Dog wardens deal with complaints from members of the public about dog fouling, stray dogs and dangerous dogs. They investigate all complaints taking legal action where possible and carry out patrols of parks, open spaces and specific areas known to be used by walkers.
Dog wardens can give you advice on responsible dog ownership, including routine health care such as worming, de-fleaing, vaccinating your dog, neutering and microchipping. If they cannot help you they will put you in touch with someone who can.
Stray dogs
An unattended dog in a public place is a stray dog. Stray dogs are not only a danger to themselves but can be a risk or cause nuisance to members of the public. The wardens collect stray dogs on a daily basis and take them to the kennels. The wardens try to find owners and re-unite dog and owner as soon as possible.
It is an offence for a pet dog to be in a public place without a collar and tag with the owners name and address on it - this includes when a person is in charge of the dog. If your dog does not have a collar and tag you can be prosecuted and a fined up to £5,000. If the dog has an identity tag it allows the dog warden to find the owner immediately, causing less worry for the owner and less stress for the dog.
We keep records of lost and found dogs and we will collect found dogs from members of the public.
Useful contacts
Daytime 8am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 8am to 4.30pm Friday, please telephone 0113 222 4406 or email the team. Please be aware the contact centre is busiest on a Monday mornings.
Out of hours please telephone 0758 448 3397 or 0796 181 0279
This service is available from 4.30pm to 1am Monday to Friday and 9am to 1am Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays. Please note the out of hours service will not collect stray dogs nor will accept other dog related enquiries e.g. lost dog reports.
Please do not take a stray/roaming dog to your local police station as they will not take it in. The Police will deal with dogs at any time under the following circumstances:
- If the dog has bitten a person or is likely to bite
- If the dog is a suspected banned breed for example a pit bull terrier, Japanese tosa, fila braziliero or dogo argentino
Dangerous dogs
It is an offence to allow a dog in your care to behave in an aggressive manner. A dog does not have to bite someone to be deemed dangerous. If you are found guilty you can receive a fine of up to £5,000 and/or six months in prison.
We along with the police have a duty to deal with dangerous dogs.
Lost and found dogs
We keep records of lost and found dogs. We will collect found dogs from members of the public. If a dog is lost or found it should be reported to the dog warden service and to the nearest police station. This is a legal requirement.