There are two classes of people in Sussex – those who have pets and those who do not.

I belong to the pet-free fraternity and have to report that we are in danger of being overwhelmed by our four-legged friends.

Beaches and parks are stuffed with more dogs than I have ever seen before while my back garden has become a lavatory for cats.

Dogs and the excrement they produce have been a problem for many years. Half a century ago, Hove alone used to collect half a ton of muck a week from its parks.

Any grassed area was so full of dogs’ poo that it was almost impossible to use it for any other purpose.

Hove tried an experiment which gained national attention. It installed 20 canine lavatories in many parks. They consisted of a lamp post surrounded by clinkers.

But owners decided the dog bogs were far too filthy for either pets or people to enter and after a while they were removed.

Since then, most authorities have operated poop scoop schemes in which owners are encouraged to clear up after their pets and put the waste into special bins.

This has worked well and parks are far cleaner than they were. But the poo still fouls the ground where it falls and dogs pee all over the place.

And at a time when we are being encouraged not to possess plastic bags, millions are still being used to collect pet poo.

The solution is to separate dogs and children in parks but where this is done, people nearly always have a far smaller space than their canine counterparts.

Dogs can be a nuisance on beaches too. More than once I have been sunbathing on the stones seeking shelter from groynes when a giant mastiff has plunged on top of me.

Big dogs can be intimidating to small children, even knocking them over on some occasions. And if you remonstrate with owners of aggressive pooches, they often reply: “He doesn’t usually do that, you know” implying that somehow it is your fault.

I have heard people complain that the most frequently broken seafront rule is the one banning bikes from the prom. In fact it is the one that says dogs should be on leads.

Most large dogs are better suited to the countryside but even there some of them worry or even kill sheep. In towns they are better behaved than they once were but there are simply too many of them.

It also cannot be right for big dogs to be confined by living in small spaces. Hardly any of them have kennels and it’s hardy hygienic to have them roaming around carpeted homes.

But at least it is possible to exercise some sort of control over many dogs. This certainly does not apply to cats.

Given the slightest chance, cats will find their way into my home and I have many times had to remove these unwanted visitors.

I was always told cats were clean creatures that buried their poo but this does not seem to apply to many if any of the flatulent felines down my way.

They are by far the biggest killers of birds in Britain, frequently torturing their prey before finally destroying it. Yet they often will not perform the role many owners expect of them – getting rid of mice.

And if dogs can be unhygienic in homes, cats are even more so with their fur covered with saliva and their often unsavoury habits.

Some people I know spend more on holiday homes for their pets than on themselves when going away for a break.

Barking dogs can drive neighbours to distraction while cats often make the most bloodcurdling noises at night.

Pets can cost huge sums in vets’ bills and have a disconcerting habit of dying just when some owners are starting to become fond of them.

Others never do and you see owners shouting at their pets in the harshest tones as if they were permanently exasperated by them. Perhaps they are.

People really should think twice before adding to the huge numbers of animals in our already overcrowded county. There simply isn’t room for many more.

It was typical of council bureaucracy to erect a number of signs saying Aldington Recreation Ground at the entrances of what everyone in Hove knows as Wish Park.

While it is the official name, residents who care about it have formed the Friends of Wish Park with no mention of Aldrington.

However only half a mile away the city council has put up signs saying Stoneham Park in what is officially Portland Road Recreation Ground.

With this precedent in mind, surely new Wish Park signs can be installed. It’s a much nicer name and one which the neighbours all know.