Animal control officers in Wairarapa councils were kept busy with nearly 1200 dog-related call outs during the last financial year.
By Sue Teodoro of Local Democracy Reporting
While the combined number of such complaints remained high at 1193, the numbers in all three districts fell year-on-year.
A report tabled at Carterton District Council on Wednesday said there were 200 dog-related complaints in the district for the year ending June 30, 2025, with 2753 dogs registered.
For the same period, in a separate report on its website, Masterton District Council recorded 910 requests for service classified as "reactive responses", with a total of 6160 dogs registered.
The South Wairarapa District Council showed a similar trend, but with fewer complaint numbers. Of the 3328 dogs registered in the district in 2025, there were 83 complaints, – down from 152 in 2024 and 139 in 2023.
The Carterton complaints included three cases of dogs biting people, 12 cases of dogs biting animals or stock, 20 cases of dogs rushing, 38 cases of barking, 37 wandering dogs, three dog welfare complaints, 22 lost dogs, and 31 impounded dogs. Four dogs had been rehomed, with one surrendered to another organisation for rehoming.
Of the 910 Masterton complaints, 27 were for dog attacks on people, three for worrying stock, and 21 for unsociable behaviour on private property. The balance included 238 reports of roaming dogs, 269 for barking or howling, 157 collections of contained dogs, and 60 for dogs showing aggressive behaviour to people.
The South Wairarapa numbers included five attacks on people, seven attacks on stock, 35 wandering or fouling dogs, and 24 cases of barking.
Masterton reported a significant decrease in total complaints, down from 1183 in 2024, and 1291 in 2023.
An official who spoke to the Carterton report said there were notable improvements in canine behaviour on the previous year.
"Complaint numbers were standard, with 201 last year and 200 this year and a similar number of infringements," she said.
"Barking is down by two, but wandering is down significantly from 74 dogs last year to 37 this year. That is a really good result."
The number of welfare complaints had also reduced from eight to three.
"We have impounded a few more dogs, but a lot of our impounding is not long overnight stays. It’s either been the dog has been brought to the council office, or we’ve picked it up and it’s been in the pound for that day because something’s happened, and then the owners have been able to organise and collect it."
Four dogs had been rehomed.
"Being able to rehome is a real success story for us," she said.
Two dogs had been euthanised.
"We had one voluntary surrender of a dog, and that dog was one of the two that were euthanised, which is not a step we take lightly. It’s our last resort."
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
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