Irresponsible dog owners put on notice

When properly looked after and controlled, there is little doubt a dog can be man’s — or indeed woman’s — best friend. Sadly, it appears a growing number of pet owners are failing to act with the requisite levels of responsibility.

Today we report on a tenfold rise in the number of dog control notices handed out by local councils.

It is an alarming statistic, albeit the numbers were not huge to begin with.

The point is, one such notice can be seen as one too many. Out-of-control dogs are more than a mere frustration — they can represent a serious risk to life.

Of course it is important to stress, as politician Liam Kerr points out, the issue is rarely anything to do with the nature of the animal, rather the attitude of the person responsible for it.

Often, an out-of-control dog is little more than an antisocial nuisance, but high profile cases of dogs leaving people — often young children — with significant, even lifethreatening, injuries are not hard to find.

Other animals can also be left at the mercy of poorly controlled dogs, with instances of sheep worrying particularly commonplace.

It is to be hoped that the increase in dog control notices will at least heighten awareness among irresponsible pet owners, encouraging them to think more carefully about their responsibilities to both fellow man and beast.