Although this blog and my website, Dog Bite Law, concentrate on the USA, the fact of the matter is that irresponsible dog owners are a worldwide problem.
An article in the Edinburgh Paper today talks about bad dog owners in Scotland. According to reports there, the region of the country around Edinburgh (the Lothians) has seen a 300% rise in instances of dogs running at large during the past 4 years. (Click here to read the article.)
The second half of that article is noteworthy because it refers to the psychology of the irresponsible dog owners of that country. It is almost exactly the same as here in the USA. "'There is a macho culture of wanting certain breeds of dogs as a status symbol. Some of these owners then fail to exercise the responsibility of ownership.
"'They are treated as macho dogs and not socialised properly. Owners can also fail to train their dogs properly. That may be because they have not considered all that is needed to keep one or, with increasingly hectic modern life, owners cannot devote the time to look after them properly.'"
Irresponsible Dog Owners Are a Worldwide Problem
