Soaring dog-ownership levels in Dunedin are fuelling a rise in complaints about barking, fouling and aggressive animals, the Dunedin City Council says.
However, council animal control team leader Ros MacGill says the situation remains ''business as usual'' for the council's team of five animal control officers.
Council figures made public this week showed there were 16,122 registered dogs in the city by June 30 this year, up 25.6% from 12,834 in 2004-05.
The tally revealed the latest increase in the city's dog population, which Ms MacGill said had steadily risen over the years and was at record levels.
''It's just going up and up and up and up ... It's never been that high before,'' she said.
As a result, the number of complaints about dog behaviour were also climbing, up 71.2% from 2231 in 2004-05 to 3819 in the 2012-13 year, she said.
Those received in the last year included complaints about aggressive dogs (250), dogs attacks (248) and barking (1065).
At the same time, the number of dogs classified as dangerous in the city had dropped, from nine to seven, as some had died, while the number of menacing dogs stood at 221.
Ms MacGill said the rising number of dogs and dog-related complaints meant the council's five animal control officers were also increasingly busy.
They now spent the majority of their time dealing with dog-related issues, but - given the population of the dogs in the city - that was just ''a reality'', she said.
''The officers spend a lot of their time working with the complainants and the dog owners, trying to resolve it.
''It's often not just a one-off visit ... If it's a barking complaint, for example, they'll go back and have a chat with both parties to try and make sure to resolve it,'' she said.
Fouling remained an issue, as did owners who refused to clean up after their pets, she said.
Unfortunately, it was also hard to police, although bag holders placed at strategic locations around the city were proving popular, she said.
Owners caught failing to clean up after their pets could face a formal warning for a first offence, followed by a $300 infringement notice if caught again, she said.
Members of the public were encouraged to report owners not following the rules, or to remind them of their obligations, she said.
''It's really hard to catch people. People complain about the fact that there's fouling in certain parts of the city but, for us, all we can do is patrol.
''If we do catch somebody, which is very unlikely, then we'd be having a chat with them,'' she said.
Dog registrations
2007-08: 13,365
2008-09: 13,927
2009-10: 14,551
2010-11: 15,238
2011-12: 15,741
2012-13: 16,122
Dunedin dog complaints
2007-08: 3029
2008-09: 3379
2009-10: 3536
2010-11: 3730
2011-12: 3815
2012-13: 3819
