Is it time to introduce tougher dog controls?

We Brits pride ourselves on being a nation of animal-lovers and most dog owners would stop at nothing to defend the honour of their four-legged friends.

Sadly, as in so many other areas of life, all it takes is a small minority to ruin the reputations of the responsible majority. And so it goes with the issue of dog control.

No one who listened to Veronica Lynch’s harrowing testimony to the Scottish Parliament yesterday could fail to be moved by her account of how a family holiday turned to horror as her 11-year-old daughter was killed in a rottweiler attack.

Following Kellie’s death in 1989, the Lynches, from Dundee, became outspoken campaigners for a change in the law.

And now they are back in the spotlight as MSPs consider whether the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 goes far enough.

Alex Neil, the former minister who introduced the bill, told the committee new measures were necessary, including a legal requirement on owners to have a licence to keep a dog, with revenue ploughed back into canine control.

Many, including Veronica Lynch, would go further still, making leads compulsory and requiring muzzles for larger animals and outright bans on some breeds.

With 5,000 dog attacks every year – a fifth of them on children – it is hard for anyone to argue for the status quo.