Petitions to Parliament · 2019 to 2024 Parliament (archived)

Exempt dogs assessed by experts as safe from breed specific legislation

This petition gathered 127,508 signatures between 26 July 2021 and 26 January 2022, according to the Parliament petitions site. The Government responded on 19 October 2021.

The petition

The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.

Exempt dogs assessed by experts as safe from breed specific legislation

Amend the breed specific legislation to create a clause where by dogs that have been expertly assessed and found to be no more risk to the public than any other breed, to be exempted from breed specific legislation and allowed to live by the same laws as any other dog.

There are many dogs that are known to be reactive, but it is at present determined by breed if a dog is deemed to be dangerous. Public safety must always be paramount, BUT dogs that have been expertly assessed and found to be well behaved, surely are not the ones that need restrictions for public protection.

The Government's response

The Government published its response on 19 October 2021; the petitions site lists the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as responsible. Its summary:

The Dangerous Dogs Act places restrictions on certain types of dogs bred for fighting. Individual dogs can be kept under strict conditions if a court judges that they are not a risk to public safety.

The opening 352 words of the 542-word response:

Public safety is at the heart of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. The 1991 Act prohibits four types of fighting dog – types traditionally used for dog fighting (pit bull terrier, Japanese tosa, dogo argentino, fila braziliero). This approach is supported by the Police.

The statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs provides owners with information on how to provide for their dog’s natural needs as required by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The Code of Practice clearly sets out that all dogs need to be trained to behave well, ideally from a very young age and should be introduced gradually and positively to different environments, people and animals.

In this country, pit bull types have been traditionally bred for dog fighting to accentuate any aggressive tendencies and therefore the Government considers that they pose an inherently greater risk to the public. We fully recognise that pit bull terriers are crossbreeds, which is why we refer to them as “type” rather than “breed” and base identification on physical characteristics. Identification of pit bull terriers is made by Dog Legislation Officers who are police officers specially trained to recognise the four prohibited type dogs.

The Government considers that a lifting of the restrictions on these types of dogs would more likely result in an increase in dog attacks, rather than contributing to any reduction in such incidents.

Despite the general prohibitions on these types of dog, individual prohibited dogs can be kept by their owners if a court judges that the dog is not a danger to the public, that the dog can be kept in a suitable environment, and that the proposed owner is a fit and proper person. If the court considers these criteria to be met, the dog can be listed on the Index of Exempted Dogs and must be kept under strict conditions, including being on a lead and muzzled in public. The Government considers that these conditions, which include assessment of the dog’s temperament, are proportionate and should be maintained to provide the necessary degree of public safety required and to provide assurance to the public.

Read the full response on the petitions site.

Where the signatures came from

Signatures came from 650 constituencies on the boundaries used until the 2024 general election. The largest number, 598, came from North Down.

126,317 of the signatures were from the UK and 1,191 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.

Debate in Parliament

MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on .

The Petitions Committee's summary of the debate:

The Petitions Committee has decided not to schedule a debate on this petition.

The Committee recognises the support that the petition has received. However, the issue raised by the petition was recently debated in the House of Commons on 5 July in response to a petition making a related request.

Read a transcript of this debate: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-07-05/debates/814EF953-52F7-4499-953C-447928FF71DB/BreedSpecificLegislation

You can also watch the debate here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRtSMPH_zuc

Given the significant support for petitions about prohibitions for certain dog types, the Committee has written to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, highlighting support for petitions on this subject.

The Committee has called on the Government to:

- Establish a new framework for responsible ownership of dog types which are currently prohibited under the Dangerous Dogs Act

- Commission new research to consider the evidence base for current prohibitions

- Look at alternatives to current prohibitions on certain dog types

In the letter, the Committee has said the Government should publish the outcome of this work, followed by a Government review of the prohibitions set out in the Dangerous Dogs Act.

You can read the Committee's letter here: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/7403/documents/77570/default/

The Committee will publish the Government's response when it is received, and notify petitioners by email.

Source and receipt

• https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/592813.json
  UK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256 f2b4482021463c45…
• The petition on petition.parliament.uk

The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.