Farmers who shoot dogs

equaliser said:
It was the start of the walk and he always goes off the lead (we live in a town).

He has a very strong prey instinct, and yes he would have worried the sheep. He doesn't know what to do with prey when he gets to it though (the poodle in him takes over), but I would have been 100% in the wrong if I had have had him off the lead and in the highly unlikely event that he took down an animal.
NEVERTHELESS, however thoughtless or unaware an owner, shooting a dog is NOT an acceptable response. It's just not. And no, I'm not on a wind-up. It's a f***ing outrageous overreaction, and people who give a knee-jerk 'bloody serves 'em right' type response to the question might be advised to wind their necks in a little and reflect.
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Why was he off the lead?
 
equaliser said:
It was the start of the walk and he always goes off the lead (we live in a town).

He has a very strong prey instinct, and yes he would have worried the sheep. He doesn't know what to do with prey when he gets to it though (the poodle in him takes over), but I would have been 100% in the wrong if I had have had him off the lead and in the highly unlikely event that he took down an animal.
NEVERTHELESS, however thoughtless or unaware an owner, shooting a dog is NOT an acceptable response. It's just not. And no, I'm not on a wind-up. It's a f***ing outrageous overreaction, and people who give a knee-jerk 'bloody serves 'em right' type response to the question might be advised to wind their necks in a little and reflect.
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I think it’s you who needs to take the time to reflect. Your “fur baby” isn’t anymore special than a sheep or a lamb or any other animal a farmer needs for their livelihood.

Just be a decent and responsible human being and keep them on the lead when around live stock. It’s not that difficult.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Why was he off the lead?
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Because as he said he's from a 'town'. Not much scope for them to 'run free' there. Therefore the owner has probably thought it's absolutely fine to let the dog do what it wants in the 'countryside'. Hopefully a lesson has been learned.
Pretty much an open a shut case if it went to court too.
 
I do a lot of running with my dog in the woods and NY Moors .. she’s always off the lead in woods but on the lead on moors. Not just for livestock but nesting birds. I’d rather her be off the lead and I’m sure she would too but it’s the right thing to do.

Also did a walk in the Lakes on Good Friday and spent the vast majority of that on the lead due to the Herdwicks dotted around the fells.

I’ve seen the damage dogs do to livestock and it’s really not pretty. There are plenty of places where dogs can run off lead so for the times when there are signs requesting they are on lead surely it’s not much to ask.
 
equaliser said:
Walked up Snowdon on Friday (thankfully zero phone reception that evening prevented me from following Boro's pain) but was shocked to hear from a local about a farmer at the bottom of the Llanberis Pass shooting a dog in front of its owners the previous week. My wife also knows of someone this happened to elsewhere. Needless to say, we immediately put ours on his lead.
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It sounds to me that the local was telling you that you need to put your dog on a lead and that you can't just let them run about wild and the story about the farmer was to get the message over. You followed his advice, your dog is safe and I'm not sure why you are getting overheated about an incident you don't know to be true.

There are plenty on here who have given you sound advice and I feel you need to step back and take heed.
 
equaliser said:
It was the start of the walk and he always goes off the lead (we live in a town).

He has a very strong prey instinct, and yes he would have worried the sheep. He doesn't know what to do with prey when he gets to it though (the poodle in him takes over), but I would have been 100% in the wrong if I had have had him off the lead and in the highly unlikely event that he took down an animal.
NEVERTHELESS, however thoughtless or unaware an owner, shooting a dog is NOT an acceptable response. It's just not. And no, I'm not on a wind-up. It's a f***ing outrageous overreaction, and people who give a knee-jerk 'bloody serves 'em right' type response to the question might be advised to wind their necks in a little and reflect.
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I would class myself as an animal lover. I have an elderly terrier and we base our life around her medical needs; daily injections restrict what we can do. That’s the responsibility that we undertook when we decided to have a dog. As a youngster she would attack anything other than people, so she was always on a lead.
I now live in a rural area dominated by sheep farming. Marginals are tight for the farmers and I regularly see people letting their dogs off the lead where sheep are in fields. Personally I would shoot the owner before the dog, but sadly that not possible. So, just have a little thought for others and keep your mutt on a lead.
 
‘No one has the right to take out a family pet in that way, however heedless the owners.’

Whether you like it or not, farmers do have that right.
 
Alzi said:
I think it’s you who needs to take the time to reflect. Your “fur baby” isn’t anymore special than a sheep or a lamb or any other animal a farmer needs for their livelihood.

Just be a decent and responsible human being and keep them on the lead when around live stock. It’s not that difficult.
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My dogs are NEVER off a lead out of the house. Why do you have to make the p,i-ss take 'fur baby' comment to him/her?
 
