Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 and the Welfare of Animals (Northern Ireland) Act 2011, a pet owner has a legal duty to ensure the welfare of their animal(s). A pet’s welfare needs include:

• A proper diet
• Somewhere suitable to live
• Any need to be housed with, or apart from, other animals
• Allowing animals to express normal behaviour
• Protection from pain, suffering, injury and disease

Under the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021, the penalty for failing to care for a pet could be a fine or even a custodial sentence up to five years. Please visit the advice section of this website for more information on caring for your pet.

It is illegal to own a dog prohibited under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. If you are found to be in possession of one of these dogs you could face a fine or even a prison sentence. The police may also seize your dog if they think it is a banned type.

If you have any concerns that an animal you are thinking of buying could be a banned type, PAAG’s advice is not to buy it and to report it to the relevant publisher’s customer services or helpline.

The Dangerous Dogs Act (DDA) bans ownership, breeding, sale and exchange and advertising for sale of four specified types of dogs. The dogs covered by the ban (under section 1 of the DDA) are:

• Pit Bull Terrier
• Japanese Tosa
• Fila Brasiliero
• Dogo Argentino

The ban also extends to any crosses of the above dogs.

It is legal for a veterinary surgeon to dock a puppy of specified breeds from a working bitch. The criteria for ‘working’ are essentially: working to the gun; as a terrier; or for the police or other government agency.

Dogs docked as working dogs must be permanently identified with a microchip and must have a certificate from the veterinary surgeon who docked the puppy. Any dog docked after the legislation came into force must have a certificate.
Irrespective of where they were docked, they may not be shown at shows in England and Wales where the public is charged a fee for admission. However, if the competition is on the ability of the dogs, such as field trials or agility, docked dogs may compete.

• Hunt point retrieve breeds of any type or combination of types.
• Spaniels of any type or combination of types.
• Terriers of any type or combination of types.

Spaniels of the following breeds:

• English Springer Spaniel
• Welsh Springer Spaniel
• Cocker Spaniel,

but not combinations of breeds

Terriers of the following breeds:

• Jack Russell Terrier
• Cairn Terrier
• Lakeland Terrier,
• Norfolk Terrier

but not combinations of breeds.

Hunt point retrieves of the breeds listed below:

• Braque Italian
• Brittany
• German Long Haired Pointer
• German Short Haired Pointer
• German Wire Haired Pointer
• Hungarian Vizsla
• Hungarian Wire Haired Vizsla
• Italian Spinone
• Spanish Water Dog
• Weinmaraner
• Korthals Griffon
• Slovakian Rough Haired Pointer
• Large Munsterlander
• Small Munsterlander

Of the type known as spaniel, of any breed or combination of breeds

Of the type known as hunt point retrieve, of any breed or combination of breeds

• Spaniels of any breed or combination of breeds
• Terriers of any breed or combination of breeds
• Any breed commonly used for hunting, or any combination of such breeds
• Any breed commonly used for pointing, or any combination of such breeds
• Any breed commonly used for retrieving, or any combination of such breeds

The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 impacts on the handling of anti-social behaviour involving dogs, and introduced a system of measures (such as, for example, Community Protection Notices) to help prevent incidents involving poorly behaved dogs and their irresponsible owners from spiralling out of control.

Across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland it is a legal requirement for all dogs to be microchipped.

This allows local authorities to trace stray, abandoned or stolen dogs and reunite them with their owners. The legislation is also anticipated to help identify the owners of troublesome dogs.

All dogs must be chipped by the breeder with the breeder’s details recorded on the microchip. Once you have brought your new puppy home you must update the details on it to be your own and keep them up to date to ensure it can always be returned to you if lost.

The penalty for failing to have your dog microchipped is a fine of up to £500.

Microchipping is recommended for all pets, but there are no current plans to make microchipping compulsory for any other species.

It is an offence to own, sell or buy an animal included in the Dangerous Wild Animal Act 1976 without a licence obtained from your local authority. This includes crosses with animals such as wolves and wild cats.

Infringements of the licence conditions or failure to obtain a licence are punishable with an uncapped fine. 

The GB Wildlife Trade Regulations

The GB Wildlife Trade Regulations protect species which have been identified as under threat from international trade, therefore their trade is regulated. The international agreement regulated wildlife trade is called CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and it's implemented in Great Britain by the GB Wildlife Trade Regulations. These regulations protect species which have been identified as under threat from international trade, and species that are listed on Annex A of the regulations are given the highest level of protection. This means that it is an offence to offer an Annex A species for sale without a valid Article 10 certificate, and the seller's certificate number must be included on any advert for an Annex A species. You can check if you need a CITES certificate here.

The following are groups of animals prohibited from sale under either the Invasive Alien Species Regulations (IAS), Plant Heath Regulations (PH) or Mink Keeping Order (MK).

It is a legal requirement that an equine has to have a passport (which requires the equine to be chipped):

• 6 months after birth or by the end of the year of their birth, whichever is later, in England, Wales & Scotland
• A year after birth (in Northern Ireland)
• Before they are moved off a derogated area (there are areas in Wales and England – such as the New Forest – where semi-ferals do not need to be identified)
• Before they are sold

It is the responsibility of the Passport Issuing Organisation – not the equine owner – to register the details of the equine with the Government approved ‘microchip’ database (CED for Wales, England & NI, and SED for Scotland).