Status Dogs 151 animal welfare issues or simply more cost-effective means for government to address harms to people? Formal responses appear to demonstrate little concern for the dogs and the harms perpetrated by their owners and the state And while informal intervention programmes with an emphasis on education, training and awareness-raising as a means of improving welfare standards and preventing irresponsible behaviour have emerged, there is, to their detriment, little in the way of evaluation of their impact and effectiveness, a sadly commonplace issue where animal-related interventions are concerned (see chapter on Interventions with animal abuse offenders herein) On the positive side, I find that dogs act as “tickets” for people to socialise and develop relationships, they facilitate the diversification of social networks, and they act as an avenue to political participation On the negative side, dog ownership and dog breeds can become the basis for clique formation, stereotypes, and boundary formation, serving as grounds for exclusion (Bueker 2013) References Ahuvia, A C (2008) Commentary on exploring the dark side of pet ownership: status and control-based pet consumption A reinterpretation of the data Journal of Business Research, 61(5), 497–499 Anderson, E (2000) Code of the street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city New York: W W Norton & Company Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare [APGAW] (2008) Dangerous dogs—an APGAW mini-report May 2008 http://www.apgaw.org/Data/Sites/1/ pdfs/apgaw-report-dangerous-dogs-may-2008.pdf Accessed 25 May 2015 Arluke, A., Levin, J., Luke, C., & Ascione F (1999) The relationship of animal abuse to violence and other forms of deviant behaviour Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 9, 963–975 Ascione, F R (1993) Children who are cruel to animals: a review of research and implications for developmental psychopathology Anthrozoös, 6(4), 226–247 Ascione, F R (2001) Animal abuse and youth violence In Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Juvenile Justice Bulletin Washington, DC: US Department of Justice https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/188677.pdf Accessed 13 October 2016 Barnes, J E., Boat, B W., Putnam, F W., Dates, H F., & Mahlman, A R (2006) Ownership of high risk (‘vicious’) dogs as a marker for deviant behavior: implications for risk assessment Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21(12), 1616–1634 Bassey, A (2009) Inside the world of dog-fighting BBC News http://news.bbc.co uk/1/hi/uk/8175047.stm Accessed 30 May 2016