Supporting responsible dog owners (From Salisbury Journal)
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Supporting responsible dog owners
11:51am Thursday 6th September 2012 in Salisbury Letters
I READ with sympathy the article recently printed and titled Pet Jack Russell Ollie Savaged By Dogs (Journal, August 23).
I completely support Miss Seage's appeal for more responsible dog owners.
Why should a pet dog’s life, in the eyes of the law, be worth so little when we invest so much in them? We own sighthounds, which are known for their high prey drive.
For this reason alone, we muzzle our dogs if they are running free and this eliminates the chances of them getting into trouble as well as protecting our local cats, rabbits, hares etc.
Our two dogs were attacked by two animals that escaped from a garden as we walked past. Our dogs were on leads and as we were in the street we could not set them free to run away (and risk causing a road accident) and protect themselves. We had to stand and watch our dogs be savaged at arm’s length and pray we were not turned on also. We nearly lost one of our dogs to a punctured lung and the specialist vet’s bills came to £2,500.
Luckily our insurance provider covered the cost but we still had to pay excess fees for each pet. Our insurance provider was unable to claim the money from the owner’s insurance and so we attempted to claim this back through court.
However, the owners were 'means tested'
and apparently could not afford to pay us.
Unbelievable. So who decided that we could?
At times, British law horrifies and disgusts me. In this case, I believe the dogs should have been removed as they should not be allowed to keep pets if they cannot pay an excess fee or vet bill. They were, however, ordered to keep the dogs on leads and muzzled when in a public place.
I have to say the police were brilliant while dealing with this case - they were courteous and respectful at all times and kept us well informed. It was a very stressful time as our pets are part of the family and I feel the worst thing is, the owners of the offending dogs showed no remorse.
I hear more and more cases like this and something really needs be done.
NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED
