Repeal the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, introduce new laws on penalties & education
We want the 1991 Act to be repealed and replaced with new legislation mandating education on dog ownership at a young age, and specifying harsher penalties for any owners mistreating their dogs or who fail to prevent their dogs acting dangerously out of control and harming the public.
Signatures
1,906
signatures
Government response threshold (10,000) · 1,906/10,000
Debate threshold (100,000) · 1,906/100,000
- 29 JAN 2026Petition opened for signaturesCreated by Emma McAlindon
Background
We believe the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 is outdated and that many dogs have been wrongly euthanised and punished for looking a certain way. The law is partly focused on the physical appearance of a dog, whereas we think the focus should be purely on actual behaviour. A dog that is born a breed of dog that is not on the list of dangerous dogs may be taken, assessed and put on the list as another breed, limiting their life. Sometimes they don’t even make it out of the kennels.