Your Dog — November 2017

A recent Doglaw event helped tackle our readers’

burning legal questions relating to their pets.

PAW L AW

62 Your Dog November 2017 http://www.yourdog.co.uk

A

ll responsible dog

owners need to have

some knowledge

of dog law, to protect

themselves, their dogs, and

other people. Solicitor and

Your Dog contributor Trevor

Cooper has been helping

people understand how the

law relates to them as dog

owners for more than 20

years. He acted in his fi rst

dog case as long ago as 1994

and has hardly had time to

catch breath since. In 1997, he

founded Cooper & Co, which,

in the 20 years since, has acted

for hundreds of dog owners in

both civil and criminal cases.

Trevor explains: “A criminal

case is where Parliament (or

sometimes the council) says

you can’t do something but if

you do, you’ll be punished for

it. In these cases, we generally

provide a free telephone

service for preliminary advice.

So, for example, if your dog

has been accused of biting

someone, even if the police

aren’t yet involved, we’d be

happy to offer initial advice for

nothing. We get calls of this

nature every day — thankfully,

not every case ends up in

court, but, if it does, we can

discuss the owner’s options.”

Civil matters, however, are

different. “A civil case usually

involves disputes between

people, and it’s generally

about money (damages)

A

It never ceases to amaze me that so

many dog owners are under-insured,

and have no protection against a third party

liability claim. If you’re covered, simply send

the letter of claim to your insurers and ask

them to deal with it. However, if you don’t

have insurance cover, you’re in diffi culties

regarding the compensation claim.

If your dog injures a person, harms

another animal, or damages property, and

you don’t have insurance cover, you’ll

have to defend the claim yourself, come to

a settlement, or pay privately for a solicitor

to represent you. However, just because

there’s an incident doesn’t always mean

that you’re liable to pay compensation.

The trick is to make sure you have

insurance, but this must be in place before

the incident occurs. Most health care

policies include third party liability claims, or

you may be able to get cost-effective cover

by becoming a member of Dogs Trust.

As to what the police might do,

potentially a criminal offence has been

committed and it could well end up in

a prosecution. The Dangerous Dogs Act

1991 was extended in 2014 to include

incidents anywhere in England or Wales,

and the maximum penalties were also

massively increased.

or possession of the dog,”

explains Trevor. “We get

so many calls of this nature

that if we offered a free

service for this, we’d end

up doing nothing else and

I’d quickly be bankrupt!

As a one-off, we recently

organised a free weekend

service called the Doglaw CAB

(Canine Advice Bureau!), which

Your Dog Magazine helped

Q

My dog bit someone. I have received a letter

from solicitors claiming compensation, and the

police have said they want to interview me.

Third party liability

is vital if your dog

injures somebody.

Trevor often works

with fellow Your Dog

contributor, trainer

Carolyn Menteith.

to publicise,

and it was

extremely popular.”

Here, Trevor fi lls us

in on some of the most

common civil issues dealt

with during the event.

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