I think a combination of what you mentioned would work i.e. a mix between licence and mandatory training for new dog owners would be the way forward.

And it will be the responsible dog owners who license their dogs and take the exam.

The irresponsible ones that shouldn't be allowed within ten feet of a dog won't!

Who will administrate and police such a scheme?
What will be assessed?
Who will do the assessing?
Who will select the assessors?
Who will assess the assessors?

Should prospective owners have to sit the exam before taking on a dog?  If so, who's dog will they be practising on?
Or should they sit the exam after they've obtained a dog?  Then what happens if they fail?  Will the dog be taken away from them?  Will the dog be re-homed?  Will the dog be euthanised?

For those of you too young to remember, this country already abandoned the national dog licensing scheme back in 1987 when it was held by only about half the dog owners!

I think it would work esp if you had to get your license and do a exam before even getting a dog/puppy and have to show the license and exam paper to the breeders, RSPCA or where ever you might be getting your dog from.

If you bring in licensing and exams before you can get a puppy, will the breeder be expected to have passed exams?? and have the license? Who will pass the breeder fit to breed? you've only got to look at the amount of puppy farms around to know that licensing doesn't work! Where will the assessing start? The vast majority of dog owners are responsible and don't need to be assessed, these are the ones that will take exams and get licenses, the irresponsible will carry on without worrying about assessments or licenses, after all you need a driving license to drive a car, but does that stop some people?  I can't see a solution to the situation because you'll always have those that won't care, they don't care about the dogs. Me I'll be honest I would resent being told I had to prove that I'm responsible enough to own a dog, having had dogs in my life for well over forty years. Going back to when we had dog licenses a week before they were abolished, my one dogs license ran out, I went to renew it and was told "is it worth it after all this time next week you won't need one" I pointed out that for that one week he needed a license, how many others would have done that? The responsible yes but the irresponsible hadn't got a license in the first place!

I know that Ryan. Loads of people that attend our puppy training have bought from a puppy farmer. There are 'undreds of them around here in all shapes and guises. There is the 'farmer' that breeds collies, he's a farmer not a puppy farmer everyone is at pains to tell us yet he has flooded this area with working sheepdogs that really shouldn't be in pet homes.

Then there are three different 'rescues' who oddly enough only ever rescue puppies from being drowned or shot.

Then we have the commercial breeder that I have mentioned before who breeds Dogue de Bordeaux, Rottweillers, Rodesian Ridgebacks, Staffs, Mastiffs, Labradors, Shihtzus, Lhasas and any cross of them. He doesn't even know the difference between a Shih Tzu and a Lhasa Apso and frequently sells one as the other.

I agree something has to be done and no one would be happier than me if idiots weren't allowed to own dogs, I just can't see how it would work without severely penalising the genuine dog people unless something was done about the overbreeding of dogs first.

I know in the Brighton area, it is getting a lot worse. I even wrote to a few of the freeads, asking how they check that these are not farmers..they said they have a landline number  The westies here dont look like westies, the labs look like aliens (dont even have labrador grin..if that makes sense?)

The poor dogs. I was shocked that the editor of one of the freeads here pretty much didnt give a damn