A dog owner says he saw red after an anonymous letter was sent to his business accusing his partner of not clearing up after his labrador.

The sender had photographed Phil Presland’s partner Kim Veale when black labrador Maisie did her business on a grass verge, followed her to his car and then sent the details to Ashford council as well as Mr Presland.

"I’m afraid I saw red,” said Mr Presland, 58, who runs Philberts estate and letting agents in Ashford Road, Tenterden.

“I am not sure about the legality of them photographing Kim and following her without her knowledge.

“And if they had waited a minute, they would have seen her put Maisie in the car, return to the dog poo and pick it up.

The offending dog poo incident came at the Tentertainment festival, where Mr Presland and three-year-old Maisie were collecting donations for organisers on the gate.

“It was getting to the end of the day, so Kim said she would take Maisie back to the car,” he said.

“The car was in Oaks Road and on the way, Maisie did a poo on the grass verge. Kim did not have a dog poo bag with her, so she took Maisie to the car and returned with something to pick it up.

“It was just a matter of minutes but the person who took the picture and wrote the letter did not stay long enough to see the end result.”

“It was just a matter of minutes but the person who took the picture and wrote the letter did not stay long enough to see the end result” - dog owner Phil Presland

Mr Presland said the person who sent the letter had not included their name and address or asked his partner if she had intended to clear up the mess.

“That annoyed me,” he said. “It is typical of people who complain anonymously without standing up.

“If I had known who they were, I would have gone round and explained what had happened.

“I always pick up Maisie’s poo, in fact all my trousers have dog poo bags in the pockets.
“Maisie is a member of the community and is very well known. She comes to my office every day and even features on our company website.”

A spokesman for Ashford council said no complaint had been received.