In the UK we live in a society of dog lovers. One in three households include a dog in their family.

This has opened a vast market for an industry of dog walkers, doggy day care centres and kennels.

It may shock you to hear that in a circumstance where one of these businesses fails to look after your loved one adequately, they hold no responsibility for the emotional loss you will suffer.  Where neglect is concluded all you will be compensated (at most) is for the cost you might have initially paid to a breeder.

We recently discovered this after we lost our beloved 9 month old Labrador puppy.

Pepper was in the care of a day care centre. Without our knowledge she was taken from the centre to the business owner’s home.  Here she was left in a garden that gave her easy access to a flat roof that adjoined the pitch roof of the house.  She ran over the roof and fell some 30 feet at the front side of the house, breaking her spine.  At the veterinary centre it was decided on welfare grounds to put her to sleep.

The business in question had no licence to care for dogs at their home address and from what we understand often break the terms of their licence by caring for more dogs than their permit.

We are obviously devastated at the loss of our puppy, and no amount of money would ease that pain. What we are doing here is to try and change the law so that these businesses have some accountability when they have been negligent, such as in this instance.

A dog is a member of your family, not a piece of property as the law currently states. Dogs get into our soul, we give them conscious thought and in return they give us unconditional love, therefore a dog is a sentient being by definition and should also be by law.