Don’t bite my head off… but we MUST bring back dog licences
Amid a disturbing rise in animal attacks, celebrity lawyer and Staffy fan Nick Freeman, AKA Mr Loophole, makes an impassioned plea for more accountable pet ownership, urging ministers to introduce mandatory vetting and to crack down on irresponsible conduct
EVERY morning, I walk my English Bull Terrier, Manny, along the lanes and fields around my Cheshire home. With mist rolling off the meadows and the warm, snuffly sound of my boy padding beside me, can there be a more uplifting and invigorating way to start the day?
Marching along in the open, Manny walking to heel, is the ideal way to clear the mind, fire up the heart rate and ready myself for a day of complex cases and weighty legal documents.
But, as of late, an unwelcome intrusion has disturbed our peaceful daily routine: the unsolicited attention of other dogs.
Upon spying Manny, some want to play but a significant minority race towards us, clearly spoiling for a fight. Fortunately, I’m constantly alert to other people and their pets – as dog walkers should be – so I can usually whisk Manny out of harm’s way, even if the lingering tension splinters the therapeutic benefits of our walk.
However, there are occasions when dog aggression is absolutely overpowering.
Lodged into my recent memory is the petite lady owner of a Pyrenean Mountain dog – a huge breed with a strong protective instinct – who approached me as I walked with Manny.
Despite declaring her leash-bound pooch to be “playful”, within seconds this drooling muscular beast had leapt at my shoulders, the lead unspooling from the owner’s hands. Shocked and alarmed, I was able to push the dog away from Manny and me, leaving the diminutive owner to whimper a shocked apology as we fled the scene.
Worryingly, my experience is far from isolated. Fatal dog attacks, the overall number of dog attacks and serious injuries sustained in dog attacks are all soaring.
Official NHS figures show there were a record 9,277 hospital admissions in which the patient had been bitten or struck by a dog in the year to March 2023, up from 8,819 the year before.
Last year, 16 people in England and Wales died from dog attacks – up from just six in 2022. And with approximately 12 million dogs kept as pets in the UK – equating to nearly one in three households – there is real cause for concern.
Thankfully, not all dog bites necessarily result in terrible injuries. But what unites every bad experience actually has little to do with a dog’s size or pedigree (the most dangerous dog breed in the UK, based on the number of bites suffered, is actually the Jack Russell, not the XL Bully, as you might think).
No, the common denominator is the negligence of owners either unwilling or unable to keep their dogs in check, something I’ve seen first-hand all too often. Is it down to laziness? Over-indulgence? Indifference to the task at hand?
Or are we witnessing a selfishness and sense of entitlement that implies: “This is my dog, so live with it”?
Frankly, it doesn’t matter.
The worrying outcome is the same, namely that every day, people or their pets are hurt – some seriously injured – terrorised, or made to feel needlessly fearful or anxious because of irresponsible dog owners. The psychological effects of dog attacks can be just as unsettling. It is deeply disturbing to see a stranger’s dog launch itself at your pet or leap up and paw the clothes of an unsuspecting passer-by.
In their exuberance, some canines can knock down children like bowling skittles. What often compounds the issue is the owner’s pathetic or misguided attempt at mitigation.
Too often they’ll employ an infuriating line of defence – “he’s only playing”, “she didn’t mean it”, “your dog frightened him” or “you must have startled my dog”. On one occasion I remember walking in some fields with my previous dog George, a gorgeous French-born russet red Staffy – I’m aware the breed suffers from its own reputational issues – when two women emerged in the distance from an adjacent path. Absorbed in their conversation, they paid scant regard to their unleashed pets. Before their two tearaway border terriers could reach us, I put George on a lead – but both animals still aggressively leapt at him.
I had no choice but to kick one away in order to prevent a dog fight. George, meanwhile, defensively grabbed the other dog by the shoulder. Given his girth and muscularity, I knew that if I didn’t remove my boy quickly, we could have a dead border terrier on our hands. So, I yanked George by the lead and, given his good training, he released his grip as soon as I shouted “leave”.
Yet having saved these two terriers from potential death, averting a legal and veterinary mess in the process, the owner shouted “your dog needs to be muzzled” at me. Incredibly, she added that I had no right to kick her pet.
So how to stop such irresponsible ownership? I’d like to offer a simple solution: the Government should bring back mandatory dog licences.
This would be more than a simple administrative exercise.
Rather, every potential owner should be assessed for their suitability to have a dog: “Do they have the means, the temperament, the space in their home and the time to care for its needs?”
ARE their family – particularly children – going to be happy with a dog in the house? Can they cover the costs of insurance, food, training and vet bills? Certainly, it would focus the mind on what is involved in taking on such a commitment.
It sounds draconian, but more stringent measures might have stopped an alarming number of pets being bought in the early stages of the pandemic – pets who were later abandoned once people returned to workplaces and found the responsibility too onerous.
I’m not alone in this, either. Daily Express columnist and Talk TV host James Whale, another dog lover, recently made the same sensible suggestion in this paper. We also need more dog wardens.
But if we are to reverse the rise in dog attacks and antisocial behaviour, we must also shift the mindset of owners who fail to understand the buck stops with them.
To tackle this, I’ve launched a new web
site, The Other End of the Lead, to provide guidance to would-be dog owners, or those seeking advice to improve the behaviour of current pets. The name is a nod to how pet behaviour is almost always dependent on an owner’s focus, temperament, patience and approach.
Undoubtedly, many of the nation’s pets are loved and cared for by responsible owners. But the website can still help them understand how to “own” canine misbehaviour or aggression if and when it happens. Deflecting blame is never the answer.
“Ah,” you might think. “But what does a criminal defence and specialist road traffic lawyer (aka that Mr Loophole guy) know about dog training? Shouldn’t he stay in his lane” – sorry – “and stick to defending A-list celebrities accused of breaking the speed limit?”
It’s a fair question but truthfully, animals and dog ownership have been as intrinsic to my life as my legal career. My earliest memories revolve around my family pets: a Border Collie, wire-haired terrier, Jack Russell and various Labradors.
Early on in my legal career, especially as a single man, I didn’t have time or space for a dog in my life.
For 12 long years, I really felt the absence of such companionship. After settling down and marrying, we got our first family dog, a Staffy we named Pippa, when our eldest child, Sophie, was seven.
For the next 25 years, I only owned Staffies and even set up a website called Save The Staffy to promote better understanding of this undervalued and misjudged breed.
When my soulmate George passed away at the age of nine from a tumour, I decided such a close relationship couldn’t be replicated. I even wondered if I could face such grief again. But a year later, in September 2022, Manny came into my life. My decision to name him after my late grandfather, a First World War hero, reflects the profound emotional connection I feel to my pets. What better way to honour (and humour) my much-loved grandpa, who died at the age of 103, than by remembering him every time I call my boy’s name? Now, I’m often called upon to talk about canine welfare and law, pet training, psychology and the remarkable relationship between man and dog. So you could say they have their paw prints all over my work and home life. And as I want to share that successful approach for the good of all of us, you’ll find a wealth of practical advice on my website, including my top ten commandments for responsible ownership.
‘Pet behaviour is almost always dependent on an owner’s focus, temperament, patience and approach’
DOES it work? Well at 19 months old, Manny remains a playful, sweet-natured dog who captures the hearts of all who get to know him. Sure, he’s lively and cheeky, with the occasional penchant to hide my slippers or poke his long nose into my partner’s lingerie drawer.
But like any proud parent, I can say he listens to my command, understands boundaries and, above all, doesn’t concern or trouble those who don’t want his company.
My wish is that every dog owner will one day feel that way too.