Pioneering New Dog Technique Trialled by Council

Rossendale Borough Council has recently trialled dog training and behaviour specialist Scamp’s in order to resolve a neighbour dispute in Whitworth over dog barking.

The dog had separation issues when its owner left the house and would bark which would cause noise nuisance to the neighbour.

Scamp’s worked with the very co-operative owner and trained the dog with techniques to counteract its separation issues. After 4 successful sessions, and a lot of time and effort by the owner in between sessions, the dog made excellent progress; its behaviour vastly improved and was not exhibiting the barking when its owner would leave the house.

Cllr Barbara Ashworth, Portfolio Holder for Health, welcomed the Council’s new cost effective approach; “This type of mediation has proven tremendously successful for all involved and it has meant that the issue hasn’t escalated, which is often the case. Escalation often leads to significant costs to the Council and other Public bodies like the Police.”

The cost for this technique was only £160 which works out more cost effective than officer time installing noise equipment, carrying out noise survey visits, drafting and serving improvement notices.