Having established the nature of the phenomenon of status dogs and how it presents both risks and challenges for the public, we now look in more detail as to how these are being addressed by the statutory authorities, namely the police, the courts and local and regional government. The chapter also examines emerging good practice from animal welfare agencies that are now at the forefront of tackling this issue.

Setting the scene

In their review of the Dangerous Dogs Act (DDA) 1991 and the regulatory responses in the 1990s, Lodge and Hood (2002) report police enforcement as ‘patchy’. After a ‘short period of vigorous enforcement’ tackling drug dealers, they claim police reprioritised the issue and focused attention elsewhere, although this was in relation to dangerous dogs rather than status dogs.

The issue now presenting in the 21st century is slightly different. First, requests to tackle status dogs have arisen not from the police but from local communities via Safer Neighbourhood policing panels and councillors’ mailbags. Requests surfaced at local forums, council meetings, tenants’ and residents’ meetings and police community consultative groups and via the letters pages of the local press. Hallsworth (2011: 400) contends that the police themselves have talked up the problem of status dogs ‘to justify an ongoing flow of resources’, although there is no evidence to support this and such a claim denies the reality of local people's experience.

Second, the increased visibility of bull breeds and status dogs in parks and open spaces has begun to present problems. Here again, local residents, friends of parks and dog walkers have raised concerns via user groups, dog wardens and park rangers.

Third, the role of status dogs and dangerous dogs has changed significantly from the 1990s. Now status dogs are increasingly linked to criminal elements in the UK and the US. In France, the number of dangerous dogs – les chiens dangereux (mainly pitbull-type dogs) – rose from around 2,000-3,000 in 1993 to around 30,000 by 1998. The deliberate use of weapon dogs on African immigrants in 1996 led to legislative revisions in France (Lodge and Hood, 2002).

Alongside the increased ownership of status dogs, and associated issues of criminality and perceived threats to public safety, there has been a rise in the number of status dogs relinquished to UK animal welfare agencies, kennel clubs and shelters.