Dog owners are being urged to pick up after their pets following a barrage of complaints about dog mess from angry Guiseley and Rawdon residents.

Coun Pat Latty said she had been inundated with calls about the problem and appealed to dog owners to behave responsibly.

She said: “This is becoming an increasingly serious problem on our streets and playing fields. What people don’t seem to realise is that the mess their dogs leave is not only offensive if picked up on a shoe and trodden into your car or house, but a danger to health.

“Young children do not realise the dangers and it is all too easy for them to get it on their hands and then to their faces and even mouths. In a worst-case scenario this can cause blindness.

“We have bins everywhere and it should be no problem to deposit dogs’ mess into one. We have signs telling people that there is a fine.”