Engage with young dog owners

A new University report commissioned by the RSPCA has called on the Government to engage with young dog owners and gather more evidence on growing concerns about the anti-social use of dogs. Status dogs, young people and criminalisation: towards a preventative strategy is the first comprehensive review of all existing research and evidence, both nationally and internationally, on dangerous or status dogs and the links to crime and violence. Written by leading criminologist Professor Gordon Hughes, Chair in Criminology at the Centre for Crime, Law and Justice at the University's School of Social Sciences; along with Jenny Maher, lecturer and researcher in Criminology at the University of Glamorgan and Claire Lawson, who is currently undertaking doctoral research at Cardiff on the multi-agency responses to the 'dangerous' and 'status' dogs problem in the UK, the report comes as MP's discuss dangerous dog legislation in a backbench debate in Parliament. It recommends that the Government needs to directly target 'street cultures', rather than focusing on leisure and school-based activities where the young people that need reaching are often marginalised, if not excluded or absent. The report also raises the concern that increased coverage of issues surrounding anti-social behaviour with dogs could glamorise the matter to young people, in the same way ASBOs became a badge of honour for some. Professor Hughes said: "Few people in the UK will be unaware of the growing public concern over so-called 'status' and 'dangerous' dogs, particularly expressed in the media and by politicians as well as by animal welfare organisations led by the RSPCA.