Mandatory tagging might be the solution.
When a dog is bought the new owner has to registered to the microchip immediately.
When a dog is then abandoned the owner can be quickly traced and confronted.

The problem with that is alot of people get the dog microchiped but don’t complete or register the owners details

Excellent idea

A friend of mine had a King Charles wander into her garden in an awful state. She brought him to the vet he was microchipped but no registered owner. He’s a beautiful dog who she is desperately trying to re home.
We always had dogs;they are hard work in the beginning but the rewards if you train and treat them well are worth the few weeks of wet floors and accidents while training. Their a great way of getting out for walks and meeting people.

Sorry Antonov, I think these people should get public lashings to be honest, it’s disgusting what they do, but your idea there is a non-starter as the a**holes will just say the dog ran away and there’d be no proving otherwise.

@Liam Byrne – great comment, couldn’t agree with you more. Wish more people took dogs from the ispca there’s any amount of gorgeous friendly dogs there all the time.

What is the point of chipping a dog without registering the chip?
A vet is paid by somebody to inject a chip, surely responsibility for registration should rest with the vet?

Agree Silver Fern. We have our dog almost 5 yrs now. The first few months are a challenge with toilet training and getting them settled into a routine but the rewards are immense. He is the best thing we’ve ever done. As a result of having a dog, we are out for walks twice per day every day (hail, rain or snow!) and we have met so many people in the local area as a result. Its also an easy way to stay fit at the same time. Owning a pet is a huge responsibility but if its for you, and you can commit to it for the duration of the animals life, the rewards are amazing.

@ Paul that’s exactly what her vet said they paid for the chip then neglected the dog once the puppy stage was over. He believes that all owners should register in the vets as soon as the chip goes in.

My vet registered both of my dogs but seemly this isn’t the case everywhere maybe people just assume once the chip has been placed that it’s registered, also I have seen people on adverts and those kind of sites offering to chip your pet for €15 then it’s up to you to register the chip. The whole system Is flawed which is why it doesn’t work as good as it should.

No, the responsibility of registering the chip should lie with the breeder who, when getting the first set of vaccinations at 8 weeks for the pups should also be microchipping them. A very busy veterinary hospital would not have the time or the man power to register every dog that is chipped on the premises. And why should the vet be responsible for a thing that is ultimately a transaction between a breeder and a buyer at the end of the day? Are we so mollycoddled that we should not even be expected to take responsibility for such a simple task?

Similarly we tried to adopt a third dog but were turned down by rescue centres as our garden isn’t big enough. They refused to even consider the fact that we’re beside the Curragh where the dogs go for long walks every day.

Since then we rescued a little dog ourselves. All three are happy, healthy and get plenty of exercise.

Jay, Jane
I see the need for shelters and pounds to be careful. Surely though talking to the prospective new owner and possibly paying a visit would be a solution rather than your garden is very small or you haven’t got one being an automatic refusal eg the Curragh may not be yours Jane but I’m sure it’s bigger thn most people’s garden.
Following this to its logical conclusion if I rent a room on a farm with 2,000 acres and my landlord trees to let my little Pekingese run around I’ll get turned down because I don’t actually have a garden for my own personal use.
Why do the words bloody and stupid come to mind?

Josephine I too have 2 dogs and they are home alone if everyone is out to work. But at least I know they keep each other company. However, many dogs are left home alone for about ten hours a day without a companion and, for those dogs, loneliness and anxiety is very common. It’s the very reason I got a second dog, and I have never looked back. The first one became a different dog when her new best friend arrived!

Jane,
Those breeders and yes there are some, who are just out to get rid of the dogs ASAP are not what I would term professional One tip I was given when dealing with breeders ask the name of the kennels (this is the name which will be common to all dogs from that particular kennel in the animals kennel club registered name as well as any shows won by the kennels dogs. There is a huge investment or professional breeders and a long tie before they actually make a profit, they are well aware of what happens to their reputation within the dog world if their dogs turn up in shelters. The professional breeder will have a proper kennel area not a basket in the kitchen, nd will not sell a dog under 6-8 weeks old, more often the latter.
There are of course owners whose dog becomes pregnant without any planning to breed. Most of these tough tend to go to friends, neighbours, family and similar .

In my opinion Joan you are a very irresponsible person. Your “beloved” family member obviously didn’t bite your child in such a way that it caused serious injury as you have said your child was okay, so how you could have it put down after owning so long is beyond my comprehension. Dogs do play bite after all, and if that is the case it is down to poor training on your part. I hope you are never able to own a dog again…if you can’t get it through your head to supervise your dog with a small child then you are not responsible enough to own another one. They are animals at the end of the day and can do unexpected things. I am withing my rights to judge you, harshly at that, so don’t go telling anyone to fcuk off.

