Seems like we need to implement dog licences instead. It takes skill to own a well trained dog. Then just make sure people who are miscreants are banned from owning them.
Do it every year? Tried to book a driving test lately?
There are 13 million pet dogs in the UK let’s assume people own multiple dogs. That’s 10 million tests a year. Let’s assume the test are quite hard. That’s a few thousand (10,000?) additional dogs removed from owners each year that need to be rehomed or put down.
Easier to neuter, muzzle and outlaw proscribed breeds.
That’s a _lot_of infrastructure, training centres, test infrastructure to build up. Then lots of fun law to write, such as - am I - as an unlicensed person, allowed to look after my brother’s dog for the weekend if they go away?
If there are four of us in the household, do we _all_have to be licensed to take the dog for a walk?
Interesting point, it should be the owners responsibility to hold a licence only. If its abused such like a cars licence. The licence should be revoked permanently just imo. This would also cut down on bad breeders, if they sell to people without a licence, they should also lose their license.