I have heard that in Victoria now, it is even illegal to play tug with a dog, as their law states that a dog is not allowed to be trained to bite anything a person wears or holds. If a dog owner is seen doing this with their dog, they are to be reported to their local council!

Can anyone tell me if this is correct? And if so, why haven't people like the NDTF, and other groups gotten up in arms about all these draconian laws? Why hasn't anyone made a stand against all these new dog laws in Victoria?

Illegal to be involved in Dog Sport
Illegal to protection train your own dog for personal safety
Illegal to use a prong collar
Possibly Illegal for a puppy to grab hold of a tug toy
Illegal to own certain dog breeds

Soon it will be illegal to own or breed a working dog totally! Will it get to the stage where these working breeds will be controlled by our governments to be only available to government law enforcement? Sounds to far fetched now.. But whoever thought dog sport would be made illegal?

Are we really a free and democratic society? I believe not.. we are being controlled more and more by draconian laws..... I thought governments were servants of the people.. not people servants of the government (Hello Stalin and Hitler). I think our government and law makers have forgotten this.

The majority get punished for the actions of a minority. Breeds are being banned due to a very small minority of irresponsible dog owners. BSL has been proven to not work. If we keep banning the most recognised dangerous breeds at the top of the list, then when will it ever stop? Will thre ever not be a breed at the top of the list?

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Mark Singer
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yep mark, unfortunately this is true, just alot of people dont know about it.
the way the legislation is worded, if you walk past a dog and it grabs something in your hand, and you then struggle to get that item off the dog, is that dog then deemed dangerous??

here is the 'act'

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this happened to steve austin whilst at a seminar in Vic, someone got up on stage and warned him to stop, blah blah blah, you how the storys go.

it was discussed recently on another forum - [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register]


its a load of s*#t, you go down to most clubs and you'd beable to repot hundreds of owners playing with there dogs. 4 paws encourages all their clients to bring a toy to play with there sdogs with, and what about flyball clubs??

and yes, soon we wont be able to have any form of "working" dog, it seems to be what this world is coming too.

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Cheers, Jess

Addicted to Dobermanns!!

Yes Jess is correct that is what the law is in Victoria. They changed it after the Schutzhund guy got off the charges in 2000 to include "attached to" so the dog sports people could not use rags or tugs instead of an arm. This closed the loop hole that he got off under.

Yes Steve Austin did recieve an official warning from a government official whilst doing a display of dog tricks at a show.

The laws are currently being review and I have talked to a guy on the committee who is representing the security and schutzhund side of things. He has no idea how long the process is going to take, but he believes there may be an allowance for dogsports under a different catagory in the dangerous dogs legislation.

The only way around it at the moment is to be a licenced security guard, you dont have to be an active or working one but you must have a licence. This is the main reason I recently did a security course. I am also going through my local council to get an area on my farm zoned as a training/breeding area for dogs as required under the act. They have been stuffing me around like you would not believe and 12 months in nearly up and I have got nowhere. My property is out in the middle of nowhere with only one neighbour, who has no objections and is very supportive but the red tape is killing me!!........sometimes I wish I was not so honest!!

Let hope the review committee comes up with something workable and soon!!!

Also has anybody heard of anymore trouble in the Schutzhund world recently besides one of the clubs being shut down. I over heard a conversation and did not get all the details but thought somebody might have recently been charged???....I am trying to find out more.

The other law they are trying to bring in into Victoria is compulsory desexing unless you are a registered breeder. The question I am asking is what about the breeds (mine for example) that are not ANKC recognised? The ANKC is the only dog organisation that currently has government recognition therefore if they bring in this law you must come under them or be registered as a breeding facility (which is part of what I am trying to do!)


I totally agree with Mark about the laws and the people who make them and even in my case when you bend over backwards to try and do the right thing, they make it almost impossible!!!.........draconian is an understatement!!!!!


Steve

"quote" this happened to steve austin whilst at a seminar in Vic, someone got up on stage and warned him to stop, blah blah blah, you how the storys go.

with steve he didnt get into any trouble it was at the melb petexpo 2y ago after one of his talks on stage they had a talking dog and 2 young people talking and sing about being careful and preventing dog bites the person looking after the group came up to steve and said to him he couldnt do tug work they had a talk
and then the guy show the document to steve
steve told him what he could do with it and didnt do any more tug that weekend
i was there and spoke to steve 2 weeks laters his side is funny



but yes its got out of control thats why there are so many underground trainers
no one tells any one what they do

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Regards

Nathan
"Cave Canem"

I had no idea about Victoria's dog laws. All I can say is thank god I live in Queensland otherwise I'd be getting locked up!

Paranoia knows no bounds; I'm all for safety but this is ridiculous!

Peter

Im surprised none of us havn't been locked up.
using prongs, playing tug, owning a "dangerous" dog. and all this living in Victoria.
when we all get sent to jail, we can start our own club
although we could probably easily escape, the guards would only have Chihuahuas, cause all the working dogs would have been culled. . what a stupid world we live in.

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Cheers, Jess

Addicted to Dobermanns!!

The laws in question are very restrictive and in some cases ridiculous. On top of this the VCA(DogsVic) consider that all dogs trained in any protection inc sport dogs within Vic should not be taken onto its grounds.

This extends to certain state breed clubs who refuse to allow dogs trained in PP/Dog sport etc to OB train with them.If the BREED clubs don't like working dogs of their breed's,why will the council think twice before preserving/enforcing these draconian laws?

Many people will continue to responsibly train and engage in activities that are prohibited without interference from council/law etc however the fact that even one dog sport participant can be hung out to dry under these laws is unacceptable and totally wrong IMO.

Hi Peter

what worries me even more.. .these laws could eventually affect us all. Most states tend to follow each other eventually!

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Mark Singer
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If those laws ever hit QLD I'd probably move back to NZ. I don't know about the dangerous dog legislation side but NZ has no restrictions at all on dog training tools.

Sorry to dissapoint you but NZ is not far behind Australia in dog legislation and may even pass us if some laws get in......they are looking at widening their restricted/band breeds to include a wide range of dogs. The bit laws/dog sports are heading in the same direction as ours and from what I have been told by one of their police dog trainers/handlers, even the police dog activities are becoming very restricted........what hope does that leave Joe Citizen the dog lover!!!......were is it really going to end????

The only positive I have heard in a long time in dog laws was in Qld today where they passed laws that greyhounds no longer have to wear muzzles in public while on a leash......considering this day and age this is a huge victory and at least should give us some hope things may change.

I still believe the ANKC have caused a lot of the problems and if they had stood up to the RSPCA, etc for working breeds years ago we would not be in this mess!! if you get down to the nitty gritty of it with the breed councils/clubs and put pressure on them, I bet their reply will end up being "But the ANKC will not have us as members of their organisation if we do dog sports"...........and as they are the only government recognized organisation concerning dogs in the country........that is were the problem lies!!! As I mentioned in another thread the only way things will change is if all working breeds form their own government recognised organisation, sepaerate to the ANKC, that can have a voice for dog sports and working bloodlines. While the ANKC are solo captains on the boat we have no hope.........go to there website and have a look at their policies on bite work, etc and tell me they are not in line with the laws we see happening more and more.

It amazes me how the ANKC can be part of the international FCI organisation who are so much in favour of dog sports and temprement testing.

Steve