Some common sense - finally

Here's to a girl's idea and a premier who has the sense to listen!

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/04/15/dog-owner-licences050415.html

YAY little girl!!!! That is what I've been thinking a long time. Stop banning the breeds, and start making people earn the right to own these wonderful dogs!

how is a licence gonna stop a dog from bitting ??

The owner has to show some ability to handle a dog in this scheme. It's a wonderful idea; responsible breeders and rescue organizations have been screening potential owners for a long time and have been saying the same kind of thing.

is it only large breeds like pits and rotties and them i dont take brownie out unless we go to the vet and hes never out by himself

It won't. Owners are the ones who do that. Always have and always will.

Should this come to fruition, hopefully, licensing (ie, screening potential owners) will eliminate potential owners who aren't committed to a dogs training and care for the duration of a dogs life.

It's a proposal for certain breeds is what I understand.

The one thing that worries me about it is who sets the standard? I'm not the typical large breed owner - I handle my dogs very differently than most, but my dogs are well behaved in public and able to go anywhere without me having to be concerned about them being inappropriately defensive.

The article states "aggressive dogs". I can only hope if this does work out that it's not based on "aggressive breeds" at all - but rather dog ownership in general. There's a lot of 'snappy' small dogs out there which are excused solely on their size - and as far as I'm concerned, they're equally unfit to own a dog as a person who allows a larger dog to bite. The fact is, if a person is going to make a lousy owner for a pitbull or rottie (I'm speaking in terms of training and behaviour), then they'd be lousy for a yorkie, toy poodle or Jack-Russell.

The last quote in the article sums things up perfectly.

' "The problem with the dogs is not the dogs themselves – it's the dog owners." '

That's awesome.

That was the mayor that responded to her. Not the premier. But it's wonderful. And i hope it goes provincial and then federal!

Yay!!

out of the mouths of babes....comes wisdom.

I am having my doubts on this.
Like someone has already said, Who sets the standards?
I am a little afraid that whoever does set the standards will go to far with them. I mean what kind of test are they thinking of giving potential dog owners?
You can't just have someone take a written test on the subject because that doesn't insure that they will follow through with what they write. And if they would take a test on actually handling a dog, how would you be able to know which person is a "good owner" or a "bad owner"?
Plus would the test cost money? All you would do then is weed out the real poor people and favor the rich. How much would a test cost? What would happen if the people started to raise costs because of their greed?
I think it's a good idea in theory, but I am not sure it would actually work.

We had to take a test to get approved for Maverick- by the SPCA. I'm guessing it would be something like that. Except they didn't come to our home which I think they should have. But they asked us all about training and had us bring our cat to a neutral place to meet Mav. And I'm all for checkups too. Same kinds of things a responsible breeder would do.

It's a fantastic idea! Well done her, for taking the time and trouble to get her voice heard!

Good for you, little girl! She's my new hero!

Maybe we can right to her!

turns out there are 31 hallerans in St. John's. That's a surprise

Let us know if you get an address. I could start a letter and we could all mail it around until everyone signed it, then we could send it to her! We could write one to the mayor, too!!

that's a great idea!