7 July 2025

Enforcement of proposed new dog laws 'just impossible' - but also not the whole point, RSPCA says

| By James Coleman
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RSPCA ACT’s Million Paws Walk was the organisation’s biggest annual fundraiser. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.

The committee in charge of drafting a new Code of Practice for dog owners in the ACT admits more conversations are needed about how the rules can be enforced.

But it’s also not the “spirit” of the new laws, according to RSPCA ACT.

CEO Michelle Robertson told Region: “It is a tricky one to enforce – this is going to have to be where the ACT Government has to have further conversations and put their thinking caps on.

“But I don’t think it’s the spirit and intent of the Code of Practice to try to police every single day if people are spending three hours a day with their dogs – that’s just impossible.”

READ ALSO Dogs must have minimum three hours a day of human contact under proposed new ACT laws

The draft Code of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs in the ACT is currently open for feedback on the ACT Government’s community feedback website YourSay Conversations, with a final version to be enshrined in law as soon as early next year.

It introduces new mandatory standards, such as placing heavy restrictions around surgical debarking operations and requiring owners (or carers) to spend “a reasonable length of time each day, three hours minimum” with their dogs.

There are also guidelines where non-compliance “will not in itself constitute an offence under law” but it certainly won’t help an owner’s case “in the event of prosecution”.

These list retractable leads as “not a responsible, or safe way to walk a dog as it limits control, poses risk and could be dangerous to both the dog and the walker”, and recommend drinking water supplies should be topped up at least twice a day and bedding changed at least weekly.

Three women dog walking through park.

The Code of Practice recommends against using retractable leads. Photo: Michelle Kroll.

The RSPCA was a member of the government’s Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (AWAC) that drafted the Code of Practice and Ms Robertson said a large part of the code’s role was legal.

“How it works in the ACT is the Animal Welfare Act provides the laws and then you have the regulations that say if you break this law, here are the penalties, etc, and then you have the codes of practice, which include the mandatory standards and guidelines designed to help from an enforcement perspective,” she explained.

“So, if we look at a notion of abandonment, for example: What does that mean? How would we prove abandonment? And how would we prosecute for abandonment?

“But if somebody leaves their dog in the backyard for two weeks and chucks a bag of food outside, that’s not good animal welfare. That’s where this code of practice, from an enforcement perspective, could be really useful for us. It gives us definitions we can use to build a case.”

READ ALSO Mandating minimum ‘human contact’ time for dogs? Sounds like a paw-ful joke

Ms Robertson said few dog owners in the ACT had anything to worry about because most were already meeting or exceeding the proposed standards.

She described the ACT as generally “animal-loving” and the cases that do cross the RSPCA’s desk are more to do with “people who don’t know any better”.

“I’d venture to say most dog owners already spend more than three hours a day with their dogs – you feed them and when you come home, you spend some time greeting them, most people do take their dog for a walk, you’ve got a bit of playtime.

“If you add all of that up, that’s already three hours.”

RSPCA CEO Michelle Robertson said Cupcake Day is one of the most important fundraising events of the year. Image: Supplied.

RSPCA ACT CEO Michelle Robertson said few ACT dog owners would be impacted by the proposed laws. Image: RPSCA ACT.

She said the code would come in handy as an educational tool – an encyclopaedia of dog care people can turn to.

“It’s truly about helping people be better pet owners … there are different objectives of a code of practice, but RSPCA strongly supports having literature and information and education tools around animal welfare and pet ownership, and this is one of those ways in which it can be done,” she said.

She asked the community to read over the draft legislation and give feedback because “we need more information on it”.

“We’ve got to acknowledge that this is a code that’s out for consultation and that all of the comments will be taken into account.”

The draft Code of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs in the ACT is open for public feedback on YourSay Conversations until 22 August.

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So typical to see them blocking the whole path in the second photo above. Now imagine the outrage if cyclists “shared” the road like that (blocking all lanes, and stopping traffic in both directions – people get mad enough when cyclists block only one lane!)

There’s literally no one else on the path. It’s a shared path not a bicycle throughway….you have a bell (at least you’re supposed to).

Only the ACT Government could put canines ahead of homeless.

Please explain how this code puts “canines ahead of homeless”?

What a bizarre thing to post.

I agree that most owners are probably already acting within the rules.

But.

If a dog owning family goes to Sydney for the weekend, leaving Friday and returning Sunday, do they need to hire a pet sitter to spend at least 3 hours with their dog on the Saturday?

Will the kennels that people put their dogs in when they go away now have to have a person spend at least 3 hours per day with each dog they are boarding? How many dogs can such an employee spend time with at once?

Good questions – obviously, the family that goes to Sydney should do something better than arrange for a visit from a neighbour once a day to feed it. And the questions about boarding kennels are also “edge cases” for discussion- but the real point of the regulation is to target obvious abuse – like consistently leaving a dog without companionship. I just heard of one such case, and the dog was in very poor shape, psychologically, by the time the owners were forced to surrender it.

sickofthewhinging4:00 pm 08 Jul 25

I’m sorry, but are you seriously asking if a family should organise for someone to look after their dog while they are away for a full weekend? The answer is yes, and the fact it needs to be answered at all shows how important these laws apparently are. It seems all the faux outrage is bubbling out of the people that know they are doing the wrong thing and are upset for finally being called out about it.

When my neighbours left their dog alone for three days over Christmas last year and there was nothing I could do to get DAS involved highlights the importance of having enforceable laws in this area.

As far as I can see it’s a guideline. If people can’t typically spend three hours a day with their pet dog should they really have one? It’s something all pet owners should consider if they’re concerned about the welfare of the animal.

But like many rules that are not enforced every day in every circumstance there is scope for authorities to act in egregious circumstances.

One example that comes to mind is it’s not legal to park on median strips but people do it around here all of the time. The only time it’s ever actually “enforced” is usually the result of a complaint about damage or access.

Seems to be a total lack of understanding of laws and how they are applied, and confusing codes of practice, standards and guidelines which typical have different legal effect. All laws must be enforceable otherwise they shouldn’t be law but rather guidance. The ACT Government may like to move with the times and introduce a general duty like most modern legislation and then frame their legislation around the concept.

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