Dogs chasing cattle

report or not?

I was out for a walk with my kids on Saturday & saw a couple of dogs chasing a couple of calves (they gave up so nothing got bitten) on Caesers Camp above Farnham.

Owners were about 300m away & shouting for the dogs to come back

I work for a government agency which collects reports of inconvenience and/or stress being caused to livestock as part of a national project to monitor trends in livestock life experiences. We would be very interested to hear from you with a report of this incident, which appears to have been extremely serious.

I work for a government agency which collects reports of inconvenience and/or stress being caused to livestock as part of a national project to monitor trends in livestock life experiences. We would be very interested to hear from you with a report of this incident, which appears to have been extremely serious.

I work for the agency of silly walks, just down the corridor from you guys. Did I meet you at last years Christmas fancy dress party for non existent government agencies? You where dressed as a troll if I recall correctly.

Don't tell me you Silly Walks guys are getting invites to Non-Existent Agency functions these days? They must intend to merge you with Business Innovation and Skills in the next reshuffle. That would be a great shame. 🙁

Roll on the Tories, next year you will be out of a job !! 😉

Those people have no conception of what makes this country great! Faceless bureaucrats they call us! They really have no idea. 👿

Nope not a troll

At some point those dogs will get shot and everyone will get very upset about it except for the cattle. Oh, and BigD in his Jimhacker overcoat.

Who would you report it to? Telling the farmer at the time so he could shoot the dogs might have been worth it. What point there is doing anything about it now?

Who you gonna call?

Ghostbusters?

(sorry)

TJ thats the problem, I could try & track down a number now but what are they going to do about it … its just winding my up gently …if there had been actual contact then I could have given a description of the dog but now I had may as well just forget it.

didnt have a gun with me (oddly I dont have one at home either) that would all of got very interesting though… imagine the owners, assuming they could see that far, as there was a shot & the mutt keeled over 🙂

<can't be bothered>

You think so?

The edit function. For when you need to recalibrate your sarcasm detector in peace. 😉

Caesars Camp is Army land and the cattle have been recently introduced in order to maintain* some of the heathland IIRC. Loads of people walk their dogs over the area and there are no signs up (that I've seen) asking dogs to be on a lead.

* By munching not topiary.

Why dont you call the police and see what response you get?

When my dog was a puppy he slipped his collar and chased some sheep for about 30secs (my dog was 3 mts old)
some guys started to get involved in the distance – shouting abuse and causing a stir – rather than help me try to get my rather excitable puppy back they continued to shout abuse from afar. To say I was highly pi**ed off is an understatement – I put my dog in the car very quickly and proceeded to find these idiots – suffice to say I don't think these guys will ever shout unhelpful comments from the middle distance again.

I would also say if you do see a dog chasing cattle and the owners are clearly distressed why don't you try and help them get their dog back..

The owners are idiots. I know farmers who wouldn't think twice over shooting a mutt that decides to chase their cattle or calves, that is of course if the the dog hasn't been crushed by an irate cow in the mean time.

Apart from putting signs up there is very little that can be done.

I don't know whether I'm getting too worked up over this thread but I'm sat here with my dog at my feet, If a farmer had shot my dog I'd be doing time now so wouldn't be reading this thread.

My grandfather used to be a sheperd,and said he was allowed to shoot dogs for worrying sheep,dogs will kill sheep and cows , and they cost money to the farmer, so he was protecting his assets.

Couldn't the dog owner just buy the farmer a few more cows etc?

Couldnt the dog owner just keep his or her dog under control, and deposit the dog shit bags in the bin or take them home.

Were they southerners?

Learn to put the lead on properly and your mutt wont get shot!!!!! Simplez………..

more likely they were city folk who have no idea how to act in the countryside.

shoot first ask questions later
it's the country way!

Most farmers I know wouldnt shoot a dog for worrying sheep in such an incident. The simple fact is they dont go round with guns on them most of the time and if it is an accident by a usually careful owner the dog would be under control before the farmer came back with a gun. Its stray dogs or repeat offenders that get shot. They are however more than able to extract compensation from the dog owners, which is fair.

There was sarcasim in my points above. I live in the country and regularly walk my dog through fields with cattle out to pasture. I myself always make sure my dog is under close control. But to shoot an animal for chasing sheep when sheep dogs chase and nip anyway is a bit extreme!

Army land, you say? They don't shoot things, do they?

I'm going to be in a meeting with the MOD land manager for that area on Monday, so I can ask him if there's a number to call if that would be helpful.

[edit]Big difference between a farmer's sheep dog and some random mutt off the lead, I think you might find…[/edit]

I dont actually walk dog through fields with cattle much anymore but used to and would feel slightly nervous about having my dog on a lead when theres cows with calves about, but then my dogs never used to bother them although saying that the lab used to go for them if they got too close to the terrier. Sheep on the other hand are a different matter.

BigDummy – lol.

My Dad's a sheep farmer – he'd never take a shot at a dog worrying his sheep. He's such a rubbish shot, one blast with a 12 bore would do more damage to his flock than a dog would! I remember going into Mole Valley Farmers and him asking for cartridges that make the biggest 'bang', just so he could scare, in this instance, Rooks that were flattening the wheat crop.
I did stop a pair of dogs attacking some sheep in the summer. Stopped at the next farm and told the farmer. Apparently the dogs belonged to the neighbour and had attacked previously. The farmer had warned the neighbour, followed by a caution from the police for the 2nd event. Sounded like my 3rd report was going to be the end of the dogs.

Tell them to CTFU.

Its about respect for others. If a dog is barking/worrying the cows it should be shot. Sort of OT but at the bottom of Rivi a lab was off the lead and barking at the feet of two horses. The two males with the dog were laughing and walking away. I was gobsmacked at that.

The two males with the dog were laughing and walking away. I was gobsmacked at that.

I'd have no problem with them getting shot either.

What is there to report?

Calves weren't injured and you don't appear to be able to identify the dogs or the owners or a vehicle?

Not condoning dog owners who fail to keep their animals under control but sh1t happens and you dont know why they were off the lead in the first place.

I was up there again yesterday & mentioned it to a couple of offical looking people who were out sorting the feedbins etc, so now I have passed it on, they say it happens & that cautions will be handed out if they catch people ….

In answers to your questions above, they probably were southerners, I am, its in the south but they were too far away to tell.

Helping catch the dogs, am not sure about that; I dont have a dog & while not being nervous of them I dont know too much about them but would you? Two medium to large sized dogs, obviously in an excited state & I had two smallish kids with me, I was quite happy for them to stay a reasonable distance away from me.