'DON'T GIVE A DOG A BAD NAME'
In 2002, Amber Valley Borough Council decided to relaunch the Dog Warden service. The aim of this was to make more people in the Borough aware of its existence and its functions. There appeared to still be a stigma attached to the service that a dog wardens job was to catch dogs, kennel them and maybe then even have them destroyed and the job ended there.
In fact in reality this is far from the true picture. The Council aims to reduce fouling and the number of strays within the Borough by educating the public on how to be good dog owners. Prevention is more effective than cure.
From this arose the 'Don't Give a Dog a Bad Name' campaign. The idea being that there are no bad dogs just irresponible owners.
The campaign centres around taking out the message of responsible dog ownership to the public and making them aware of the service and the help and advice that is available to them through the Dog Warden Service.
To achieve this we have taken the campaign into local schools, attended meetings of local community and voluntary groups and been present at local community events such as carnivals etc.
Feedback from the public has been very positive and showed that people were not aware of the services that we offer.
In 2002 and 2003 our campaign won a Kennel Club award for 'Best New Campaign'.
