I AM a man whose hackles go up at the sight of a dog fouling a beach where children are playing. I growl like a rottweiler at a cat show, ready to confront the mutt who owns the mutt that has left the deposit on the sand.

But I cannot see how a proposed year-long ban on dogs on part of Sandbanks beach would work. I don’t have a dog but can see the pleasure that pets and their owners enjoy from romping on the sand in winter.

The issue isn’t the dogs themselves. Or even their issue. It’s those gross owners who walk away, failing to clear up their dogs’ mess.

These days the huge majority of dog owners behave with perfect decorum. But, sadly, there are still too many bung-eared owners who have the social awareness of an ostrich with its head in the soiled sand and fail to act in a manner that the most basic civilised behaviour requires. I can see why a move to stop these obnoxious ogres spoiling other beach-goers’ fun would be popular. As would the stocks. But would a summer ban change their behaviour? It would certainly punish decently-behaved owners and their dogs. But I bet the dollop-for-brains minority would ignore the ban and carry on taking their dogs on the beach, letting them foul the sand and, shamelessly, walking off. A year-round ban could spoil the pleasure of the well-behaved without solving the problem of the uncouth.

The council should tread carefully with this one. It looks a step too far.