AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

ALSATION DOGS ORDINANCE 1961

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

No. 15 of 1961

	The object of this Ordinance is to modify the restrictions on the keeping of unsterilized Alsation dogs in the Territory.

	Section 3 of the Alsatian Dogs Ordinance 1936 provides that :–

	“3.  Any person who keeps in the Territory an Alsatian dog which is not effectively sterilized shall be guilty of an offence.”

	The necessity for maintaining this restriction on alsatian dogs has been reviewed in the light of the establishment of associations and clubs in the Australian Capital Territory the objects of which include the training of dogs so that they may be more readily controlled.

	The amending Ordinance provides that an owner who is a member of the A.C.T. Companion Dog Club Incorporated, or another club approved by the Registrar, and whose dog is registered as a pure-bred German Shepherd dog with the Canberra Kennel Association, or other association approved by the Registrar, and has satisfied the requirements of the rules of that Association as to the training of his dog as a companion dog, or is being trained for that purpose, is exempt from the provisions of the Alsatian Dogs Ordinance 1936.

	It is considered that these provisions will obviate the necessity of continuing wholly, the restrictions placed on the keeping of pure bred alsatian dogs by persons who take steps to have their dogs properly training and controlled.