How you'll make a difference
As a Dog Warden, you will enhance and protect the environment for the benefit of all residents in our community. Under the general supervision of the Environmental Enforcement Team Leader, you will ensure that statutory duties and council policies in relation to dog management are effectively and professionally carried out.
What you will be doing
- It will be your responsibility to collect and kennel dogs found straying, enforce dog fouling legislation and investigate reports of dangerous dogs, utilising legal powers where required, to ensure that the council’s statutory responsibilities are achieved, and public safety is maintained.
- To ensure the councils statutory duties are fulfilled, you will use your experience and investigative techniques to deal with complaints relating to welfare issues and nuisance caused by dogs.
- You will carry out educational work and promotional programs concerning dog welfare and control, to fulfil council policy on responsible ownership. Where soft enforcement fails to address issues, you will be required to make a case referral to the Environmental Enforcement and Environmental Protection teams. In some cases, you will work alongside the police, RSPCA and other animal welfare charities.
- You will provide advice to customers about compliance, legislation and policies, ensuring that effective customer relationships are maintained, advice provided is accurate, and any risks and benefits are identified.
- It will be key for you to ensure all records are current and accurate, and when required you will be the council’s expert witness in court, using formulated evidence for cases of fixed penalties and prosecutions.
What we need from you
- It is essential you have experience of working in a relevant dog handling environment and you will ideally be working towards a professional or technical qualification, for example animal behavioural skills, basic dog handling.
- We require you to have working knowledge and experience of using policies, processes and legislation in a similar service area.
- Given the elements of this role, it is essential you can communicate effectively and engage with a range of audiences, as at times you may be dealing with challenging situations.
- You must be able to maintain accurate reports and records.
What you need to know
- This is a full-time role, working 37 hours per week.
- You will be expected to travel throughout the authority and surrounding area so you must have a full, valid driving licence. You will be provided with an electric vehicle equipped with cages and associated dog handle equipment.
Interviews will be held on 10th March 2025.
How a career at South Gloucestershire Council is different
- As part of our benefits package, you will receive generous annual leave (pro rata), employee wellbeing support and you will have access to a range of staff discounts, including eye tests, travel, shopping and leisure activities.
- We recognise that our diverse team of skilled and dedicated people make us a great place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and developed on the basis of their merits and abilities.
- We know our team work best when they have balance in their lives, and we offer genuine flexibility to help them achieve that work/life balance.
- We value our staff as individuals, investing in their careers and we are recognised for the quality, breadth and depth of our training and development offer, which helps make the greatest long-term difference in work.
Our teams at South Gloucestershire Council are making a real difference to the lives of people who live, work and learn here.
- We're building and shaping communities which people are proud of.
- We're planning for the future; building and improving the roads, railways, schools, green spaces, and houses.
- We’re providing essential services across our communities to ensure they are safe and well maintained.
We've achieved a great deal, but we need talented and dedicated people to ensure we continue to make a difference.
We’re making a difference, be part of it!
To view the full job description, please click the link on our careers site advertisement.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident .