12 demerit points, and the dog is gone
Chinese cities are launching a scoring system for dog owners where anyone failing to care for their pets could be fined or even have them taken away. The system is already operating in Jinan, 320 kilometres south of Beijing, and requires anyone with a dog to register it. The licence starts with a dozen points and is embedded in code on the dog’s collar. Points are deducted for infractions and the rules are very specific: owners lose three points if dogs are walked without a leash or not under the control of someone at least 18 years old. Dogs are not allowed near public water fountains and are banned on public transport and from government buildings, schools, hospitals, parks, public squares, gyms, hotels, restaurants, markets and shopping centres. Repeat offenders can receive heavier penalties, although owners can earn points back with good behaviour such as volunteering in kennels. Losing all 12 points means saying goodbye to the dog, the most severe punishment authorities can levy. Once a dog is confiscated, owners must pass an exam about responsible pet ownership before being reunited. Since the program was introduced last year, 1,430 dog owners have been fined, according to state media. Of those, 122 lost the full dozen points, and subsequently their dogs; most, however, passed the exam and got their pets back. Local police say the number of complaints lodged about dogs has dropped significantly. Other Chinese cities are beginning to roll out the program, state media reported. “With proper implementation and training, the overall quality of dog ownership will rise,” said Miss Hu, 35, a consultant in Beijing, declining to give her full name, who owns a black Labrador retriever. “It can reduce the risk of my dog being attacked by other dogs that are poorly kept,” she said. The program might also lower “the number of stray dogs and unleashed dogs, and eventually the number of people bitten by such dogs.” Dog bites have long been concern in China, which has the world’s second-highest number of reported rabies cases in the world, according to the World Health Organization. But that has not stopped millions of Chinese from owning dogs. In recent years that has resulted in a boom in the pet-care industry, which offers everything from doggy spas to pet funerals. The dog-owner social-credit system is similar to the government’s nationwide social-credit system launched in 2014. The program is being rolled out in phases, and is scheduled to be fully operational by 2020, although the government has not made public details about who is in charge of the system, how it works, and whether anyone can appeal against having their points deducted. “By rating citizens on a range of behaviours from shopping habits to online speech, the government intends to manufacture a problem-free society,” according to a Human Rights Watch report released in 2017.