There will be no doggie DNA testing - yet.

The Dogs (Amendment) Bill, which will replace the current licensing scheme with one that sees a micro-chip inserted into dogs and linked to a database, returned to the House of Keys this week.

It was put on hold to allow the government time to consult local authorities on a proposal by Martyn Perkins (Garff) to bring in compulsory DNA testing of dogs, to make it easier to identify owners who did not clear up after pets when out walking.

Environment Minister Geoffrey Boot said the proposal would not be incorporated into the bill.

He said it was a ’mixed’ response from local authorities. Seven were against, five in favour and four agreed ’in principle’. Six did not reply.

Douglas Council called for evidence to show the effectiveness of such a scheme. It pointed out Gibraltar had brought in a similar initiative and suggested waiting to assess how that went before introducing it in the Isle of Man.

Mr Boot added: ’With this in mind, the Department (of Environment, Food and Agriculture) will reconsider the matter in 18 months, rather than introduce testing as part of the primary legislation.

’Then, having regard to the success or otherwise of similar initiatives, which are predominantly at an early stage in other jurisdictions, if it is seen that these schemes are resulting in resilience and a sustained level of reduced dog fouling and detection of dogs involved in other miscreant activity, we will endeavour to bring forward - within the underlying regulation - DNA testing.’

The bill passed its clauses stage on Tuesday.