Require all dogs to be on a lead when on public pavements

Make it compulsory for all dogs to be leashed at all times on public pavements to protect cats. Harsh penalties should be in place for people go against this.

If dog leashing on all public pavements was compulsory, my cat wouldn’t have lost her life to a brutal dog attack. She wasn’t even roaming the streets. She was simply sitting on my driveway as she did every single day. I believe dogs see cats as prey and we can’t rely on people to be responsible and leash their reactive dogs, a law should be in place to protect cats that are just as worthy companions as dogs to many citizens. Even if a dog isn’t reactive and has been trained well, they can have natural instincts and seeing free roaming cats could trigger that instinct.

We recognise that dog attacks can have horrific consequences, and we take this issue very seriously. There is a careful balance to be struck between protecting the wider public and their animals from dog attacks, the freedom people enjoy when walking their dogs, and the welfare of those dogs, including the freedom to exhibit normal behaviours.

The Government currently has no plans to introduce a legal requirement for all dogs to be on a lead in public. The police and local authorities already have a range of powers available to tackle dangerous dogs and irresponsible dog ownership, including dog attacks on other animals.

The Code of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs states that it is best practice to keep dogs on leads around other animals. It is also an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 to allow a dog to be on a designated road unless it is on a lead.

It is an offence under section 3(1) of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 to allow any dog to be dangerously out of control in any place. The law does not specifically exclude an attack by a dog on another animal from the offence of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control. Successful prosecutions have been brought for dog-on-cat attacks using section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. It will, however, be for the Crown Prosecution Service to assess, on a case-by-case basis, whether to proceed with a prosecution under the legislation.

Section 2 of the Dogs Act 1871 allows a complaint to be made to a Magistrates’ court where a dog is “dangerous and not kept under proper control”. The court may make any Order it considers appropriate, to require the owner to keep the dog under proper control (e.g. requiring the dog to be on a lead in public), or if necessary, that it be destroyed.