SIR: Following the thank-you letter from Pat Graham, greyhound rescuer recently in the BEN, I hope we can now have a good, long rest from sad, sickening, but sometimes deliberately sentimentalised stories about dogs.

Like the dogs they rescue, Pat, her friends, the RSPCA and the dog wardens, are the ultimate victims of a sustained campaign by big players in the multimillion pound dog industry to promote dog ownership and increase the number of dogs in Britain, regardless of the consequences. They are joined by others who quite gratuitously use dogs to sell products and services to the susceptible. This has nothing whatsoever to do with a genuine love of dogs. No wonder there are casualties - human and canine, and it is the taxpayer locally and nationally who has to pick up the bill.

I urge all those who truly love dogs, (as dogs not surrogate people), to look beyond the sentimentality, commercialisation and manipulation to press for strong, workable legislation, covering the breeding, selling, ownership, registration and control of dogs. The cash for such schemes could come from the dog industry, who up to now have only been keen to invest in schemes which directly or indirectly promoted their own products. It's time they took some responsibility.

Sensible dog lover.

Name and

address supplied

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