56: 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



The Statute 57 and 58 Vict., c. 57, gives 

 the Board of Agriculture power to make 

 orders for muzzling dogs, keeping them under 

 control, and the detention and disposal of 

 stray dogs ; and section 2 of the Dogs Act, 

 1906 (known by some as the Curfew Bell 

 Act) says that the Diseases of Animals Act, 

 1894, shall have effect as if amongst the 

 purposes for which the Board of Agriculture 

 may make orders there were included the 

 following purposes : — 



(a) For prescribing and regulating the 

 wearing by dogs while in a highway or in 

 a place of public resort of a collar with 

 the name and address of the owner in- 

 scribed on the co'lar or on a plate or 

 badge attached thereto : 



{b) With a view to the prevention of 

 worrying of cattle for preventing dogs 

 or any class of dogs from straying during 

 all or any of the hours between sunset and 

 sunrise. 



Orders under this section may provide 

 that any dog in respect of which an 

 offence is being committed against the 

 orders may be seized and treated as a 

 stray dog. 



The Dogs Act, 1906, has also some im- 

 po tant sections dealing with seizure of stray 

 dogs, and enacts that W'here a police officer 

 has reason to believe that any dog found 

 in a highway or place of public resort is a stray 

 dog, he may seize and retain it until the 

 owner has claimed it and paid all expenses 

 incurred by reason of its detention. If the 

 dog so seized wears a collar on which is the 

 address of any person, or if the owner of the 

 dog is known, then the chief officer of police 

 or some person authorised by him in that 

 behalf shall serve on either such person a 

 notice in writing stating that the dog has 

 been seized, and will be sold or destroyed 

 if not claimed within se\-en clear days of 

 the service of the notice. 



Failing the owner putting in an appear- 

 ance and paying all expenses of detention 

 within the seven clear days, then the chief 

 officer of police or any person authorised by 

 him may cause the dog to be sold, or destroyed 



in a manner to cause as little pain as possible. 

 The dog must be properly fed and maintained 

 by the police, or other person having charge 

 of him, during his detention, and no dog so 

 seized shall be gi^•en or sold for the purpose 

 of vivisection. The police must keep a 

 proper register of all dogs seized, and every 

 such register shall be open to inspection at 

 all reasonable times by any nn'mber of the 

 public on payment of a fee of one sh lling, 

 and the police may transfer such dog to any 

 establishment for the reception of stray 

 dogs, but only if there is a proper register 

 kept at such establishment open to inspec- 

 tion by the public on payment of a fee not 

 exceeding one shilling. 



Another section enacts that any person 

 who takes possession of a stray dog shall 

 forthwith either return the dog to its owner 

 or give notice in writing to the chief officer of 

 police of the district where the dog was 

 found, containing a description of the dog 

 and stating the place where the dog was 

 found, and the place where he is being 

 detained, and any person failing to comply 

 with the provisions of this section shall be 

 liable on conviction imder the Summary 

 Jurisdiction Acts to a fine not exceeding 

 forty shillings. 



It is possible that this Act will serve a 

 useful purpose in identifying stray dogs, 

 and underlying many of its sections there 

 seems to be a somewhat unusual wish to 

 prevent a too great display on the part of 

 the police of that objectionable red tape 

 which one has become accustomed to expect 

 Acts of Parliament to assist rather than 

 discourage. 



It is to be doubted very much, however, 

 whether it will benefit the cause for which 

 in reality it was brought into being, viz. 

 the prevention of sheep-worrying. The sheep- 

 worrying dog as a rule is an exceedingly 

 clever, wily animal, and is not at all likely 

 to be caught straying by the ordinary 

 country policeman. It is further a pretty 

 generally accepted fact that by far the 

 greater part of sheep-worrying is done by 

 the farmers' dogs themselves, and they in 

 most cases would keep well clear of all 

 places where policemen are likely to be, for 



