As the UK enters a period of austerity, many dog owners will be unaware of the job that dog control contractors perform.

As local authorities have to look to independent specialists to provide a variety of dog control services, many dog owners are under the impression that all dog control contractors are qualified and experienced. This is not always the case.

Around the dog control world in the United Kingdom it is becoming apparent that a number of local authorities that contracted out their Dog Warden Services are now bringing those services back ‘in-house’. What can the reasons for this change of tack be?

After weighing up the pro’s and con’s it must be realised that not many profit driven contractor’s are going to be able to offer the same level or an even higher level of service provision as an in-house service. Sure it is taken for granted that a contractor is going to offer a lower price than any ‘in-house’ service but is cheaper necessarily better?

Without adequate support it matters not whether a Dog Warden Service is ‘in-house’ or contract, without proper backup and support it will be unable to provide a satisfactory level of service provision to the local authority’s dog control functions. The advantage with ‘in-house’ is that funding can be obtained and used solely for the purpose of improving the Dog Warden Service under the direction of Environmental Health Managers who will drive the dog control element of the service plan through.

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