Harry's Story
Hi, I’m Harry.
I was a much loved family pet that was until the day my whole life changed.
In August 2017, I was seized as the police deemed me as being ‘of type’ under BSL. I had been left with a family friend whilst my owners went on holiday. Whilst at the family friend’s home I escaped and mysteriously ended up all the way in Kent and was picked up as being a stray which I wasn’t, I had a family and home after all. Following this, I was assessed as being ‘of type’ by Kent Police.
I had three independent behavioural assessments that were carried out by expert court witnesses, I behaved well at all of them. When I arrived at the first assessment, I was excitable, but that’s understandable seen as any dog locked up for a lengthy period of time would be. At every assessment, I sat for the ball, walked on the lead well and allowed the people to remove my food when I was stuffing my face. Without any issue, I even allowed myself to be handled all over including picking my legs up in order to inspect my paws. Throughout my life, I have shown no aggression towards humans. I’m a good boy, you see!
At the police assessment, I chewed on my lead thinking it was a tug game. However, in the officer’s mind they saw it as 'play aggression'. When confronted with a stuffed toy dog, I ran over to it and sniffed it then knocked it over and bit it, again in the officers mind this demonstrated dog aggression, despite them knowing that I lived with another dog for the first 18 months of my life without any issue. As a result of the police assessment, I was ordered to be destroyed by both the magistrates and appeal courts. When I was picked up by the dog warden, I caused no issue bearing in mind I was found straying 100’s of miles away from my home and being both scared and lost. When I was in the council pound for 7 days, there were no concerns regarding dog aggression or behaviour. Everyone can only speculate that any alleged behaviours have been caused through me being held in kennels, most likely with no training and also with little exercise, for almost 4 years now.
My case is due to be back in court at the end of May 2021, whereby a new experienced owner who has had previous physical care of me will be proposed. Hopefully, I’ll be granted the right to live seen as I am a good boy. My original owner has two young children and this appears to be of concern to the courts and this is why I’m not allowed to go back to them.
In the meantime, I’ve been moved to a different kennel facility, who provide feedback in relation to my wellbeing and also receiving the correct training, enrichment and exercise. My move was granted on the condition that the police are no longer responsible for any of my costs, which was happily agreed upon seen as it meant that I’d now have a better quality of life in the current facility that I am being held in.