A review of dangerous dog legislation is to be held amid ongoing concerns about dog fighting in the North.
As MLAs unanimously backed a motion demanding legislation to clamp down on dangerous dogs, Stormont Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew acknowledged people were sickened by recent revelations about dog fighting rings.
The minister told the Assembly: "I want to see an end to dog attacks and an improvement in public safety ... I want to see an end to the immoral, cruel and deplorable and so called sport of dog fighting and the sickening practices that surround it. and I agree that steps should be taken to rid society of this scourge."
Earlier this year Tyrone GAA star Ger Cavlan was fined stg£650 after pleading guilty at Dungannon Magistrates Court to possession of a dangerous dog.
Mr Cavlan was also banned in April for five years from owning a terrier-type dog and ordered to pay costs of stg£4,300 after he admitted five offences involving possession of a pit bull, taking it out in public without a muzzle and having no licence for three other Staffordshire terriers.
Ms Gildernew said she had wanted for some time since taking office to review the issue and confirmed she was planning talks with the Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde about enforcement of dog control and dangerous dogs legislation.
She told MLAs governments on both sides of the border were also working together to clamp down on dogs outlawed in Northern Ireland being imported into the Republic legally, then smuggled over the border.
The Sinn Fein MP vowed to work with ministers in the Republic and Britain to prevent abuses of the EU pet travel scheme which enabled dangerous dogs to be imported under false documentation.
Ms Gildernew also said she had raised with her the need to revisit animal welfare legislation to clamp down on cross-border dog fighting rings with the Republic's Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan.