Cornwall Council’s dog welfare and enforcement team has been awarded a RSPCA Gold Community Animal Welfare Footprint Award for the sixth consecutive year for the high quality way in which it handles stray dogs.

The accolade recognises that the council has put in place clear procedures to deal with stray dogs including the treatment and welfare of dogs while in the council’s care, re-homing policies, and proactive action to reduce stray dog numbers while providing a cost effective service.

In the last nine months the council has also begun an out of hours stray dog return process for weekends and bank holidays to get dogs back to owners quicker.

Each year the council’s dog welfare and enforcement officers deal with dog welfare issues, noise complaints in relation to dog barking and dog fouling complaints. It also deals with about 1,100 stray dogs and works with a number of re-homing charities to rehome around 110 unclaimed stray dogs each year.

For the sixth consecutive year there has also been a reduction in the number of stray dogs reported to council. This has been attributed to the hard work put in by officers promoting responsible dog ownership and the council’s free microchipping campaign with Dogs Trust. The council also publishes a list of stray dogs on its website and Facebook page to help owners be reunited with their dogs. An up-to-date list of stray dogs that have been found is now also available on the council’s website.

Cornwall Council community protection manager, Lynn Carter, said: “Allowing your dog to roam puts it at risk of injury or causing injury to other animals as well as causing a nuisance by fouling whilst unaccompanied. Our dog welfare and enforcement team routinely deal with dogs straying in public areas, and will pick up any unaccompanied dog in order to minimise the problems they cause.

"It is vital that dog owners are responsible for their dogs and keep them under proper control as well as having a collar/ID, which as well as being a legal requirement, also means they can be reunited more quickly if they do escape.

"Any dog that is dealt with as a stray incurs expense to the owner including a release fee and kennelling charge as well as an additional charge if your dog is found out of hours – all of which must be paid before any dog is released.

"Having your dog tagged and microchipped means you can be reunited as quickly as possible and minimises charges. I am delighted that the hard work that the officers carry out has been recognised for the sixth year in a row”.

In April it became a legal requirement that all dogs are micro-chipped. The council offers a microchipping service for dogs - call 0300 1234212 for details. The same number should be used to report a stray dog or any dog-related problems.