News From Elsewhere

Switzerland scraps mandatory dog training

By News from Elsewhere......as found by BBC Monitoring

20 September 2016
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Image copyrightEPAImage captionTraining courses have been mandatory even for breeds not considered
"dangerous"
Switzerland's parliament has voted to do away with obligatory training courses for dog owners, after
a government report suggested they had little effect.
The law requires anyone getting a new dog to attend four hours of obedience classes with their pooch, plus
an additional theory course for first-time dog owners,Swissinfo.ch explains. But a report released in
March found no drop in the number of incidents of dogs biting, and no marked change in the behaviour of
dog owners who had taken the course, the site says. About one in five dog owners were found to be
skipping the course entirely.

Members of the National Council - Switzerland's lower house of parliament - narrowly voted to scrap the
law on Monday by 93 votes to 87, the 20 Minutes website reports. The upper house had already approved
the move.
But there was strong opposition in some official quarters. Interior Minister Alain Berset insisted that there
had been a fall in the number of "dramatic" dog-related tragedies since the training was introduced. "There
are also people who drive cars and motorbikes without a licence. But that's no reason to remove the
requirement to acquire a licence," he's quoted as saying by Le Temps.
The mandatory training was introduced in 2008, three years after a young boy was killed by a group of
pitbull terriers near Zurich, leading to a nationwide debate over dangerous dogs. Swissinfo.ch notes that
it's not clear how the change will affect people who own dog breeds classified as dangerous, and are
currently required to undergo more intensive training.