Rogue dog walkers have prompted councillors to discuss asking the government to take the lead and regulate the inept, the unsafe and the greedy.
Various concerns about the lack of regulation among the growing number of commercial dog walkers led councillors to call for licensing controls.
Labour councillor Theresa Fowler told Brighton and Hove City Council’s Licensing Committee that any current conditions were voluntary including one limiting them to eight dogs at a time.
The council is responsible for animal licensing, from keeping wild animals to dog breeding, animal day care and pet sales.
Councillor Fowler said that the council should contact the government to seek a change to the law requiring dog walkers to be licensed if the council lacked the necessary power.
She said: “There are quite a lot of dog walkers and they often walk together, two friends walking dogs, eight each.
“Sometimes you’re walking along and you’re met by a pack of 20 or more dogs.
“Is it about time that we licensed dog walkers so that we can keep an eye on how many dogs they’re walking at a particular time?
“Also we’ve had cases where dog walkers have said they’re professional dog walkers and they’re not.
“Then there have been cases where they’ve been kicking the dogs and badly treating the animals.”
The council’s interim head of safer communities Jim Whitelegg said that the dog walking code and the eight-dog limit were voluntary.
He said it was an issue that the animal licensing team was looking at and a report was being drafted to bring to a future committee meeting.
Labour councillor Jackie O’Quinn, who used to chair the Licensing Committee, said that before the covid-19 pandemic she spoke with people involved with the Animal Welfare Act about commercial dog walkers who made money but had no qualifications.
Councillor O’Quinn said: “There are huge concerns about how unregulated this is. I know some authorities have been able to put a limit on numbers. That’s been done in London and, I think, in Worthing as well.
“I try to avoid when I know there are going to be a lot of dog walkers because there are such large numbers of dogs congregated together.
“It’s not a pack of dogs. It’s more like a flock, there are so many of them, with people who can’t always control them.”
Green councillor Steve Davis agreed, saying: “I’m sick to death of my morning run across Waterhall being chased by 400 mutts who are completely out of control.
“This is a good opportunity for this committee to set the agenda on this. There’s been a huge increase in dog ownership since lockdown and covid.”
Labour councillor David McGregor, who chairs the committee, said that the council had asked other local authorities about their approach to licensing.
He said that the council needed to take it further to see what they were licenced for and to explore what route the council could take in the future.
A flock of dogs? Really? In actual fact, it only takes two dogs to make a pack, anyone that owns more than one dog will tell you how they work together in a pack mentality. In the Adur and Worthing area, the restriction is a maximum of six, although many walkers take less. I don’t believe you can take 100% care of six dogs, especially when those dogs belong to someone else, they’re never going to reliably behave the same way as they would if they were out with their owners.