I WELCOME the proposed new stiffer regulations regarding dog ownership, but I wonder how much effect they will have on owners whose dogs bark at everything and nothing with very little provocation and with little action from their owners to curb it.
My wife says it is just another countryside noise and sadly this is so, but it shouldn't be.
Cows mooing, sheep bleating, birds singing, yes, these are acceptable countryside noises, but not the incessant barking of dogs left home alone by owners oblivious of the effect on their neighbours.
However I have a cunning plan . . . I'm going to get myself a cockerel! Now that is a genuine countrside noise, and he won't be the only one crowing!
Tony Rushbrooke