Friday - November 07, 2008

NEW RULES FOR FAT DOG OWNERS CAN RESULT IN HUGE FINES AND POSSIBLY JAIL.

Don’t know what you guys will make of this. On the one hand it’s more govt. intrusion, right?

BUT ... there are a lot of very irresponsible dog owners who might be doing harm by their lack of care. 

I had a cousin once who was so totally irresponsible she had some pets die on her. Not because she did anything to em.  But what she didn’t do.
But really, a fine of almost $40,000? 

Then too, there are folks who should never own pets.

Fat dog regulations aim to trim animal obesity

Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 07/11/2008

New rules on animal cruelty leave dog owner Jasper Gerard scratching his head

Is this political correctness gone, well, barking mad? Ministers have just published a veritable table-thumper of a report telling us how to look after our pets.

Those who stray from the guidelines could face six months in jail or a £20,000 fine for cruelty to animals. For, just as children are developing the looks of Teletubbies, it is feared our canine population now resembles sucking pigs.

The internet is yapping louder than Battersea Dogs Home to the sound of animal lovers fighting with freedom lovers over whether the nannying ghost of Barbara Woodhouse is haunting Whitehall. “Has Britain,” demanded one site, “gone to the dogs?”

Not only does the code, issued by Hilary Benn’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, contain strict admonishments about diet ("chocolate is poisonous"), we are ordered to buy dog toothpaste; not to walk mutts “in the hot part of the day” (such a hazard in November); and to provide “somewhere to go to the toilet”, though, in a rare oversight, Defra fails to stipulate whether it should be en suite.

We are even told to provide “entertainment” and “mental stimulation”. So I sat Wyndham, my springer spaniel, in front of Newsnight; alas, the presidential election left him snoring.

What to try? Jane Fonda workout videos? Morgan Spurlock’s dog starring in Supersize Me II? Or Jamie Oliver’s follow-up to School Dinners - Dog Dinners?

Yesterday, I took Wyndham to Tunbridge Wells, Kent, to sniff out lardy Labradors and outraged owners. There was not a mutt in sight, let alone an obese one. I began to fear that Whitehall is on to something and that owners are failing to exercise their charges.

Visions of couch-potato pooches snoozing in front of daytime TV came to mind. Then I came upon my first dogs, tethered to a post. Their owner, IT analyst Brian Inman, was sipping coffee in a café.

“So, Mr Inman,” I started tentatively, mindful that a dog owner would take comments about their own weight more kindly than those about their beloved pets, “you clearly don’t starve your dogs.”

“One is a show dog,” he said, a tad defensively, pointing to his well-padded beast. “I only feed them twice a day, and very little.” Hmm: before I could warn him that I might have to pass his details to the man from the ministry, he added: “This smacks of government interference: shouldn’t it concentrate on children before dogs?”

Others disagreed. I accosted Tim Cosens walking his well-fed cocker, Holly. “She’s just had puppies,” he insisted. I don’t like to break it to him that Benn will soon be out here, shaking his head wearily while saying: “Save it, please, we’ve heard all the excuses...” Anyway, Cosens backs the report as “there are too many fat dogs”.

Next I found two dog walkers barking from the libertarian wing of the kennel. “It seems very Draconian,” said Barbour-clad Steve Budden, who had heard nothing of the regulations. Ditto Ian Marshall: “The nanny state is getting silly.” He has fed his dog fresh food ever since visiting a dog food factory: “It was all chicken beaks and claws,” he said. “Horrific.”

Next stop was Pets in Town. This shop has pioneered healthy dog living with dance classes, weight watchers lessons, even prescription diets. I place Wyndham on the scales. “Perfect,” said Lydia Anderson, who is Head of Fish but is helping out in Dogs today, “18.7kg.” Wyndham is rewarded for his labours with a (healthy) treat. “We have dogs in here weighing 70kg. They look more like polar bears.”

Lydia has strict views: “Bad owners should be prosecuted. Over-feeding is a form of neglect, leading to diseases such as diabetes.” Bad behaviour is often caused by poor diet. “Some dog food contains just four per cent meat: it’s like junk food for children,” she says. Perhaps ministers should target manufacturers more than owners. Pets in Town sells healthy feed that lists its ingredients.

“There are lots of healthy food ranges now,” explained its owner, Steve Ball. “It’s changed massively. Humans could learn a lot about healthy diets
from dogs.” As, it seems, could Hilary Benn. As far as Tunbridge Wells is concerned, he’s in the dog house.

http://tinyurl.com/6o2w6t

Posted by peiper     on 11/07/2008 at 07:47 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous • UK •  
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