Ownership of more than one dog and a growing intolerance of nuisance dogs are two trends revealed in a new report on the city's canine population.
The report by Dunedin City Council animal control team leader Ros MacGill said the council's animal control unit of three management staff and five animal control officers responded to 3029 complaints from July 1, 2007 to June 30 this year.
A 26% increase in the number of complaints in the last three years reflected a growing intolerance by the public, Ms MacGill said.
Complaints about barking and wandering dogs made up 68% of the total.
Barking dogs affected different people in different ways.
Owners needed to understand that even during the day, shift workers and people affected by ill-health could be affected by the noise.
Senior animal control officer Jim Pryde said the move to own two dogs appeared to be caused by owners thinking their dog needed "a mate".
Mr Pryde said the figure of 280 infringement notices issued to owners could rise this year if people did not register their dogs quickly.
The registration period was finished, and the council was now issuing $300 fines to people who had not registered their dogs.
