DOGS can be great companions on a brisk walk through the Yorkshire countryside.

But if you insist on taking your pet with you, you must be responsible for it.

Since September 2013, farmers in North Yorkshire have reported 325 attacks by dogs on livestock. These attacks have caused huge distress and alarm to the animals harried and savaged – and they have also cost farmers thousands of pounds in terms of animal injuries and even deaths.

Some pet owners refuse to accept until too late that their pet is the kind which would harass and attack livestock. And one problem for police officers trying to hold pet owners to account is the woolly definition of exactly what counts as livestock.

The term includes animals such as sheep, cattle, pigs and poultry kept for the production of food, wool, skin or fur. But it seems to apply only to animals kept on agricultural land. And it doesn’t seem to apply to those kept as pets or for leisure uses.

Because the definition doesn’t apply to all animals which can be savaged by out-of-control dogs, there are cases in which the police are legally unable to seize dogs involved in attacks, says North Yorkshire chief constable Dave Jones. This is clearly unacceptable. So we welcome the fact that North Yorkshire Police have joined forces with other rural forces to call for the legal loopholes to be closed - and also to gather more information on dog attacks.

This is surely the right approach. it is only when dog owners know they could face the power of the law that they will really begin to take responsibility for their pets’ actions.