HOW long will we have to read of dogs being out of control and of innocent people being mutilated before something is to be done to stop this happening (Echo, Oct 22)?

All dogs can bite and are capable of turning for no good reason on even their owners.

One wonders if owners should take some sort of a mental competence test before being allowed to have dogs in the first place. Or should we get back to licensing dogs, the price of a licence, for instance, being the same as a TV licence.

There should also be a licence for breeding dogs, which seems to go on all over the country without any kind of control. It is a very lucrative trade, by all accounts, with dogs costing a small fortune – it is a source of revenue so far untaxed by Her Majesty’s tax officers.

There should, of course, be exceptions for working dogs, and for disabled and elderly people, but their dogs should at least be registered and chipped.

Mary Rowntree, Durham