As the ACT looks to become Australia's first jurisdiction to recognise animals as "sentient beings", its dog laws are still being geared towards enforcing responsible pet ownership, rather than demonstrating an inherent trust in Canberrans, experts say.
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The Animal Welfare Amendment Bill 2019, to be debated in the Legislative Assembly next week, would see fines of up to $16,000 or one year in jail for pet owners who do not give their animals appropriate food, water, shelter, grooming, exercise, or treatment when they are ill.
Meanwhile, off-leash areas for dogs have been reduced in the ACT; May 2019 saw 10-metre "buffer zones" either side of foot and bike paths enforced, and all lakes and beaches are on-leash unless otherwise signposted. There are eight fenced dog parks in the territory.
"I think there's quite a bit of scope in Australia to question some of our defaults around 'no pets allowed' and to look at other ways that we can accommodate that," University of Western Australia associate professor Dr Lisa Wood said.
"These rules get made, but no one is actually thinking through in practice why we have [them]."
Animal Medicines Australia's most recent survey found 75 per cent of households in the ACT owned at least one pet; 43 per cent owned dogs.
Dr Wood, who has been researching the social benefits of pets for more than a decade, says Australia could look to other, more dog-friendly countries to inform its laws.
"My overall impression in the UK and lots of Europe is just that they're just more accepted," she said.
"I think we have gotten better at accommodating the place of pets in our lives but given two-thirds of Australians have one, I'm not sure we're quite there.
"In a lot of areas of Australia we don't have as many off-leash areas as we could."
An ACT government spokeswoman said there were still extensive off-leash areas in the territory, and most people would have them within 800 metres of where they live.
Canberrans can be fined $150 for taking dogs into prohibited areas, including in-use high school or sports fields, or $350 for taking them onto the grounds of a child-care centre, preschool or primary school.
"The ACT ... has some of the strongest dog laws in Australia," the government spokeswoman said.
"We are taking action to ensure our updated legislation is applied effectively and rigorously to hold irresponsible pet owners to account and protect public safety."
Operations coordinator at Portland Parks and Recreation in Oregon, Bryan Aptekar, said the city was famous for its dog-friendly approach.
It now has nearly 40 dog off-leash areas, compared to two in the early 2000s.
"At [the] time [when we created more dog off-leash areas], we had no additional budget, just a directive and good intentions," Mr Aptekar said.
"The community had a large role in determining the criteria we used to select specific locations, and then we used those criteria against parks around the city, trying to provide equitable distribution in various parts of town - as space allowed."
The parks and recreation service was still figuring out whether it would make separated off-leash areas for different breeds of dogs. It favoured amenities like double gates at fenced park entry points, water faucets, and garbage cans that could be driven up to and emptied for easy collection.
"It's hard enough for us to find land for one group ... to split it up for various different types of dogs is even harder, but it's something pet owners have asked for," Mr Aptekar said.
"If [someone's] pet is not sociable - or prone to attack others - [owners] likely, hopefully, would not bring their pets to a shared space.
"Undoubtedly not everyone acts on common sense, and so this may not be true for all, but it makes sense to me as someone who has been fielding and addressing issues related to [dog off-leash areas] for nearly 20 years."
The ACT government spokeswoman said the amendment bill would not be enforceable until six months after it was passed.