On Thursday June 12th, the Dog Ownership Suitability Test was discussed in the House of Parliament.

One much publicised suggestion has been for a dog ownership test. That would involve setting up an executive agency—a doggie DVLA, perhaps—to run a licensing scheme for dog owners. All owners would need to pass a test before getting a licence.

Also quoted within the discussion:

 Our view is that the legislation now in place is robust and that new legislation is not the answer. Certainly over the past few months, we have heard a number of suggestions as to how we can change the law. We have considered these changes.

It would seem the government is admitting two things here.

1) They believe in the Dangerous Dogs Act - one of the most derided and highly criticised pieces of legislation ever passed in the United Kingdom and one which is criticised by dog owners, victims of dog attacks and pet industry professionals in equal measure.

2) They believe the act has not been properly enforced.

Which begs the question, how are we to prevent irresponsible dog ownership by doing the same things we’ve been doing since 1991?

Logic and commonsense, it would appear, is not as abundant in our House of Commons as it is with the progressive and eminently more honest Dutch government who have just conceded they got it wrong when they opted to ban dog breeds as a reaction to a spate of dog attacks.

We shall continue to push for the UK to adopt the dog ownership test. Harder than ever. And we shall take no pleasure reminding the government of their words of yesterday when we hear the next set of figures telling us that dog attacks are up, irresponsible dog owners are on the increase and when the next person is killed by a dog owned by an uninformed owner.