The sad fact is that the law on dangerous dogs is so poorly
drafted that even a dog wouldn’t eat it for dinner. It is a complex hell loop
of law that is designed to make conviction for the human and destruction for
the animal as near certain as it can possibly be. That is the point where we
come in. We are here to shine a light in the legal darkness, helping you navigate
the storm, and bring both you and your dog home safely.
The most common allegations we come across are that a dog is
of an outlawed breed, often a pit bull terrier, or that a dog of a lawful breed
has been allowed to become dangerously out of control. Obviously, the exact allegation
will determine how we approach the case from the start. If the allegation is
that you animal is a pit bull, or another breed of banned dog, then we will
instruct experts to assess that claim and provide evidence to convince the
court that your animal is of a permitted breed. The prosecution evidence will usually
rely on the “expert” opinion of a police dog handler to identify the breed of
your dog, so it is important that we instruct an expert with both the knowledge
and credibility to counter the police officer’s evidence. You may feel that you
have the expertise needed to properly inform the court, but we feel that is a
dangerous path to take since a court will inevitably view anything you say
about your own dog as self-serving and will be inclined to take the word of the
police over yours.
If the allegation is that your dog was dangerously out of
control then we will look to see whether you were actually in control at the
time – i.e. had you given control of the animal over to somebody else, we will
want to know what happened during the incident that caused your dog to act the
way they did. While it is not a defence to say that the dog was acting in defence
of you, or even itself, the police and prosecution may be persuaded to drop
proceedings if it can be shown that the animal was provoked and was acting only
to defend you.
Ultimately, our aim is to help you avoid conviction and save
your dog from being destroyed.