It is a well known saying that a dog is a man’s best friend. This in many cases is true as we spend much of our time tending to their every need – walking them, feeding them and grooming them. To many they are not only a source of friendship but a lifeline – for example to the blind, or even necessary in order to complete our work – for example a sheep farmer or for a Police dog handler.
A dog is one of the most common pets to own in the UK and the number is increasing, it is therefore no surprise that in recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of dog attacks across the UK. We see more and more news items reporting shocking incidents involving dogs. One of the most shocking being that of a news item reporting a woman being killed by her neighbour’s dog. It was new items such as this that encouraged the government to put into place the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
The Dangerous Dogs Act was put into place in order to protect the public. Of course, any dog can cause an amount of harm to a person if it decides to bite. However, there are four types of dogs named in the act which there is a ban on owning within the UK – these are the Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino and Fila Braziliero. These dogs are classified by type, not breed, which means that an animal can also be included within these banned categories if they display the physical characteristics of the above types.
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