A Lanarkshire MSP is supporting a charity’s campaign to make use of their education course for dog owners whose canines are subject to or close to being issued with a control notice.
Clare Haughey met representatives of pet charity Blue Cross at the Scottish Parliament, who are calling for their responsible dog ownership course to become a stipulation for anyone given one of the notices, or as an earlier preventative step to support dogs and owners and “help them get back on track”.
The Rutherglen politician shared figures from the charity indicating that her constituency, which also incorporates Cambuslang and Blantyre, currently has “64 active dog control notices and there have been 1417 complaints about out-of-control dogs – yet there is only one dog warden covering the area”.
Blue Cross say there have been more 23,000 complaints regarding out-of-control dogs in Scotland over the past five years, but there are just 27 wardens covering the country’s 32 local authorities to manage the current total of more than 800 active dog control notices.
Charity representative Becky Thwaites said of their Holyrood event: “We invited MSPs along to hear about how we believe, through collaboration and support, we can improve responsible dog ownership in Scotland, with the emphasis being on owners rather than demonising any particular breed.”
Ms Haughey said: “I look forward to working with the charity to support dog owners as well as enforcement bodies to improve dog control across Scotland.
“It’s concerning to hear that the council only has one warden to deal with so many complaints in our constituency, and I have written to them to ask about their engagement with Blue Cross and similar organisations regarding the promotion of responsible ownership and access to resources such as courses.
“Effective dog control impacts significantly on both the care and welfare of dogs, as well as the people around them – and the early prevention of issues is clearly the best solution.”
Councils have powers to serve control notices if dogs are “not being kept under control effectively and consistently [or] its behaviour causes alarm or apprehensiveness for a person’s safety or the safety of another animal”.
South Lanarkshire Council’s website states: “Dog control notices can include getting the dog micro-chipped, muzzling the dog whenever it is in a public place, keeping the dog on a lead in a public place, neutering male dogs, keeping the dog away from a particular place [and] attendance and completion of training in the control of dogs.
“Failure to comply could result in a fine of £1000.”
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