Film tackles anti-social dog ownership
The council has joined forces with the police, RSPCA and Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in a bid to eradicate the anti-social behaviour of some young dog owners.
The new "People with Dogs" campaign has produced a hard-hitting film that will be broadcast in schools and youth clubs across London.
The film tells the story of a young man who gets a dog, thinking it's a status symbol and then mistreats it. A learning pack comes with the film that can be used to spark debate among young people to try and challenge their perceptions about dog ownership.
The agencies behind the campaign came together in the wake of a number of serious dog attacks on both humans and other people's pets in recent months. The council chose to get involved in the project because it is determined to tackle irresponsible dog ownership in the borough. Wandsworth is one of only a handful of boroughs in the country with a dedicated dog control service - the biggest of its kind anywhere in the UK.
The team patrol the borough's streets, housing estates, parks and open spaces, tackling dangerous and nuisance dogs, dealing with strays and enforcing by-laws on dog fouling, cruelty and neglect. It has successfully prosecuted more than 800 people for breaching dog regulations and dealt with more than 6,000 stray or dangerous dogs.
Senior dog control officer Mark Callis said:
What we are trying to achieve is a reduction in anti-social behaviour and if we can educate young people about the duties and responsibilities that come with owning a dog, then we believe we can make our streets, parks and housing estates safer places.
* See the features page for more on the dog control team.