In a proposal announced today, all dog owners would have to carry insurance against attacks, their pets would have to be fitted with microchips and authorities could order them to be muzzled or neutered.
Figures show that more than 100 people a week are being admitted to hospitals because of dog attacks, and there is a rise in what Home Secretary Alan Johnson calls "the number of so-called status dogs used to intimidate or threaten people."
Dog fights among street gangs also have become an issue. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals reports a tenfold increase in complaints between 2004 and 2008, according to The Associated Press.
Awareness was raised last November when a 4-year-old boy was killed by a pit bull at his grandmother's home in northern England.
Today's proposal comes in the form of a consultation, typically a 12-week period of talks before any legislation comes before Parliament. It would amend the existing Dangerous Dogs Act so that owners would be held responsible for attacks on private property, such as homes and gardens, as well as in public places.
Postal workers welcomed the proposal, with their union's general secretary, Billy Hayes, saying, "Thousands of our members are attacked at work every year. This reform cannot come soon enough."
Johnson said that "people have a right to feel safe" and that using dogs just to intimidate others "is the sort of behavior that we are determined to stop," according to the BBC.
Reform is supported by the opposition Conservative and Liberal Democrats, according to The Times of London, which said new powers for control of dogs are expected within a year.
Several European countries, including Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Italy, Portugal and Norway, already insist that dogs be fitted with microchips that identify the animal and the owner, the AP said.
Mandatory dog insurance is already the law in parts of Germany and Switzerland, the news agency added.
