REGARDING your recent letter about barking dogs.

The writer clearly has no idea about dogs or their habits; if he or she did, then they would know you cannot just tell a dog to "stop barking" and have it comply.

I appreciate for anyone working shifts and sleeping during the day then noise of any sort can be an issue, but this person's suggestion of fining owners of barking dogs is, pun intended, utterly barking.

It is on the same lines as saying that parents of babies should be fined if their off-spring wake in the night and begin crying, so disturbing neighbours, or are left outside in the summer and cry when no one is around.

Furthermore, who would determine what length of time is acceptable or "illegal" and thus incur a fine?

What if the dog is barking because it is happy?

Are you going to tell them that they cannot be joyful as this is anti-social?

Does your reader complain, for instance, when neighbours cut their grass during the day during his/her sleep?

Is that not just as noisy and disturbing and therefore anti-social?

Or someone doing the Hoovering or DIY during the day?

What if the dog in question is a guard dog warning of danger?

Or perhaps it is trying to attract attention because its owner is injured somehow?

While I would not disagree that dogs barking constantly can be a nuisance, there is no simple answer to this and fining owners is an utterly ludicrous idea (I am not a dog-owner myself and so have no axe to grind on this point), not to say one that could not be enforced.

Nigel Ashton, Newton.