As a dog owner, you are responsible for:
🐶 Ensuring your dog is licensed
🐶 Cleaning up after your dog – “Bag it, Bin it”
🐶 Keeping your dog under control
🐶 Micro chipping your dog
🐶 Considering if you should neuter you dog
Click HERE to view our leaflet on Responsible Dog Ownership
Click HERE to view our Safety Advisory leaflet
Buying a Puppy?
Deciding whether to get a puppy or dog is a big decision. It is advisable, before purchasing a puppy, to give it proper thought and to carry out some research.
The average life span of a dog is 15 years, so owning a dog is a very long-term commitment. Dogs demand a lot of time and are expensive to keep. Daily responsibilities include: exercising, feeding, grooming, training and cleaning up after your dog. Dogs also need company like humans and can get bored and lonely. Younger active dogs in particular need mental stimulation and constructive play".
A responsible dog owner is “an owner who ensures the welfare of their pet, keeps their dog under control at all times, licenses their dog, never allows their dog to stray, who disposes of dog fouling from their pet immediately and who ensures that their dog does not cause nuisance through noise or odour.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) have created a very useful leaflet and information on buying and caring for a puppy.
Click here to read DAERA's Buying and Caring for a Puppy leaflet.
Paws for Thought
PAWS for Thought NI is a DAERA-led multi-agency campaign designed to raise awareness about illegal puppy farming, trafficking, and welfare issues when purchasing dogs in Northern Ireland.
It aims to tackle rogue dog breeders and pup traffickers who attempt to transport low welfare pups via the two main ferry ports in Northern Ireland, to be offered for sale in England, Scotland, or Wales for huge profit.
To evade detection durng portal checks, traffickers will often obscure the true origins of the pups and make potentially false declarations. Quite often, innocent animal lovers are duped into believing these pups have come from a reputable breeder.
If you are thinking about getting a dog, #PawsforThought and give it some proper consideration. Things to consider:
- Do you really know where your dog is coming from? Can you be sure that the dog isn’t from an illegal breeder or been stolen?
- If you decide to get a dog, consider rehoming an unwanted dog first.
- If you decide to buy a puppy, make sure to buy it from a reputable /licensed breeder who has made sure the puppy has had a good start in life.
- Once you have made the decision to buy a puppy, only buy one aged 8 weeks or more and make sure to see the puppy with its mother at its home.
- Never buy a dog or a pup that is delivered to you.
- Dogs must be microchipped at 8 weeks old, and dog owners are responsible for contacting the local council and licensing their dog.
- Dog owners are responsible for keeping the dog under proper control, and for meeting the welfare needs of their dog.
For more information on OPERATION PAWS FOR THOUGHT click here
Your dog and your new baby
If you’ve a baby on the way, now’s the time to start preparing your dog. Gradually introduce changes in your home and routines, using rewards your dog enjoys, to help them cope well with the new arrival. Below you will find a useful resource and fact sheet for you or to share with dog owners who may bringing a new baby into their household. The Be Alert, be Aware, Be Safe initiative is particularly important to dog owners who don’t already have children as the dog poses a potential risk due to jealously, fear, response to noise and simply adapting to the new family dynamic.
Your dog and your baby factsheet
Welfare of dogs or other pets
If you feel that a dog or any other domestic animal is not being looked after properly or is being abused or neglected you can report the matter directly to the Councils Animal Welfare Department on 02882 256226. If your call is outside of normal working hours it will be redirected to the appropriate Welfare Officer on call.
Contact
Dog Control Team
02871 253 253
[email protected]