Leader: Foul dog owners deserve to be bitten

IT COULD be described as the dog that refused to bark: legislation with tough fines to crack down on dog owners who let their pets foul our streets and parks are barely being enforced by some Scottish councils.

The new laws, introduced in 2003 amid a clamour for action, gave councils the power to impose fines of up to 500. But in some councils, not only is there no bite, but there is not much of a bark, either. Stirling Council has fined just 13 dog owners in six years. Fife has managed just 12 fines. Other councils with a low fine tally include Aberdeenshire and Argyll and Bute. By contrast, Glasgow has meted out 1,500 fines and Edinburgh almost 1,000.

Given the cacophony at the time for "more powers", it is striking that the powers are not used as much as the public demanded - and certainly not uniformly. It may be that in rural areas dog fouling, while a nuisance, is somehow less offensive to inhabitants and seen as a lower priority for councils. In urban areas non-dog-owners may be less tolerant and calls to the police for action are more frequent.

But wherever it is, allowing dogs to foul busy streets and pavements is both anti-social and a health hazard. Scotland's councils need to do more than bark - they need to do a lot more biting.