A local councillor is re-emphasising the need to keep dogs on leads in Corsham after two Chihuahuas ganged up on an ex-police dog in Corsham High Street.

Ruth Hopkinson, the Lib Dem Councillor for Corsham Pickwick and chair of Corsham Town Council, says she received two ‘unconnected but related’ complaints yesterday.

The councillor explained to this newspaper: “I got a call from a resident who’d had a very unpleasant encounter with a couple of dogs in the high street where they were off-leash.

“They were little dogs. The man who called up has an ex-police dog, he’s a German Shepherd, so a big dog.

“There were two unpleasant chihuahuas who attacked the German Shepherd, so the size of a dog is no reflection on their aggressiveness. Apparently, it’s not the first time they have behaved in an aggressive fashion.

“They weren’t leashed, and the owner thought they’re only little, they’re only friendly. But you have to be really careful.”

The other call Ms Hopkinson received was a complaint about how unleashed dogs affect livestock.

There has been an issue at Corsham Court Estate, where lambs have been abandoned after their mothers were spooked by dogs playing off the lead.

Ms Hopkinson emphasised on various social media pages: "If in a lambing field please keep to the paths and your dog on a leash. The dogs may just be 'playing', but that’s not how the sheep see it.

"When they’re spooked, the ewe and lamb can become separated and (because they’re not very bright creatures) they can’t find each other, and it is leading to lamb deaths."

The councillor is trying to push the message that dog owners need to be more conscious when it comes to protecting wildlife in the area.

She told this newspaper: “What is happening is that people are just taking their dogs off the leash and letting them do whatever.

"Obviously, in lambing season we’ve got little ones, ewes and they’re all flighty animals, and I wouldn’t say that these dogs are necessarily worrying the sheep and biting their ankles and that sort of thing.

“It’s more that they’re just running wild and spooking the sheep - they go in one direction, the lambs go in another and apparently they sometimes find it difficult to find each other and the lambs die.”