Dog owners have a number of important responsibilities with strict laws on animal control, barking, identification, fouling, breeding and travelling.
There were almost 22,000 cases of out of control dogs causing injury across 2022 in the UK - up from a little over 16,000 four years prior.
And when a case lands in court, prosecutions for disobeying the rules can result in a range of varying punishments. Fines and compensation orders are at the bottom of the scale, but the most serious law breakers could find themselves handed community sentences, suspended jail sentences and even a custodial term depending on the severity of their offending.
