It’s our season 2 finale episode and what a topic to land on! Tonight we’re heading straight to the heart of one of the biggest questions facing dog welfare and public safety in the UK.. How do we prevent dog bites and create a culture of responsible dog ownership... and is dog licensing the answer?

Hannah is joined by Jennifer Mayher, the scientist behind a major UK report funded by the RSPCA who dishes the detail on the global picture of dog management and responsible dog ownership strategies including places like Calgary, where a culture of compliance, strong licensing, and a genuinely joined up approach has led to lower bite rates, fewer strays, and better welfare outcomes without relying on breed bans.

Now what’s fascinating about this research is how clearly it moves us away from the simple answers. As we have said many times before, dog bites aren’t caused by one thing. They’re not a breed issue. They’re not even just a dog issue. They’re a complex mix of human behaviour, dog development, environment, and context, often happening in the home, often involving people the dog already knows… and that really does need to change everything about how we respond.

Instead of doubling down on breed specific legislation, which the evidence consistently fails to support, this work points us toward a completely different toolkit. Education. Better understanding of dog behaviour. Environmental management. Consistent and intelligent enforcement. And crucially, systems that actually support people to be responsible, not just punish them when things go wrong.

In this episode we unpack:

• The management of dogs in 111 locations in 45 countries
• The risk factors for dog bites globally
• The role of human behaviour and knowledge gaps in driving risk and measuring effectiveness
• What effective and sustainable dog control looks like
• Whether a tailored approach for a geographical area or blanket approach works best
• And what the UK needs to shift from reactive policy to something far more robust and sustainable

This is one of those conversations that reframes the debate. If we’re serious about reducing dog bites and improving welfare, we have to be willing to look at the evidence… even when it challenges what we think we know.

To stay in touch with Jennifer and celebrate her work you can contact her through the University of South Wales:

https://pure.southwales.ac.uk/en/persons/jenny-maher

Make sure to follow and donate to the all of the fantastic work the RSPCA do to protect animals through prevention and rescue:

https://www.rspca.org.uk/

And sign up to the All Party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group news letter for more updates on the ongoing work on responsible dog ownership in Westminster here:

https://apdawg.co.uk/

More about your host:

Hannah is a qualified dog behaviour specialist in the UK with a degree in Animal Behaviour and a specialism in dog body language and pet dog behaviour. She's trained over 10,000 pet dogs in the last 10 years and written an illustrated guide to dog behaviour called ‘Whats my dog thinking: Understand your dog to give them a happy life’. She featured as one of 3 experts on the prime time Channel 4 television series 'Puppy School' and currently teaches body language and handling courses to vets, groomers and pet shops to reduce bite incidents and increase the handling and observation skills of these awesome, but often overlooked, fields of pet care. She currently works as a behavioural expert for Agria Pet Insurance and leads the campaign for responsible dog ownership with the All Party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group in Westminster.

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