[West Ender]

Dog licences - useless. Under the old system you had to have one but who ever checked up and what purpose did it serve?

You start with dog breeders. There are puppy farms all over the country, for a start, many unregistered. There needs to be much tightening up of legislation there. Many responsible owners will breed once or twice from a good bitch. There are Kennel Club regulations but they're not enforced rigorously enough. Anyone who buys a pup from such sources must be vetted thoroughly.

There are also owners whose bitches get "caught" and the result is pups. You can't tell, at a glance, if a bitch has been spayed but you can see if a dog has been neutered. It should be compulsory for all male dogs, except registered, licenced stud dogs, to be neutered. Dog warden sees un-neutered dog - dog is "confiscated" until neutered at owner's expense. More dog wardens are needed. Any dog wandering in the streets must be impounded - for its own good as well as anyone else's. Dog wardens should have the right to enquire at any house where a dog is known to be living and check up on the dog and its living conditions, with due process of law if anything is amiss.

Would it work? It would be better than the lack of regulation and the blind panic about "dangerous breeds" that exists now. What would it cost? What cost is a human life?