Issues that continue to 'dog' Tenby over irresponsible owners not cleaning up after their pooches need to be dealt with more severely, town councillors claimed this week.

Speaking at Tuesday night's meeting of Tenby Town Council, Clr. Mrs. Tish Rossiter told her colleagues that the culprits should be reported.

Responding to a letter published in last week's Observer from a visitor to the town who said that the volume of dog mess on Tenby's streets spoilt her visit to the resort, Clr. Mrs. Rossiter said that dog walkers needed to carry their own bags and couldn't rely on the dog dispensers to clean up after their pets.

"I feel very sorry for this lady and I do hope that this hasn't put her off returning to the resort. It's unfortunate that people abuse the dog dispensers and take way more bags then they should, but they are only there in an emergency," said Clr. Mrs. Rossiter.

Her colleague, Clr. Will Rossiter, said that there seemed to be more dog mess on the streets now than after a busy summer, but that owners needed to purchase their own bags, and not use the excuse of the dispensers being empty.

"We need to hit irresponsible dog owners hard to take care of the problem," he remarked.

Mayor. Clr. Mrs. Sue Lane, said that the money the town council was spending on the dispenser bags, could probably fund a full-time dog warden for the town!

Pointing to a campaign in Narberth where people are being offered £10 out of county councillor Wynne Evans's own pocket to expose irresponsible dog owners, and he then passes on the names to Pembrokeshire County Council's dog warden department, Clr. Mrs. Rossiter, said that maybe the only way to deal with the offenders was to 'snitch' on them.

"Personally I feel that these people ought to be reported to the dog wardens - I have done it, and it does work," she said.