I'VE read recent reports on the problems of dogs worrying livestock on Dartmoor with a certain amount of wry amusement. I live in Okehampton for six to seven months of the year and walk every day, either on Dartmoor or along the Granite Way. I estimate that I've come across over 60 dogs and 50 owners on my walks. I have the greatest respect for animals and don't like the term 'owner' but it will have to do. I won't even begin to address the topic of dog mess, it's everywhere and it's filthy and — particularly for children — it can be extremely dangerous. If you're not prepared to clear up after your dog it's your nose that should be rubbed in the result. There are clear signs on the entrances to the park asking owners to keep their dogs under control, preferably on a lead, and most definitely on a lead between March 1 and July 31, to protect the nesting birds and lambing ewes that are the natural residents of the moor. About a third of the total — say, 20 dogs — have been on Dartmoor and not a single one has been on a lead at any time of the year. Two of the dogs have been sufficiently under control to stay still or return to their owner when called; the rest have not. About a week ago I came across a jogger, who had just passed the park's sign, accompanied by four dogs that were running around over an area of several hundred yards, scattering dozens of ewes in all directions. Today, a lady parked her Honda CR-V and walked past the park's sign with her black labrador which later drove a group of about twenty ewes across the moor for about a quarter of a mile. I must emphasise that I have not seen any case where a dog has been close enough to a ewe to physically threaten it. There are only two possible explanations for this nonsense. The dogs are out of control, in which case they and their owners have no business being on the moor (or anywhere else in public). Or — the dogs are under control but their owners are so selfish, stupid and self-important as to imagine that their animals are exempt from the National Park's — and common sense's —instructions on dog control and leads. Of the 40 or more dogs that I've come across on the Granite Way, two or three have been on leads and a further two or three have obeyed their owners' commands. In all other cases the owners wouldn't or couldn't exercise control over their pets. So — let's forget the platitude about the 'irresponsible minority' spoiling it for the responsible majority, about 90% of the dog owners that I've come across have been in the former category. You know who you are but you simply don't care. Geoff Norman Okehampton