Jacki Kelly last week took two of her English Staffordshire bull terriers out in a Moruya crowd wearing traffic-light-green collars with the word “friendly” in capital letters.

However she said another dog, anxious after being bitten while leashed by three loose Maltese terriers at Corrigans Beach, now wears an amber collar marked “no dogs”.

The collars, she said, sent a message to irresponsible owners, “who let their dogs up in everyone’s faces”.

“Now I can choose who approaches her,” Ms Kelly said.

“It is a conversation starter, which is what you want. No dogs means the dog loves people but does not like other dogs.”

The range includes a red “caution” collar, one marked “nervous” and Ms Kelly would like one for rescue dogs.

“There was a thing going around on the internet that, if your dog needed space, you should tie a yellow ribbon on its lead,” she said.

“I thought it was stupid, because each dog is different and you are not explaining why it needs space. You have to respect each dog’s limits.”

Ms Kelly found the “traffic light” collars on a UK website, ordered 50 and sent a message out to breeders and owners.

“That order sold in 40 minutes,” she said.

She has since sold another 700 in five weeks.

“They just kept coming,” she said.

Ms Kelly said she bred for temperament and would not keep a dog which required a red “caution” collar.

“If a dog is dangerous, it should be muzzled, full stop, whether it has a collar on or not,” she said.

However, she said some owners wanted the collars as they simply wished their dogs to be left alone.

“I have had one negative comment,” Ms Kelly said.

“Somebody said you should not have to put “caution” on a dog, it should be trained. 

“In a perfect world, wouldn’t it be wonderful if all dogs were friendly and you could let them run around, play and never had to worry? But dogs are dogs and you have to respect where they have come from.”