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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Great to see you back with us for another beard-strokingly brilliant instalment of The Future of Dogs and in today’s episode, The Future of Dog Ownership: Part 2, we’re getting stuck into one of the biggest pressure points in the entire conversation around responsible ownership… enforcement.

Because let’s be honest, the UK isn’t short on legislation. From the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to the Licensing of Activities Involving Animals Regulations 2018, we’ve got frameworks that should, in theory, protect dogs and guide human behaviour. But laws on paper and outcomes in practice are not the same thing.

Enforcement is the table this whole legal meal is served on, and right now that table is looking a little wobbly.

With overstretched local authorities, limited resources, inconsistent application and a system that can feel more reactive than preventative, too many dogs are still slipping through the cracks. So what is actually working? Where are the gaps? And what would a future-fit enforcement model really look like?

To help us navigate the slightly chaotic, occasionally confusing, and often frustrating world of enforcement, we’re joined by two absolute heavyweights in law and public policy: Natalie Hanvey and Dr Helena Howe.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why strong legislation does not automatically translate into strong welfare outcomes
• The reality of enforcement on the ground and why local variation matters more than we think
• Where the current system is failing dogs, owners and professionals
• The tension between education, compliance and punishment
• Whether enforcement should sit centrally, locally, or somewhere entirely new
• What we can learn from other regulated sectors and systems
• How future policy could balance accessibility, fairness and public safety without excluding people

This is a big one. Less about what the law says, more about what actually happens when we try to apply it and what needs to change if we are serious about improving dog welfare at scale.

You can catch up with and support Natalies work via

https://naturewatch.org/

Stay in touch with Helena via

https://experts.exeter.ac.uk/45709-helena-howe

And support a cornerstone charity they both volunteer with here

https://www.alaw.org.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.

Big thanks to our season 2 sponsor Amplified Behaviour

www.amplifiedbehaviour.com

And you can train along with Hannah as a pet owner or a pet professional at www.amplifiedbehaviour.com

@amplifiedbehaviour @thehannahmolloy

Building a bond with a rescue dog can be one of the most fulfilling relationships you will ever have. Whether you get a chonky head-butt dog that launches at you with anxious love or a shy guy that takes time and trust to slowly come out of his shell, going on the journey of getting to know a dog with a past is absolutely precious.

But behind every adoption photo there is also a system under pressure, and especially now. Full kennels, complicated behaviour cases, difficult welfare decisions and the extraordinary people trying to hold it all together.

In this episode of The Future of Dogs, we turn our spotlight toward the dogs who need a platform and a red carpet all year round, rescue dogs.

I’m joined by Tom Candy to talk honestly about the realities of working on the front line of dog rescue and to dream big about his ‘what if?’ that could shape the future of dogs.

Tom helps us to:

Debunk some of the myths and misunderstandings about rescue dogs

Explain how the landscape of dog rescue has changed over the last few decades

Understand how the length of a dogs stay in kennels can dramatically impact welfare

Celebrate the amazing success stories that keep him and so many others in rescue filled up and able to pour out to dogs and the community

Because resilient rescues of the future aren’t just about second chances.
They will ask how we can build a world where fewer dogs need rescuing in the first place.

To stay in touch with Tom and check out his podcast out on Spotify head to

https://simplifyingshelterbehaviour.com/

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.

Big thanks to our season 2 sponsor Amplified Behaviour

www.amplifiedbehaviour.com

And you can train along with Hannah as a pet owner or a pet professional at www.amplifiedbehaviour.com

@amplifiedbehaviour @thehannahmolloy