A top Irish vet has said that Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, or ASBOS, should be brought in for dogs who misbehave.

Pete Wedderburn says owners of such dogs should also be punished.

It comes after signs were posted in Ashbourne, Co Meath warning of restricted breeds of dogs.

One councillor who posted a photo of a sign on his Facebook page told Newstalk yesterday these are just visualisations of the existing legislation.

“They’re not dangerous anymore than any dog is dangerous – they’re restricted breeds”, Wedderburn told the Pat Kenny Show here on Newstalk.

“Many people would say the law is over 20-years-old, it’s outdated, it’s widely recognised around the world that this legislation doesn’t work well”.

“The worst bite I ever had was from a golden retriever – go figure that”.

“Obviously the bite from a pitbull is going to be far more serious than a bite from a Chihuahua, clearly, and so that would be the background from this legislation coming in”.

 “But...that doesn’t mean that all those particular breeds are going to do that”.

“It’d be far, far better to legislate for dogs that have misbehaved so those dogs should be absolutely tightly controlled – or owners who have dogs that misbehave, those owners should be tightly controlled”.

“ASBOS for dogs that misbehave, that’s the way we should be going – not going for a broad hammer that doesn’t hit the spot”.