When the interviewer Bob Walmsley said he had found a dog and had taken it home, I was really hoping to hear him say that he had contacted the local authority Dog Warden Service in the area he had found it. Mr Walmsley never mentioned whether he had or not? Just how many people find dogs but never inform the correct authorities that they have done so?

Dog Wardens do the best they can but with weak legislation and a lack of resources they are on a hiding to nothing, at least they do their best? The NDWA is working hard at fostering better links with those organisations that can contribute to a better deal for Dog Wardens and for dogs and their owners.

The general public see Dog Wardens in two lights, the one light that may help them find their lost dog or deal with a dog related problem or the other light that is ‘council having a go at me’, for either ‘daring’ to seize a stray dog or having to sort out a dog related problem. There really is no middle ground and statements that blame local authorities for destroying dogs has people thinking that all Dog Warden Services are the same, which they most certainly are not. In an ideal world there would be no Dog Wardens and as NDWA life member Cuthbert Jackson rightly pointed out, the aim of a Dog Warden is to do themselves out of a job, with the current level of irresponsible dog ownership out there that is going to take some time!

Local government and the national governments need to allocate adequate legislation and funding to enable the promotion of responsible dog ownership to have a positive effect on local environmental quality and community safety.

Kind Regards

Neil Burton
Chairman
National Dog Warden Association
nburton@ndwa.co.uk
http://www.ndwa.co.uk