DOG owners who neglect to pick up after their pooches in the Spanish town of Brunete have been receiving an unpleasant surprise in the post after the council took to mailing the mess back to them.

The town council posted dog faeces after recruiting 20 volunteers to patrol the streets as part of the imaginative scheme.

After witnessing an owner failing to dispose of the dog mess the volunteers would engage them in conversation to establish the dog's name and its pedigree.

They were then able to find the address of the owner from a registered pet database in the town hall.

Officials came up with the novel idea after the a small town of 10,100 inhabitants on the outskirts of Madrid was continually blighted by dog mess.

We contacted top advertising agency McCann about the doggy matter," a spokesperson told The Local.

"We told them we didn't have a penny to spend, but they found the idea so novel and exciting that they decided to work with us anyway."

"The amount of dog poo on our streets dropped considerably as a result. But as soon as the volume started rising again we knew we had to try an even more direct approach."

The council believes that the amount of dog mess seen on the streets has fallen by approximately 70 percent as a consequence of the strategy.

What do you think of the idea? Do you think your local council should try it?