Police warn dog owners to keep pets under control

Dog owners are being warned to keep their pets under control after a series of attacks in Kent.

In May, 124 cases of dog bites or dog-on-dog attacks were reported to Kent Police, a spokesman for the force said.

Insp Ian Warner said: "Earlier this month officers received a report that a dog had injured a child while in the owner’s garden in Charing."

Police say it is against the law to allow a dog to be out of control, even if the owner is not present.

Insp Warner added: "‘Whilst the majority of people are responsible there is still a small minority who are not.

"Dogs can be unpredictable when confronted with unexpected situations and incidents can lead to the harming of livestock too."

Under Section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act a person in charge of a dog, and/or the owner, commits an offence if the victim fears that the dog’s actions will lead to them being injured, whether or not they actually are injured.

‘This can be from a dog running up to a person, jumping up at them and causing fear or doing the same thing but then also causing an injury."

Earlier this month a dog was killed and a man suffered serious injuries during an attack by another dog

He said it was important that children in the home were also kept safe.

"As we have seen dogs can be unpredictable so should be closely supervised around children."

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