The Kennel Club has joined the praise for the RSPCA for publicly speaking up for a repeal of legislation that bans breeds or types of dogs. Last week the RSPCA publicly supported an appeal from DDAWatch and C-fidos for the UK to repeal section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act, the part of the legislation which bans dogs by type and breed.

In a statement provided to the Coalition of Improved Dog Ownership Standards (C-fidos) the Kennel Club say:

"The Kennel Club has, for a number of years, been lobbying the government and politicians to repeal the current legislation and believes that it is the breed specific nature of current legislation that has caused it to fail.

The Kennel Club is secretariat of the Dangerous Dogs Act Study Group (DDASG), a wide-ranging group comprising animal welfare organisations, local authorities and representatives from the veterinary profession, who have come up with proposals to repeal the DDA and whose position reflects that of 'deed not breed'.

Section 1 of the DDA is highly flawed and we believe that certain types of dogs are not inherently dangerous and that the actions of dog owners and a dog's training have more of an impact on a dog's behaviour than breed. Focusing on individual breeds has not prevented a large number of dog attacks."

In 2008, the Kennel Club have came in for criticism from anti BSL campaigners when they the “political climate” prevented a repeal of BSL. Asked to give clarity to that quote, they told us:

“It became obvious that after many meetings with politicians and DEFRA they could not be persuaded to repeal Section 1 due to the strength of public feeling. Given this and the government's intention to keep section 1, we felt that the most appropriate action to pursue was to push for the index to be re-opened to owner led applications. Obviously this is by no means the ideal scenario, but would have meant many dogs that were seized purely because of their type, wouldn't have to languish in police kennels and their owners having to go through the court process.

We are glad C-fidos objective is also to remove BSL and hope with ever mounting pressure the government will repeal the DDA and replace it with much better legislation.”

C-fidos, DDA Watch, the National Dog Wardens Association, RSPCA and Endangered Dogs Defence and Rescue have already added their voice to the calls for repeal of section one of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 which has not better protected the public. It is now imperative that other organisations and individuals step forward to help put pressure on the government. When asked if they would encourage others to come forward for repeal the Kennel Club stated

“Yes there needs to be a strong show of support for BSL to be repealed.”

Ryan O’meara Chief Executive of C-fidos, says:

"It is excellent news that there now appears to be some genuine momentum gathering on the specifics of this issue. I have said for some time now that being anti BSL in theory or as a concept is laudible but we need to focus on the vey speific issue which is section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act - the BSL part. The Government needs to hear loud and clear that the leading voices involved in dog affairs, the likes of the RSPCA, the KC etc, are all against the legislation."

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