Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Another Stupid Dog Law

The Executive have announced tough new powers to target all aspects of illegal dog fights. The proposals would outlaw making or showing the films.

The Executive want the punishment for anyone involved in dog fighting, whether it be as a trainer, a spectator or even just someone who is filming it to be increased from a fine of £5,000 and or six months in jail to a fine of £20,000 and or a jail term of a year.

Rural affairs minister Ross Finnie MSP said: "This is just an appalling practice in this country. It's depressing really that in a civilised society we still have people who engage in this form of barbaric cruelty. We've decided to bring it to an end, we're going to have measures in the bill which will actually make it an offence and we will increase the fines to a maximum level. We're quite determined that this kind of cruelty simply will not be tolerated in Scotland."

While the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals welcome these moves from the Executive they are concerned that people will not be prosecuted for possession of pictures of a dogfight.


I am VERY worried about laws that breach freedom of the press. I do not think these kinds of videos should be banned. I have watched such videos to learn about the barbarity of dog fighting. Was I a criminal for doing so? Look, I’m a dog trainer, and I try to educate myself on all aspects of dog and people behavior. Plus, pictures of a dog fight in a book can be useful as a tool to teach how barbaric this practice is. As you know, I hate dog fighting. So, this isn’t some kind of excuse on my part to promote this blood sport. I also watched the Danny Pearl video, the one where he is beheaded by Islamic fanatics. I wanted to see what kind of evil we were fighting against in this war on terror. It was horrible. I did it because I needed to know we were right in fighting this war... and we are.

Pictures of dogs fighting teaches a dog trainer about canine body language. I needed to study dog aggression when becoming a trainer, and many dog books on dog behavior have pictures of two or more dogs fighting. Some pictures are from pit fighting situations, others from actual street dog fights. To stop the behavior, or prevent it, you need to learn and watch the behavior. On the other hand, I am glad organized dog fighting is illegal, and I want the organizers and spectators put in jail. Similarly, I am fully supportive of this war on terror... and I want the terror organizers put in jail, too.

This Scottish law is stupid. THE DOG FIGHTING PROBLEM IS A DRUG AND GANG PROBLEM. Hey, idiots. Instead of doing this kind of politically correct thing... a typical European response to a social problem... try doing some real police work and bust up these violent gangs.

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