After a two year wait, the GNR and Public Security police are to carry out the first evaluation tests to certify trainers of potentially dangerous dogs.
The certification process will start in September, about two years after the dangerous dogs decree law was published.
Trainers wishing to be considered must register up to 20 days before September 19th as the first tests in the Assessment System for the Certification of Trainers of Hazardous or Potentially Hazardous Dogs will be held between September 19th and 22nd.
The GNR commander in charge of the scheme, Lieutenant Colonel Costa Pinto, explained that this is a competence assessment and that trainers be able to should demonstrate that dogs are "obedient and sociable" and show that animals do not have "deviant and aggressive behavior."
The certification intends to evaluate the "technical knowledge and the practical behavior and competences of the candidates" with a theoretical and practical part and a practice part.
Costa Pinto added that the evaluation will last for one day and will be carried out with eight candidates at a time at a cost of €170 each. The licence, if issued, will be valid for ten years.
Under the current legislation, that has been impossible to adhere to in the absence of licensed trainers, the training of dangerous dogs must be undertaken by those who hold qualification certificates issued by the GNR or PSP.
The system has been in disarray for two years as there have been no licenced trainers, hence owners of those dogs on the dangerous list have been breaking the law.
In 2017, there already have been 71 victims of attacks by dangerous dogs and the State has wasted no time in fining owners for not attending non-existent courses, and other offences, with hundreds of prosecutions in progress against owners of dangerous and potentially dangerous hounds.
The offenses registered under the new law include not having the (until September 2017) impossible to obtain dog training license, failure to register dogs as 'dangerous or potentially dangerous,' a lack of insurance, a breach in the duty of care, a lack of secure housing conditions, the lack of a lead when out and about, and not having had the animal sterilised.
No one yet has been charged with being drunk in charge of a dangerous dog, (the law stipulates a level over 1.2 g/l. as criminal,) or stoned – both can earn the owner a year in prison.
