Dog owners could soon have to pay for insurance which covers damage or injury their pet causesDog owners may be forced to pay for insurance to cover damage or injuries their pet causes, ministers will propose today.
They may also be required by law to have a microchip implanted on their pet under Government plans to curb the use of dangerous dogs.
Another measure being considered is the use of Dog Control Notices for misbehaving animals - known as 'Dogbos'.
They would allow police officers and council officials to force miscreant owners to muzzle, leash or even neuter their pets.
In extreme cases the dogs could even be confiscated and given to new owners.
The measures, part of proposed changes to the Dangerous Dogs Act unveiled today, are aimed at tackling the growing problem of vicious animals being bred for use as weapons, particularly on inner-city estates.
Ministers are also considering making it a criminal offence for a dog owner to allow their animal to be 'dangerously out of control'.
Currently they are only breaking the law if the dog is out of control in a public place.
The change would extend the law to private residences, and could provide extra protection for postmen.
Insurance for dogs costs from around £5 a month upwards. Ministers are suggesting making it compulsory to have only third party insurance to cover attacks by dogs on bystanders, neighbours or workers.
Dogs may be implanted with a microchip to identify their owner.
The price of microchipping and insuring a dog means that families could face bills of £100 and more to legally own a pet under the new rules.
The proposals come in the wake of outcries over incidents like the death of four-year-old John-Paul Massey, savaged by a pit bull at his home in Liverpool last November, and protests by employers and unions over the rate of attacks by dogs on workers such as postmen.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson said: 'The vast majority of dog owners are responsible, but there is no doubt that some people breed and keep dogs for the soul purpose of intimidating others, in a sense using dogs as a weapon.
'It is this sort of behaviour that we will not tolerate; it is this sort of behaviour that we are determined to stop.' The plans for curbing the use of intimidating dogs were put forward in a Department of the Environment consultation over changes to the Dangerous Dogs Act, the 1991 law often cited as an example of hastily-made and unworkable legislation.
The Act names four breeds, including pitbull-terriers, which are banned.
However the law also allows the banned breeds to be kept in some cases, if they are neutered, tattooed with the owner's details, microchipped, and are allowed out in public only if on a lead and muzzled.
The Tories said numbers of dog attacks have grown sharply in recent years.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling was sceptical about the proposals: 'All we've really had for the past decade under this Government is a series of speeches and headlinegrabbing announcements about the things they were going to do to tackle problems like dangerous dog offences.
'But in the end nothing has ever happened. If Labour are re-elected in May all we'll get is the same tired-out old approach.'
Billy Hayes leader of the Communications Workers Union, said: 'Our members - postwomen and postmen in particular, but also telecom engineers on domestic calls - are regularly bitten by dogs that have been either left unattended or are simply not under control.
'Alarmingly, over the past year dog attacks have risen by 20 per cent. This reform cannot come soon enough.'
source: dailymail
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