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Dog fouling

It is an offence for a dog owner not to clean up after their dog in any open space where the public have access.

View the Environmental Health privacy notices.

Fines and enforcement

Certain local authority officers are authorised under The Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003 to issue fixed penalty notices to any person in charge of a dog who after it has fouled in a public place fails to immediately remove the excrement and dispose of it in a suitable receptacle (dog bin, public litter bin or their own refuse bin).

Aberdeenshire Council's authorised officers have been active in enforcing the provisions of this legislation and have served a number of fixed penalty notices.

Officers routinely carry out enforcement patrols in Aberdeenshire, and any person found committing an offence is issued with a fixed penalty notice, incurring a fine of £80. This rises automatically to £100 if it is not paid within 28 days.

A person who persistently offends, or where an officer feels that payment is unlikely to be made, may be reported under the Act to the procurator fiscal as an alternative to being issued a fixed penalty where the maximum fine available to the court is £500.

If you are experiencing problems with dog fouling in your neighbourhood, the council may be able to help you.

Report dog fouling

If you are experiencing problems with dog fouling in your neighbourhood, the council may be able to help you.

To let us investigate the offence, you will need to give us some information, such as:

  • The date, time and place the offence was witnessed
  • The name and address of the dog owner, or, if this is not known, a description of the dog owner
  • A description of the dog
  • A car registration number if the dog owner was seen to leave a vehicle to walk the dog

This information will be passed to an authorised officer who will contact the dog owner and advise them of their legal responsibilities to clean up after their dog has fouled.

If you don't know the identity of a dog owner, patrols of the area can be organised, at the times you witnessed the offence.

Any information passed to the council is treated in the strictest confidence.

Report a dog fouling incident

View the Environmental Health service requests privacy notice (PDF 431KB).