RESPONSIBLE pet owners are being urged to take a lead to others in an area where stray dogs are a problem.

Councillor David Walsh, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, is appealing to owners to have their animals fitted with micro chips.

The tags are installed in the skin on the back of a dog's neck. If the dog becomes lost the tag can be computer scanned and matched with the owner's name and address held on an electronic data base.

The North-East is the second worst area in the country for stray dogs, with 2,200 unclaimed animals being destroyed in the year 2000 by local councils who rounded up more than 9,000 dogs that same year.

Redcar and Cleveland council has launched a partnership project with the National Canine Defence League, which will be carrying out micro chipping at Loftus Leisure Centre, on Wednesday.

Coun Walsh said: "To lose a dog can be agony for young children and even more so for pensioners to whom a dog may be a real companion. But dogs can get lost and stray.

This identification prevents a dog being destroyed unnecessarily.

"Given the number of strays that are in the east Cleveland area, I would hope people will make every effort to bring their dogs along.''

Neighbouring local authority, Middlesbrough, registered a 20 per cent reduction in the collection and a similar drop in complaints of dog fouling in 2000 after introducing a micro-chipping policy.