Dog-owner licence idea gets thumbs down

BY CHARLES ANDERSON

A proposal to license dog owners along with their pets is unlikely to work, Nelson animal control and welfare officials say.

A major review of dog laws announced by Local Government Minister Rodney Hide this week is set to consider whether owners as well as their dogs should be licensed.

Although the review will not begin until 2011, Mr Hide said he wanted a comprehensive examination.

Mr Hide was particularly interested in a suggestion that dog owners be licensed as well as their dogs.

"It seems to me that people are entitled to own a dog until it's proved otherwise and that we need to be holding the owners to account for bad dog behaviour," Mr Hide said.

"For the same reason that you need to have a licence to have a car, a licence to have a gun, would be the same reason you would think about licensing dog owners simply because it's the few that ruin it for the many. I'm open to all suggestions."

Tasman District Council dog control officer John Bergman said that since he started the job in 1974, the idea of licensing owners had come up every so often but never gained any traction.

Mr Bergman thought the current law was working well. "I don't think it needs any tweaking. We have the power now to seize dogs and do all sorts of things. We have got the power to issue infringement notices so I don't know what licensing owners would do that we don't already have."

Mr Bergman said the council regularly checked on dog owners to see how they were treating their pets.

Nelson SPCA inspector Craig Crowley said the biggest problem in dealing with owners was getting hold of unregistered dog owners.

"No matter what law you have in place, there will always be people who won't adhere to it."

Mr Crowley said the current law gave councils the power to issue fines on the spot, which not many other official organisations were able to do.

"I just don't think [licensing owners] adds to that. I can't see any benefit."

Mr Crowley said that when such laws came into public debate, people often liked to get riled up for the sake of it.

"My great-grandfather registered all his kids until he legally had to and then he refused. It's just like a red rag to a bull."

Nelson City Council environmental inspections manager Bob Askew said every person had the right to own a dog and every neighbour had the right to make sure that a dog did not cause any problems.

"As to whether or not registering the owner of the dog will make any difference, I just really don't know."

The proposed law review will also look at compulsory microchipping for dogs.

 DOGFACTS

Registered dogs and owners:

Tasman dogs 10,500

Tasman dog owners 7500

Nelson city dogs4500

Nelson city dog owners 3500

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