DOG owners are being urged to take care after a number of pooches were injured at an East Renfrewshire beauty spot.

One animal lover shared photos online of stitches and a nasty gash on his pet’s chest after it got tangled up in barbed wire at Neilston Pad.

That led to Barrhead woman Kirsty Louise Shanks reporting that her dog Sasha had stood on barbed wire while crossing a new ditch at the lay-by off Kingston Road, next to Craighall Dam.

Urging other dog owners to take care, Kirsty Louise told the Barrhead News: “You can hardly see it for the grass but it’s there. Luckily, she is fine.

“I parked in the lay-by to access the Pad. There’s been a new ditch dug and one end of it doesn’t have any water in the bottom, so I tried to cross there but, unfortunately, Sasha stood on some barbed wire hidden under the grass on the way over.

“She only had a very small nick on her paw and we continued our walk without any problems. The ditch is making it difficult to gain access.

“I think this is old barbed wire but the issue is there used to be a clear path to follow from the lay-by onto the grass.

“Now, because this long ditch has been dug, people are trying to cross wherever they can, which means they end up crossing the wire without realising.”

A few days after these incidents, another local resident came forward to say that, at a different spot nearby, a labrador had found itself caught in barbed wire fencing.

Natalie Cameron, who is not the dog’s owner but witnessed the unfortunate incident, said: “I don’t know who is responsible for maintaining that bit but it really needs taken away.

“There’s part of it (the fence) that is falling into the water, so dogs jumping in could injure themselves.

“We just happened to be passing as the dog ran into the water as the owners were a bit behind and we were able to grab the dog and unhook it.”