Before they may get a dog in Spain, people must take a training course. Law 7/2023, which was passed on March 28th 2023, protects the rights and welfare of animals. It says that people who want to possess an animal must provide proof of this training before they can officially register as the animal’s owner.
Pets have changed from being just pets to being full members of the family in the last few years. Dogs and cats are spending more time together in the house, taking part in daily life, and making many people feel better emotionally.
One in three homes in Spain has at least one pet, in fact. People are more conscious of how to safeguard and care for them now that society has changed. This has led to new rules that are meant to make their care better and stop them from being abandoned or mistreated.
The Law on the Protection of Animal Rights and Welfare was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on March 29, 2023, and went into effect on September 29 of that same year. Its major goal is to create a set of rules that everyone in the country must follow to preserve and appreciate animals.
The law is based on the premise that animals are not things, but living beings. So, the law wants to control how people treat them and encourage them to live together in a responsible way.
One of the most important rules is that you have to go through training before you can own a dog. Article 30 of the law says that “people who want to own dogs must show proof that they have finished a dog ownership training course.”
Course that is free and required
The training will be free, and the subject will be decided later as the rules are made. The course will also be valid for an unlimited amount of time, so you only have to take it once.
The rules also add another vital duty for dog owners: they must have liability insurance. The law says that the owner must “take out and maintain in force liability insurance for damages to third parties” for the animal’s whole life.
This policy should cover any problems that might come up because you live with the dog, as well as the people who are responsible for taking care of the dog at particular times.
More steps
The new law covers more than just classes for pet owners. The law incorporates a wide range of steps to improve animal safety in Spain and cut down on abandonment.
Adoption is encouraged over buying, clearer laws are set for breeding and trading animals, and microchipping is encouraged to help keep better track of them.
The bill also wants to make sure that the same rules apply all over the country, since the autonomous communities had extremely diverse rules until recently.
The governments want to use this shared framework to make animals safer and encourage a culture of living together based on respect.
