Does Miemps, the sandy-coloured mongrel which has been taught to beg outside Cavendish Square, lead a dog's life or doesn't she?

That is the question everybody is asking since the Tatler (February 12) highlighted the animal's plight.

Letters have been rolling in through the fax and the telephone has been ringing off the hook since it was disclosed that the SPCA had served a warning on Miemps' owner, a 24-year-old street person, ordering him to stop using his pet to beg from shoppers.

The SPCA issued a warning after they were inundated with calls from concerned shoppers demanding the organisation put a stop to the abuse.

Miemps is forced to sit on her haunches between 12 and 14 hours a day, seven days a week, begging for cents. She is forced to hold a white plastic bucket in her mouth, wear sunglasses and sometimes a hat.

Inspector Shaun Boddington of the SPCA has said the public is to blame. "People should not give money when the dog is holding the bucket in its mouth. The public is encouraging the owner to use the dog for begging," he said.

He said since the report had appeared in the Tatler the SPCA had received many phone calls applauding the organisation for its stand.

"The SPCA is the authority on the subject and not the general public," Mr Boddington said. "We have received one report that the dog was still being forced to hold the bucket in its mouth since we issued the warning. Now we have to make a decision, we want to avoid having to bring the dog in but what is happening is still cruelty.

"Just now we will have somebody else making another animal do tricks for money - next thing we will have an entire circus out there," he said.

A letter received from a Rondebosch resident said it was a "gross exaggeration to say the dog holds the bucket for 14 hours a day". The writer says the "kid" should be left alone.

A businessman wrote to tell us that Miemps refused to eat and pined for her owner when she was adopted by another shop owner. "There is little doubt as to the love shared between dog and owner".

A doctor phoned to say she had seen the dog holding the bucket after the warning had been issued and phoned the Claremont police to report it. "They told me they had more important crimes to attend to," she said.

A St Cyprian's pupil visiting the centre was horrified to see the owner push the bucket back into his dog's mouth after she was too tired to continue holding it.

"The dog tried to lie down but he (the owner) pushed her back up again," the 14-year-old said.