Do humans never learn? All my friends, mongrel and pure-bred alike, agree that the Dangerous Dogs’ Act was an absurd mistake — the product of a panic caused by the sort of newspaper that does not appeal to pedigree readers.

We took it for granted that The Times, undoubtedly the favourite reading at The Kennel Club, knew better than to suggest that the law should prescribe new rules of canine behaviour. Imagine, therefore, our surprise to find, in its correspondence columns, a letter from Jonathan Morris of Berkhamsted. It suggested that, when we go out, we all — without exception — ought to be required to wear muzzles.

The letter appeared during what some of us regarded as a bad week for dogs. Angela Smith MP, became a living cliché by demanding more protection for postmen. And Martin Clunes advertised a TV series — which includes a demonstration of dancing by what I can only describe as almost an alsatian — with the assertion that dog owners have to accept that they live with a wolf. According to the same evolutionary principle, Clunes’s dog is living with a monkey. No doubt it has more manners than to say so. Dogs are like that. Most of us are gentle, courteous creatures. That is one reason why it would be ridiculous to make us wear muzzles in public.

If Jonathan Morris’s object was to reduce the incidence of gratuitous violence, he is (to coin a phrase) barking up the wrong tree. Assaults by humans are a thousand times more frequent than attacks by dogs. Yet no one, as far as I am aware, has written to The Times with the suggestion that they should be shackled before they are let out. Of course, a few dogs behave badly, but to penalise the whole species because a tiny minority is badly trained would be a blatant example of the prejudice that follows stereotyping.

For most dogs, muzzles would be, worse than an irritant and inconvenience. Viewing the world — and smelling it — through the gaps between strips of leather or plastic would change their lives. But were the Morris proposal ever to be adopted, people’s perception of dogs would change. Little boys and girls — without the privilege of a terrier or spaniel at home — would be encouraged to believe that dogs, far from being their potential best friends, are their implacable enemies.

Dogs are to be loved, not feared. To suggest anything else is to deny countless families the joy of owning one. I make the point with some authority. The man in my life assures me that nothing has ever given him such sustained pleasure as sharing his life with muzzle-free me.

As told to his companion Roy

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