Dog control officers welcome Govt review | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

Any review of dog control laws must include local body dog control officers, says the city council's animal services boss.

Brent Lincoln, team leader for animal services at Tauranga City Council, welcomed the review announced this week by Local Government Minister Rodney Hide.

Mr Lincoln said his only request would be that the New Zealand Institute of Animal Control Officers (NZIACO) be involved from the start.

Everything from registering owners, banning some breeds and whether microchipping is working or not would be up for debate.

Mr Lincoln said dog control officers and NZIACO had been advocating for changes to the dog control act for several years.

"The act is a mix of old and new with parts dating back to the 1800s," he said.

Mr Lincoln said it needed modernising to bring it into line with other legislation, and with standards set across the country.

Mr Hide said the review was not a government priority and would not begin until 2011.

Existing laws were an "onerous muddle" and he was concerned that some councils went too far in restricting freedoms.

Mr Hide also questioned the value of microchipping.

He questioned whether dog laws should be made at local rather than central government level and said there was variation around the country.

Mr Lincoln said dogs were at present registered by their owners and the benefit was that any dog was allocated an identifying number, which could be traced to an owner if the dog was lost or subject of a complaint.

"Any process where the owner is registered would only work if any dogs owned by them were easily identifiable and traceable," he said.

"No matter what law is introduced, the authority legislated to manage dogs must have the ability to deal with the owners of dogs that are causing issues within the community."

Mr Lincoln said the reality was that most problems were caused when owners didn't register dogs. They were unlikely to comply with any future changes either.

He said within Tauranga City fewer than 7 per cent of the population owned a registered dog.

"Our first priority is on keeping people safe, followed by a strong emphasis on ensuring as many dogs as we can are registered," he told the Bay of Plenty Times.

"Registering dogs makes them traceable and forces the owner to be more responsible."

Mr Lincoln said as house section sizes reduced in our cities, more pressure was applied to the social impact of having dogs. He believed there needed to be a limit on the number of dogs a person could own.

On the issue of microchipping, Mr Lincoln said it was a "good tool" in returning lost dogs to owners and made owners more accountable because the microchip, unlike a dog tag, was there for life.