Madam,

With regards to the article about Aberystwyth maze and the issue of dogs (‘Council votes to ban dogs from labyrinth’, Cambrian News, 12 May edition). I believe the dogs in question were mine. They were out with my dog walker in the maze, off the lead. The lady complainant entered the park without first asking for them to be put on the lead. They are both still puppies and are very inquisitive, so they ran over to investigate the new-comers. Had she have had the common sense to signal to the dog walker that her son was afraid of dogs, they would have immediately been put back on their leads.

I am a responsible dog owner. My dogs would not be off their leads if I felt there was a risk that they would attack anyone. They were in the maze, because there is nowhere else in this town to take them off the lead. I work full time and enjoy the pleasure of walking my dogs and having fun with them, off lead. This pleasure will now be taken away because of irresponsible dog owners and a woman who has not told the full story to the local paper. I pick up after my dogs and frequently have to carry the bags home because the bins in town are overflowing - not the fault of dog owners I’d say, but rather the fault of the council who spent £6,000 on a field of rope but don’t seem to have the money to spend on refuse collection (the bags in my street were not collected last week again for some reason).

If anyone would like to meet my highly vicious dogs, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Yours etc

Eleanor Patterson

Aberystwyth.