Imagine the costs of chasing up a dog owner whose dog has killed livestock, it would probably far exceed the price of the animal.

Warning signs and some countryside education would come in handy.
 
On a lighter note. We are still in France. An hour ago the wife returned from a walk with dog.
She knows the walk well and so does dog. Lovely walk, down through a wood to a small lake.
Dog is a hunting variety field Lab. very well trained, done a bit of hunting with son in law.
but my wife was never happy and stopped it. Track goes passed a field with pigs in it, but with a dyke and fence round it. No pigs, so she gave the dog permission to go…which means straight to the lake for a swim.
Missus got round the corner and there’s dog standing together with two young pigs about her size all looking across the lake. She had forgotten her phone so no pic.
 
Problem is humans.
Worst dog owners are the ones who just let dogs jump up at people. My missus dislikes dogs and I had to use my foot to move a dog away from her at codbeck a few weeks ago. Dog got a kick, owner thought I was in the wrong because they never had the dog under control
 
TeessideCleveland said:
My dogs are NEVER off a lead out of the house. Why do you have to make the p,i-ss take 'fur baby' comment to him/her?
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Well you’re clearly a responsible owner.

OP was trying to justify farmers needing to accept dogs ravaging their livestock and irresponsible owners as dogs are more special.
 
Just back from a run with my dog around Sleddale Moor (back of Guisborough Woods) and I would say 80% of walkers had their dogs off leads despite several signs asking otherwise.

There was livestock on the moors and nesting birds but it seems the signs didn’t apply to these people, most of whom were Ugg Boot explorers as opposed to proper hikers.

Just wait for one of them to appear online with a Gazette face when a farmer shoots their lovely little pup for killing sheep.
 
equaliser said:
It was the start of the walk and he always goes off the lead (we live in a town).

He has a very strong prey instinct, and yes he would have worried the sheep. He doesn't know what to do with prey when he gets to it though (the poodle in him takes over), but I would have been 100% in the wrong if I had have had him off the lead and in the highly unlikely event that he took down an animal.
NEVERTHELESS, however thoughtless or unaware an owner, shooting a dog is NOT an acceptable response. It's just not. And no, I'm not on a wind-up. It's a f***ing outrageous overreaction, and people who give a knee-jerk 'bloody serves 'em right' type response to the question might be advised to wind their necks in a little and reflect.
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So it’s ok to be off the lead in a town?

I think it’s you that needs to reflect.

We had our front door open when I was in the front garden last week and a dog ran past me into our house and through to the kitchen at the back of the house. I had to go chase it out.

The owner barely raised her voice to call it back. A meek apology was offered.

Thankfully my 3 year old and 7 month old daughters were not in the house at the time.

All dog owners seem to think their dog wouldn’t hurt a fly of course and everyone loves dogs so don’t mind a strange dog running around their house.
 
Wiseman_Vaughn said:
when on the loose in the countryside, a dog off the lead is a pest and predator. It's not the dog's fault - it's the idiot owners that see their own pet as human.
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But what exactly is the countryside? There's a strong argument for rewilding the upland areas of the British Isles' countryside. Before agriculture it was forest. There's no reason it should be given over to graze sheep (except for the fact that roast lamb is nice and hard to pass up)
 
equaliser said:
But what exactly is the countryside? There's a strong argument for rewilding the upland areas of the British Isles' countryside. Before agriculture it was forest. There's no reason it should be given over to graze sheep (except for the fact that roast lamb is nice and hard to pass up)
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it's obvious that you are on a wind up - a strange one - but a wind up all the same.
 
equaliser said:
It was the start of the walk and he always goes off the lead (we live in a town).

He has a very strong prey instinct, and yes he would have worried the sheep. He doesn't know what to do with prey when he gets to it though (the poodle in him takes over), but I would have been 100% in the wrong if I had have had him off the lead and in the highly unlikely event that he took down an animal.
NEVERTHELESS, however thoughtless or unaware an owner, shooting a dog is NOT an acceptable response. It's just not. And no, I'm not on a wind-up. It's a f***ing outrageous overreaction, and people who give a knee-jerk 'bloody serves 'em right' type response to the question might be advised to wind their necks in a little and reflect.
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You clearly have no idea on how farms run, but if you think a farmer should just sit and watch a dog potentially destroy thousand of pounds worth of animals without stopping it then you are very very wrong. Why should a farmer be thousands out of pocket because irresponsible dog owners can’t control them?

Unless your dog has perfect recall then it shouldn’t be off the lead anywhere apart from a fully enclosed space with no one else around, and in no circumstances around live animals. Follow that and you won’t ever have the worry of a dog being shot
 
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