Gone to the Dogs

When a householder reported a stray dog roaming in her back garden to the council, she assumed it would quickly be picked up and taken to the local dog pound.  Not so.  Instead, she received a questionnaire five days later urging her to identify what ''category'' of stray dog the animal fell into- before officials could leap into action.

In a two page form, jobsworths asked if she knew whether the Collie she spotted was ''lost'', ''neglected'', ''living wild'', ''on their way somewhere'' or even simply out ''having a bit of fun.''  It also required her to indentify which street she believed the animal lived in, the time of day she spotted it and the place she was ''likely'' to see the dog.

A dog warden was finally dispatched in preson after 17 days, but the animal was never traced.

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