Once any dog bites once and gets the taste of blood they should be put down. I was bitten as a child by a neighbours dog she was kept alive and went on to bite three more people after me (I wasn’t the first child she had bitten) the last teenager needed 22 stitches and has a horrendous scar from her. Beloved pet or not it’s worse for the animal to be kept alive.

@ king Olaf.. Dont you troll on every site? You know nothing about dogs and I hope no animal is unlucky to have you as an owner….it would be better off destroyed….

The taste of blood argument is a load of BS and basically an old wives tale. The dog you were unfortunately bitten by was obviously terribly trained and had a crap owner…it attacked others because it wasn’t disciplined.

Once a dog stops seeing humans as superior, then the problem of them becoming vicious occurs, and really only at that point should euthanasia be an option. I’ve been bitten by dogs when playing with them, sometimes they don’t realise how strong they are biting.

@ King Olaf.. You obviously know shag all about dogs… (Should have known by your earlier comment).. Also, I’ve grown up with dogs in our small farm and have owned a previous dog to the one we had to put to sleep and he was exceptionally well trained, he was a thoroughbred collie dog and did everything on command.. We had him 10yrs and then our daughter came along.. We did everything together, I even used to feed him some baby food when I was feeding my daughter, he walked with us, came shopping with us, slept in his own bed in our room with the baby.. Do you honestly think we would put him down for a ‘playful’ bite???

@ King Olaf.. You obviously know shag all about dogs… (Should have known by your earlier comment).. Also, I’ve grown up with dogs in our small farm and have owned a previous dog to the one we had to put to sleep and he was exceptionally well trained, he was a thoroughbred collie dog and did everything on command.. We had him 10yrs and then our daughter came along.. We did everything together, I even used to feed him some baby food when I was feeding my daughter, he walked with us, came shopping with us, slept in his own bed in our room with the baby.. Do you honestly think we would put him down for a ‘playful’ bite???

@ King Olaf
Not at all a very well trained dog,and when she bit me I knew it was my fault because I startled her while she was looking after her pups, the fact it was the second time she’d bitten was never taken into account. The vet told the family she should have been put down after the first bite and they were damn lucky they weren’t sued for damages by the last person that was bitten given she had a history.

I actually find your story more upsetting than the original piece. As a family member for ten years had you seen any evidence of biting before? A dog that is in a family for ten years is family, to me it’s like having another child.
All dogs bite, if people don’t understand that then they shouldn’t get a dog. I couldn’t understand how a dog who has exhibited no previous problems suddenly becoming aggressive? Was the child playing with the dog? Was the dog unwell? What happened that he bite all of a sudden? Usually something has happened that had upset the dog. It would literally kill me to put my dog down, the circumstances would have to be very very extreme. I have kids, and I explained many many times to them how to behave with dogs and in particular, our dog.
You simply cannot leave a small child and a dog alone, the crying a baby makes freaks my dog out, he thinks it’s a fox. I see kids poke, pull, grab at my dog, my dog never reacts but any other dog could.
It’s neither the baby’s nor the dogs responsibility to watch how each other behaves it’s the owner and parent.

Emma
I had to put my dog down in August because he started snapping at me totally unprovoked, he was very well trained,an extremely happy and very much loved dog. He stopped coming into the house wouldn’t eat or drink and slept most of the time. Turned out he had a brain tumour and the biggest sign was a very mild dog becoming snappy. It broke my heart but god forbid I ignored it and he attacked a child where would that leave him?

Your dog was unwell, ergo a reason he behaved out of character. And I’m sorry that you had to have him put to sleep it must have been very distressing. My point as you indirectly confirmed is that a family dog who is well established in the home rarely changes behaviours without reason. If a dog is provoked, if their is a change to the home etc these can all distress a dog.
People get surprised when they see their dogs bite, but dogs are animals, my dog goes for dogs who constantly harass him as he is a collie and has poor social skills with other dogs. He’s designed to work and needs the stimulation.
We don’t know in this particular case if the dog just went beserk or if the dog wasn’t being distressed by something that was not picked up upon and addressed by its owners.

Joan,
Ignore the Trolls I think you acted responsibly and your decision probably caused you a lot of pain. There will be people who will suggest that you should have tried rehousing. Maybe you did, if not newer t those is try re-housing a ten year old dog that has bitten. The labours of Hercules would be easier to complete.
It may well be that the dog saw the new baby as a threat to the pecking order, and was afraid of its own position or simply jealous .
Whatever I don’t see that there was unfortunately, any other action you could have taken when a baby is involved.
Feel very sorry for you and yours including your dog.

