Promoting Responsible Dog Ownership in Scotland: Microchipping and other Measures. An Analysis of Consultation Responses

2. The Consultation Process and Types of Response

How the responses were received

2.1 The Scottish Government provided a webpage with information about the consultation, with links to:

• The consultation document, questionnaire and respondent information form for download
• An on-line version of the consultation questionnaire (including respondent information form).

2.2 Respondents could also submit their responses by email or by post to the Scottish Government's Animal Health and Welfare Division.

Campaign responses

2.3 Scotland for Animals (SfA), an animal welfare and protection charity and campaign group, invited its members and supporters to submit a response to the consultation through their website. A standard campaign text was provided, and respondents could add their name, address and email address to this, and then send it by email to the campaign mailbox. The campaign text focused on a subset of the consultation questions. It provided detailed suggestions for amending existing legislation to promote more responsible dog ownership and to protect the welfare and safety of animals. A copy of the campaign text is included at Annex 1.

Error corrected

2.4 In early January, an error was discovered in the consultation questionnaire. A question on the use of dog licensing to promote responsible dog ownership had been omitted from the original consultation questionnaire. The questionnaire and the on-line response form were both amended by 10 January 2014, and the Scottish Government contacted (by email or post) the 849 respondents who had taken part in the consultation up to that point to invite them to respond to this additional question. Eighty-seven (87) respondents replied to this invitation.

Number of responses received

2.5 Altogether, the consultation attracted 2,539 responses. This included 1,401 that were submitted through the on-line response form, and 341 that were submitted by email or post. A further 797 responses were submitted through the SfA campaign. See Table 2.1. Responses submitted by email / post included the 87 responses to the invitation to comment on the new question about licensing as described in paragraph 2.4 above.

Table 2.1: Number of responses received

Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.

Number of respondents (number of responses included in the analysis)

2.6 An examination of the data indicated that 161 respondents had submitted more than one response. These included the 87 individuals who had responded to the Scottish Government's new question about licensing, and 40 individuals who submitted two or more different responses (including 28 individuals who submitted a campaign response and a separate personal response on-line or by email). A further 32 individuals submitted two or more identical campaign responses. (One respondent submitted three identical campaign responses.) Finally, one respondent submitted a response on-line, and subsequently sent the same response by email.

2.7 Where a respondent submitted two or more identical responses, one response was retained for the purposes of analysis, and the others were removed. Where respondents submitted additional comments (i.e. multiple different responses), all comments were combined to create a single composite response. In these cases, if the respondent submitted contradictory responses (in particular, where their responses to the tick-box questions differed in their responses), the most recent responses to the closed questions were included in the analysis and the earlier responses to the closed questions were removed. However, as described above, all of their comments to the open questions were retained and included in the analysis.

2.8 After completing the process of removing the duplicate responses, and combining multiple different responses, there were a total of 2,378 responses to the consultation from 2,378 respondents. See Table 2.2. These formed the basis for the analysis. The 2,378 responses comprised 112 group / organisational responses, 1,530 individual responses, and campaign responses from 736 respondents who submitted a single campaign response and no additional comments.

2.9 Group / organisational respondents included animal welfare, rescue or rehoming agencies; local authorities and other enforcement agencies; dog training clubs; and community groups among others. See Table 2.3. A complete list of group / organisational respondents is included in Annex 2.

2.10 Most individual respondents identified themselves as dog owners, former dog owners, or as having some direct personal or professional connection with dogs. In addition, most described themselves as "responsible dog owners". Some commented that they were involved in the provision of training or rescue / rehoming services on a voluntary basis, or that they were breeders.

Table 2.2: Number of responses included in the analysis

Table 2.3: Organisational respondents

Other: includes professional dog walkers and dog sitters.
Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.

Approach to the analysis

2.11 Throughout this report, tables are used to present findings from the analysis of the tick-box questions. However, the main analysis is qualitative in nature - that is, the aim has been to identify the main themes raised by respondents in their free text comments. Since these comments were made spontaneously, it is not appropriate to report counts for the different themes raised. Moreover, as the same themes were raised in both positive and negative contexts, counts may obscure the interpretation of the findings.

2.12 Note that not all respondents answered all questions, so the total number of responses varies from one question to another. In addition, the campaign responses are not included in any of the tables as the campaign response text did not fit easily with the questions as asked. However, the campaign responses are discussed at relevant points in the report in relation to the specific questions addressed by the campaign text (in particular, in relation to questions 17, 20, 21 and 24). Annex 3 includes information about the number of responses received for all questions.