YOUR correspondent A Stevens (Letters, August 29) calls for dogs to be banned from eating establish­ments.

How tiresome the anti-dog lobby can be.

It has been my privilege to travel and enjoy eating out across Europe over many years, most notably in France, and I so enjoy seeing family dogs, as part of the family, happily ensconced under the table in many a French restaurant. On one memorable occasion I even had the pleasure of witnessing a very small terrier dart out from the seclusion of the table legs and apply an admonitory nip to the ankle of the very snooty waiter.

I have also, in our hygiene-obsessed country, observed extremely messy families of ill-disciplined children ruin the ambience and enjoyment in many an eating establishment.

Nancy Anderson,

Glenlora, Caldermill,

Strathaven.