King Olaf
Would you not agree that in the case that Joan describes the chance that her dog did not see the baby as someone to be respected but rather put into the correct place in the pecking order that is at the bottom?

That was kind of my point Emma we don’t know the full story. When I rang the vet for advice as I have a young nephew who I was afraid he’d bite they said the dog should be rehoused if nothing showed up on examination. The first mention of being put to sleep was after extensive tests and x-rays. The dog was half collie and smart enough to remove himself every time my nephew visited my house. They are very intelligent animals.

That’s actually not true. Dogs are not sharks. Otherwise all dogs would be savaging every living thing. Some dogs are naturally aggressive and are beyond socialisation. The dog that bit you in particular either needed to be put to sleep or taken in by an experienced or responsible owner

I’m not a troll, I’m merely a person who has a family which includes my beloved dog that I regard like a third child. My kids worship him, he sleeps in my daughters room every night and tries to herd them up when they race off in the park.
But….he’s a dog, he has snapped when my son accidentally stepped on his paw which had stiches. We were all upset, mostly the dog. It was an accident, it hasn’t happened again. A valuable lesson was learned for my kids, they must know the boundaries.
If something bad happened then I would not jump to destroy my dog as to me, the guilt would kill me. I would seek to have him re-trained, re-homed.
My point is is that if this was an avoidable situation I.e was the baby upsetting the dog and the dog was anxious then it’s the responsibility of the owner to take ownership of the situation.
I genuinely am sorry that this incident occurred but these things rarely happen out of the blue

Emma I don’t think the troll comment was directed at you but King Olaf. If your comment was aimed at me about the dog bite the owners were very responsible and the dog well trained; but the vet told them she had gotten into a habit of biting to defend her pups and territory and he couldn’t see any way forward except put her to sleep. As I said I startled her and I admit it was all my fault I was bitten.

@ Emma.. We have never left our daughter alone with the dog.. I never would, our beautiful dog was on a strong painkiller for his shoulder and maybe that set him off.. The point is we were very naive, I blame ourselves, not our dog, and now we have lost him because of our own stupidity.. Whether your child is supervised or not, they should never be in the same room as a pet…

Emma,
My comment ref Trolls was not aimed at you, if you found it so my apologies. You did not come out with blaming Joan immediately, you expressed your view and your beliefs.
At the end of the day this is a highly emotive subject, my own belief is that the dogs age is a major consideration in all this. Maybe it could be said that Joan paced too much trust in the dog, but I doubt very much if any of us would have regarded a member of the family (who in human terms would be 70 year old) and had been a member that long as a threat. I’m 99% certain that I wouldn’t have.

Joan,
Apologies wrote my post below before I read yours. As I say try not to blame yourself too much. I doubt if many of us would have acted differently ie trusting the dog.

Aics
Ok post above this

@ AICS.. You hit the nail on the head, we were going to rehome him but our vet said that wasn’t going to happen because he had bitten a child so that was that. Our little one needed surgery after the bite and I so wished it was me he had bitten and not her.. We think that because we had our dog for so long and had no other children before our 10month old that he was a little jealous too… Again, we take full responsibility as we were very naive to have both in the same room… supervised of course but nonetheless this is what happens….

@ Steve.. again correct.. I treated ye dog like another child, not a dog …

Both you and Ingela are very right in what you have said, the dogs are virtually abandoned, what I don’t understand is why they thought it was great to get a new puppy in July when they already had an over barking rat dog to begin with, I can’t believe that they have actually driven me so against small dogs, and as of right now there’s about ten dogs barking in unison outside, the only time I feel at ease is when I’m out shopping in a shop where there’s no threat of dogs barking, I can deal with babies crying but dogs barking all day everyday I just can’t.

Have you spoken to your prison governor ?

I’d do my homework, take notes of the times they are barking and then knock on their door, demand they either take the dogs inside or sort the barking problem out (anti barking collar works wonders) or you’d file a court proceeding against them. It is not allowed to let dogs bark incessantly in a built up area. I’ve been down that road, let’s see, with five of my neighbours over the years. None of them have their dogs out barking anymore. And I’m pretty sure some of your other neighbours are equally annoyed and you can join forces. What never seizes to amaze me is that the owners themselves don’t seem to notice their dogs barking. Best of luck!

My parents can trace their dog all the way back and he is a great great grand nephew of our families first west highland. They knew nothing of the relationship when they bought the dog but the similarities in personality is astounding between both dogs. They could be twins in all the photographs.

I don’t like the idea of breeding for profit alone. The good and responsible breeders ought to breed for the purpose of improving or maintaining a particular good line of dog. I don’t refer to breeding for dog shows (which has its own paricular problems) but rather for traits, caracter or particular skills. I don’t see a problem in the breeder making a profit from it but it should not be the sole purpose.