Pampered dogs are getting out of control and owners are to be blamed - Sarah Todd

The odd kid always came along with a cheeky smile or something sharp to say that was quite cute, but on the whole there has never been any interest in the wider younger population.

Now though, it’s just as likely to be somebody’s pet dog that makes us vow never to venture forth into company. They are everywhere. All professionally groomed to within an inch of their lives, with vegetables (what’s all that about then?) in their scientifically-formulated diets, designer jackets and an air of entitlement far greater than the most obnoxious of toddlers.

Before any acquaintances put pen to paper, there is a confession to be made in that the brace of terriers that inhabit this correspondent’s home have rather got their paws under the proverbial table.

They are such big characters in their diminutive bodies that even this otherwise robust red-head has failed to keep them off the sofa. They yap at the postman and the youngest has never even pretended to try and grasp sitting on command.

The late dog trainer Barbara Woodhouse would be far from impressed; plenty of room for improvement.

However, she must be turning in her grave at the scary squad of dogs that are actually out and about in polite society. At the moment there doesn’t seem to be a café, pub or shop that people don’t drag their ‘animal companion’ into.

Have you noticed that it is politically incorrect to refer to them as pets these days? The veterinary industry plays along with this as they hike up their prices and the ever-more invasive surgeries to prolong lives that a decade ago would have been brought to a merciful end and buried at the bottom of the garden.

People park up in villages to go for a walk and instead of leaving the muddy dog on an old towel to have a nap in the back of the car afterwards they fear it will get separation anxiety so bring it into the pub to let it lollop about onto unsuspecting customers or, more usually, plonk down in the middle of walkways.

If the aforementioned terriers have ever ended up at the local watering hole we sit outside with them tied tightly to the bench leg. Like it should be.

It doesn’t matter how elderly or smartly-dressed the other customers are, today's pampered pooches never get a yank back out of the way. They even let them put their noses into prams and sniff babies for heaven’s sake. Of course, a good proportion doesn’t even have leads on. Maybe it infringes their rights?

Talking of leads, there was an advert on the television the other day for a dog collar that worked as a tracking device. The dog sporting said device was frolicking free across open fields. Were they the dog owner’s fields? If not, why wasn’t it on a lead? Something has happened over the last few years, probably since dogs moved up the pecking order from being referred to as pets, where people think it’s their right to be able to walk them with no lead on.

Collars with GPS tracking devices will only add fuel to this fire. People will be even more blasé about the importance of keeping dogs on leads if they’ve paid however much to be able to track their location down when they clear off.

Farm insurance company NFU Mutual has just revealed the results of its latest survey of over 1,100 dog owners. Despite 64 per cent admitting their dogs chase animals, almost half (46 per cent) naively believe their dog was not capable of injuring or killing livestock.

Nearly two thirds, 64 per cent, confessed to letting their dog roam off-lead in the countryside at the same time as owning up to the fact that they don’t always come back.

The most recent figures show dog attacks on UK farm animals in 2022 cost £1.8m and Hannah Binns, the insurer’s rural affairs specialist, says dog walkers are becoming more distracted. Yes, you’ve guessed it, by mobile phones.

“Dog walkers are often on their mobile phones with their pets out of sight and are seemingly unaware of the carnage they could cause,” explains Hannah, who says the boom in dog ownership since the pandemic must shoulder some of the blame. Many puppies bought back then were never properly trained.

If it was a toss-up between a child that hadn’t been taught to sit still and shut up and a dog the latter would still win, but the gap dividing the two is getting narrower.