German Laws Regarding Dogs

My friend, Iris, who lives in Germany, tells me that her country has much stricter laws than we do regarding dogs. I was amazed by what she told me, so I wanted to post it here. As you can tell from one of my previous posts, even the attempt to restrict certain breeds known to be aggressive by a local government gets challenged at the state level with the AG opinion being requested. I wonder how many big dogs would be in America if we had similar rules to Germany. Read on what Iris says and tell me what you think.

FYI - current exchange rate 1 Euro = 1.4045 U.S. dollars

We have very strong regulations here to have a dog in a family. Pit Bulls, Mastiffs, German sheep dogs, boxer and all the "larger" breeds are only allowed to be held, if the owner takes a course three times a week for one year to prove his character (yes, the owner) to prove he can handle such a dog. This course cost 2000 Euro. After the exam he is allowed to buy such a dog. When the dog arrives, the owner has to take him to a two years training (2 times a week) under control of a police dog trainer. This course cost 1500 Euro each year. And last but not least, Germans pay dog taxes.

I have to pay 144 Euro for two dogs each year. When you have a dog who is listed "could be dangerous" the tax raises to 1800 Euro a year. Together with the costs for buying such a creature you can easily spend 11,000 Euro during the first two years. Can you imagine how much "dangerous dogs" we have in our neighbourhood? None, nobody was silly enough to spend that much money.

In my direct neighbourhood we have 15 dogs (including mine) and one very big German sheep dog, but he belongs to a police dog trainer, there is no need to fear. He is a quite charming boy (the dog, not the trainer :-).