Is it time to ban dogs as household pets?

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7527.1278

BMJ 2005;331:1278 (26 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7527.1278

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Is it time to ban dogs as household pets?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

After tobacco, alcohol, and sports utility vehicles, how longwill it be before public health experts get serious about themenace of widespread dog ownership? Despite ongoing researchinto dog bites and zoonoses, the occasional media outcry aboutpit bull terrier and rottweiler maulings, and legislation suchas the United Kingdom's Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991, pet dogsand their owners have mostly been given a rather long leash.And yet it increasingly seems extraordinary to me—consideringall the things that the law prevents us from doing—thatit is legal for people to keep a potentially dangerous wildanimal in their home. Or even, as many postmen and postwomenhave discovered to their cost, in their front gardens.

In 2003 the UK had about 6.5 million dogs, estimates the PetFood Manufacturers' Association (www.pfma.com/public/petownership_stats.htm),although the abolition of the dog licence under Mrs Thatcher'sgovernment in 1987 . . . [Full text of this article]

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Trevor Jackson, assistant editor

BMJ tjackson@bmj.com

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