Police understanding of the dangerous dogs issue is inconsistent and incomplete.

Freedom of Information requests submitted to the police in Wales suggest dog control incidents have become increasingly common in recent years. 

But the data is inconsistent, with different recording methods across forces.  

The data also begins in different years, making a long-term, detailed analysis of the issue “very difficult”, the Dogs Trust has said. 

The animal welfare charity is calling for a new approach to tackle “breeders who put profit before welfare, and owners whose dogs are out of control”. 

They want the government to overhaul the Dangerous Dogs Act, a law which made it illegal to own certain breeds from 1991. 

Yuki

In February, Newport resident Giles Lewis, 43, wrote to me about a harrowing incident involving his dog – Yuki – and another dog in Risca Road. 

The attack left Yuki, a Pomeranian Japanese Spitz, with a major wound on her side and her heartbroken owners with a vet’s bill approaching £20,000.

Gwent Police later arrested a 47-year-old woman from Newport on suspicion of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control. She has since been released on a provisional bail as their enquiries continue.

Writing to the UK Government, I said the current approach to dog control “too often fails innocent people and pets” and asked about plans to review the Dangerous Dogs Act.

I then submitted FOI requests to the four Welsh police forces asking for historic data of incidents involving dogs that were dangerously out of control. 

Gwent Police, the force responding to the incident in Newport involving Yuki, was only able to provide figures from 2018. 

Nonetheless, their response showed dog control incidents in Gwent have become increasingly common over the past six years. 

North Wales Police was able to provide two decades’ worth of data but it also painted a picture of incidents becoming increasingly common in recent years. 

Dyfed Powys Police failed to provide the stats, arguing the data was not “easily retrievable” and suggesting it would take six years to manually trawl through their incident records. 

These numbers confirm what sadly many people in Wales have already experienced. Every figure relates to an avoidable incident where a person or pet has suffered trauma, injury, or even lost their life. 

We need all the evidence we can get to turn this debate around dog control into action. At the moment the case for change is being undermined by inconsistent and incomplete records.  

We need to know when, where, and how these incidents happen – and the kind of people and pets that are involved.

‘Time to take this seriously’ 

Commenting on the findings, Giles Lewis said: “Only a fraction of cases are reported to the police. I have been involved in multiple dog attacks myself, and this is the first one I have reported. Most people I’ve spoken to have never reported. They don’t believe anything will happen. 

“The patchy data the police have recorded is just the tip of the iceberg – the true number of dog attacks is much, much higher. It’s time for the UK to take this seriously – legislatively, politically, and socially.  

“There are an increasing number of out-of-control dogs in our communities, and it is because of the lack of responsibility or ability of the owners to control them. It has nothing to do with breed and we should move away from breed-specific legislation.” 

‘Very difficult’ 

A spokesperson for Dogs Trust added: “We share the public concern regarding the number of incidents involving dogs, and firmly agree action needs to be taken to prevent further incidents and to effectively protect the public. 

“For more than 30 years, Dogs Trust has been calling on Government to overhaul the Dangerous Dogs Act as its current focus on breed-specific legislation is not only detrimental to dog welfare, but it is ineffective and does little to protect members of the public. Instead, the issue of dog control should be tackled by introducing preventative, breed-neutral legislation which addresses the unscrupulous breeders who are putting profit before welfare, and owners whose dogs are out of control. 

“Understanding the full extent of this issue is also very difficult due to inconsistencies in data collection across different regions. We are calling for a consistent national approach to data collection to build an accurate picture of these incidents which will allow greater understanding of their causes and impact.”