street, or the use of dogs for intimidation or as weapons". RSPCA inspectors, meanwhile, have noticed a massive rise in the number of "tough-looking" varieties in urban areas – particularly Staffordshire bull terriers, mastiffs and the illegal pitbull terriers. The problem of dogs being used for aggressive purposes has now reached epidemic proportions in some parts of Britain. So what has been going wrong?

For years, laws designed to tackle the issue of antisocial animals have been in place. And for years they have failed. In 1871, the Dogs Act stated that any person may make a complaint to a magistrates' court that a dog is dangerous, or report the matter to the police. But there is no power of immediate seizure accompanying this legislation. A court has to be satisfied that the dog is "dangerous and not kept under proper control" before action can be taken, making this a complicated and time-consuming process.

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