Dogs - Stray

Our Dog Warden Service will deal urgently with complaints about dogs straying on school premises, or interfering with the flow of traffic. They will deal with other complaints as quickly as possible, and always within five working days.

We will always act in the strictest confidentiality and keep you informed about what we are doing.

What We Do about Stray Dogs

The first time a dog is caught straying, the dog wardens will try to trace the owners and return it free of charge (as long as it is tagged or microchipped).

Any other stray will be kept safely for up to seven days, at the owner's expense, ready for collection. After seven days the dog will be found a home. We work closely with local re-homing charities and have an excellent record of successful placements.

What You Can Do About Stray Dogs

As a dog owner, you are legally bound to ensure that your dog wears a tag when it's out in a public place - fitting the dog with a microchip will also help to identify it if it strays or is stolen. If a dog is not tagged and microchipped you risk losing it if it goes astray.

Extended service to collection of Confined Strays

The laws about stray dogs have now changed (effective from 6^th April 2008) with out-of-hours responsibility moving from the Police to local authorities. The Police no longer have a responsibility to accept stray dogs brought to them outside normal working hours.

The current service has been extended to include weekends and Public Holidays between 9:00 am and 5 pm.

The weekend and public holiday service covers dogs that have been caught and confined within the Mendip district. Unlike the Monday to Friday service, it does not include catching strays that are still roaming loose. Anyone who has detained a stray dog should telephone 01749 648999 to make arrangements for Council contractors to collect the dog from them during the hours that the new scheme operates.

Dogs that are collected in this way will be taken to kennels and owners will have to pay a fine and kennelling charges to reclaim their pets. If these dogs are not claimed within seven days, they become the legal property of the Council and will be re-homed. This is what already happens to strays that are dealt with during normal hours service and the costs to owners will be the same.

Arrangements have been made to publicise the extended service at public information points and at veterinary practices, libraries and Police stations.

Tagging Your Dog

As a dog owner, you are legally bound to ensure that your dog wears a tag when it's out in a public place - but the best way to identify it, and to stop it being stolen, is to fit it with a microchip.

If the Dog Warden Service catches your dog straying they will return it to you free of charge the first time it happens - but they can only do this if the dog is microchipped, or wearing a tag.

If we catch a stray dog and we can't trace the owner we will keep it in boarding kennels at the owner's expense. If you don't collect your dog within seven days you will lose the right to reclaim it, and we will try to find it another home.

You may be able to identify your dog at the following link to St Giles Kennels where photographs of dogs handed in are displayed in the "lost and Found" section. The link to St Giles kennels can be found in the right hand column of this page.

Contact

Last Updated

30 January 2009

Page last updated on 30 January 2009