Time was when dodging pavement poo was the biggest doggy social issue.

Now it’s dog attacks; on other dogs, people, sheep and cattle. Dogs, of all sizes, are out of control in the home, on the streets, our beaches, parks and countryside.

Of course it’s the owners’ fault. Untrained dogs know no different and do what they do if they’re untrained. They can be reactive and aggressive, or scared because they have no discipline. 

Letting dogs run free with no recall is inviting trouble but, when it happens, it’s never the owners’ fault, according to them.

People used to apologise. Now it’s the other person or dog’s fault.

They’re behind an epidemic of ‘so what?’ and ignore the carnage. – much akin to parents who let their children run amok in restaurants and pubs, with the retort of “they’re only children being children,” if challenged.

Untrained dogs are only being untrained dogs too; and that comes with huge danger, which can be lethal.

It’s got to the point where dogs must be kept on the lead or banned from public areas. Or licence dogs and insist on minimum training for owners like a canine version of a cycling proficiency certificate.

A temporary ban on dogs at Caistor Roman Town after sheep were attacked and killed is regularly flouted by arrogant dog owners, just like the previous sign on entrance gates telling owners that dogs must be kept on lead accompanied by a graphic photo of a dog-savaged sheep.

Dog walkers continued to use the area without leads and sheep were killed. The Norfolk Archaeological Trust (NAT) said the decision will remain in force as the charity decides whether to impose the ban permanently.

At the courtyard café of a stately home recently, a woman who intervened when two dogs clashed ended up with a nasty bite, which needed treatment.

And it’s not just the powerful so-called status breeds you see strutting the streets that are the problem.

Any breed of dog can be out of control if it’s not trained or handled properly. Almost daily there are stories of small dogs being killed by off the lead dogs and people attacked.

Dog attacks, coupled with persistent fouling, has got so bad that councils are considering bans in public areas and dog ‘asbos.’

In London’s Tower Hamlets where 108 “dog attack offence” penalties were issued in the borough in 2023-24, new rules are planned to make dogs be kept on leads, even in parks and looking at making even its biggest parks no – go areas for dogs.

The council’s proposal would see dogs excluded from “all gated play parks and sports areas,” kept on leads in “all public spaces in the borough” and dogwalkers would also be barred from taking more than four dogs for a walk at a time.

Owners who ignore the rules — and their dogs — would be given a “public spaces protection order”, similar in design to an Asbo.

The issue is that dogs aren’t just family pets. They are treated like another human.

Parents who never say no to their children are taking the same stance with their dogs.

They are taken everywhere and treated like children, irrespective of how other people might feel about it.

On my last visit to the coast, a chocolate Labrador was sat up at the table in the pub like a human while its owners tucked into their lunch, feeding him tit bits as he sat upright on the chair.

It wasn’t the first time dogs have been elevated from under the table. Absurd and disturbing on many levels. Who wants to see a dog drool as they dig into their main course?

Responsible dog owners are rightly furious that their dogs will be denied the chance to run because of dogs without training, but people and other dogs must be protected.

Parks and open spaces should be inclusive and safe to everyone.

Tower Hamlets carried out a consultation to see if residents want controls brought in, what controls they would like to see, and where they want them to be enforced.

Dog owners will bring this exclusion on themselves by their selfish attitudes, impacting on the responsible owners.

With a 34 per cent rise in incidents of out-of-control dogs causing injury between 2018 and 2022. In 2022, there were 22,000 dog attacks, up from 16,000 in 2018. 

Where will it go unless tough action is taken now. And it’s not the fault of the poor dogs.

How can schools let this happen?

The thought of school toilets at breaktimes still makes me shudder.

They were terrifying places in 1970s comps where the girls with full faces of heavy makeup would hang out puffing on their Number 6 cigarettes guarding their space like it was their coven.

It was a place never to venture at break.  A lunchtime sports club meant you could use the sports hall loo with no threat.

So, Hellesdon High School’s comment this week that it locked toilets during lesson times because of behaviour, truancy and vandalism invoked horror, especially when it was an answer to an upset mum’s complaint that her 11-year-old son had wet himself in class because he wasn’t allowed to leave the class to use the loo.

That trauma will live with him forever.

Sometimes I wonder about the people charged with running schools.