Visiting my parents this weekend who live next to some common land next to a river. Witnessed two pointer type dogs being chased by their owner. Dogs were chasing a ewe and its lamb. Ewe ended up in the river and drowned – lamb now an orphan. Owner had no lead and dog slipped collar. The owner was clearly shocked (and did not look well – apparently has asthma). Helped him and dogs back to car and had to run the gauntlet of piles of dog s**t as well. I know it’s not all owners that are so inconsiderate/ stupid but really think there are just too many of them. A horrible start to a day and just wanted to get it down on paper to move on…

Read ‘A shepherds life’ to get an entirely understandable view of how a shepherd feels about retarded dog owners that can’t control their dogs.

Unfortunately it’d be the dog that gets shot, not the idiot.

I assume the dog owner found the farmer and offered to pay for the dead sheep?

Farmers up my way can shoot a dog who hassles sheep.

Did the owner go find the farmer and offer to pay for the lost ewe and any cost of putting that lamb on milk formula if still needed?

Lucky you saw it and not the farmer. Or a policeman. Or one of the farming Mumsnetters, been a couple of threads about this over there already this year.

Sadly this is the kind of ignorant behaviour that holds back right to roam legislation. Though I’d be interested whether such attacks have increased north of the border since their access rights were brought in, I suspect not. Idiots will be idiots regardless of the law.

Did you get his details? He needs to be paying up for his failure to control his animals.

The owner was clearly shocked

By a dog going against every natural instinct it possesses to chase a sheep? I’m gob-smacked myself. who’d have thought such a thing would ever take place?

Farmers should start putting signs up to warn unsuspecting dog owners about that type of thing happening

Sounds like a very sad accident really, rather than stupidity if a dog had slipped its collar.

But I agree that the owner should try to find the owner, but if the fields near us are anything to go by, I have no idea how to contact the farmer as the fields aren’t attached to a farmhouse.

Read ‘A shepherds life’ to get an entirely understandable view of how a shepherd feels about retarded dog owners that can’t control their dogs.

Brilliant book, well worth a read.

We’ve got a dozey lurcher that we think is part deerhound. Absolutely never let him off the lead near sheep as he is unable to not chase them. It’s in his genes.
I agree with the sentiment that it is the owners who are 100% responsible for their dogs.
I was appalled to meet a professional dog walker in lady cannings plantation a few months ago who was bemoaning the fencing off of houndkirk moor to allow livestock on there. The arrogant Arse seemed to think that if one of his dogs killed a sheep he’d just cough up the £55 market value of the animal and then the farmer had no more cause for complaint.
Dog ownership is taken far too lightly by a lot of people in my opinion (and I may be guilty of that too- before anyone suggests it)

It’s as well to remember the Land Reform (Scotland) Act only really codified what was already happening under the old laws – so there really wasn’t much change. I’ve not heard anyone suggest that the LR(S)A has had a direct impact though it does seem to be that more folk have dogs these days.

FWIW, one shepherd in the Pentland Hills carries a laminated copy of a section of the Countryside (Scotland) Act 1967 in his pocket. That’s what he hands to the owners of the dogs he has shot.

binners – Member
By a dog going against every natural instinct it possesses to chase a sheep?

“oh but he never usally does that” 🙄

Sounds like an overreaction by the sheep. The last time I was worried about something I didn’t run into a river. Daft ****.

ernie_lynch – Member

Sounds like an overreaction by the sheep. The last time I was worried about something I didn’t run into a river. Daft ****.

Typical STW victim blaming!

MoreCashThanDash » Though I’d be interested whether such attacks have increased north of the border since their access rights were brought in, I suspect not. Idiots will be idiots regardless of the law.

To add to what Druidh says above, I can’t think of an area up here that has the sheer amount of people wandering the hills amongst grazing animals, certainly nowhere near the levels in the lakes or peaks. Means that obviously there are going to be far more chances of such unfortunate situations.

Binners – I’d disagree, if anyone who has a dog is not intelligent enough to realise this, then hell mend them. It’s common sense, and you can’t put that on a sign.

Why hadn’t the farmer taught his sheep how to swim?

He’s only himself to blame

Sounds like an overreaction by the sheep. The last time I was worried about something I didn’t run into a river. Daft ****.

Thankfully not much in the UK is trying to kill us.

Why hadn’t the farmer taught his sheep how to swim?

he had, but you try swimming in a woolly jumper.

You might run into the water when being chased by a giant set of suicide bombers that are trying to own you

Are the suicide bombers also immigrants?!?

You might run into the water when being chased by a set of suicide bombers that are trying to own you

But i can swim, so sounds like a reasonable strategy to me?

And further to my comment above, there are inconsiderate dog owners. Being very new to dog ownership I have seen it already but thankfully the vast majority of owners seem very good.

But our experience in Saturday….

Walking our 15 week old puppy and a much bigger dog (bull terrier type of dog) comes bounding over. The owner has no lead for the dog but says ‘don’t worry, she’s fine’. We allow them to meet each other but our puppy is clearly scared – not the usual subversive reaction we’d seen before but whimpering and really trying to get away but she couldn’t as the dog just kept coming at her as we tried to walk her away. Eventually my 6 year old daughter picks our puppy up so the other dog then starts to jump up too. The owner still saying ‘don’t worry, don’t worry’. Eventually he makes a half-assed attempt to kick it away and it briefly does, then comes back again, almost knocking my daughter off her feet and by this point she is crying. At this point I take over and get the puppy, holding her high up to my chest, the other dog still following us, bounding around and jumping up. At this point our puppy wees herself (all over me – this is the first time she has ever done that).

At no point was the other dog visibly aggressive, but what annoyed me was the owners attitude – no lead, no real attempt to stop his dog. When he finally held it back I made it clear that it wasn’t acceptable – a six year old child and a puppy can’t accept his claim of it being a friendly dog.

Thankfully we haven’t met any other selfish owners like that yet.

he had, but you try swimming in a woolly jumper

She should of changed into some pyjamas.

I do hope the OP passed the dog owner’s car Reg to the police.

So have you contacted the farmer and explained what happened and passed on the details of the irresponsible dog owner? The farmer is out of pocket thanks to this cockwomble.

You don’t get out much then? I meet them all the time. It doesn’t fret me much as I like dogs – but the dog owners don’t know that.

.Are the suicide bombers also immigrants?!?

Depends if they came from a grey import mail order specialist or from an LBS through the official importer I guess. 🙂

Please report this to the police, and the farmer which your parents should be able to contact. There might still be time to save the lamb but the dog owner needs to be prosecuted and compensate the farmer.

OP: have you reported the incident with car reg number & description of the dog/owner?

Thankfully we haven’t met any other selfish owners like that yet.

I don’t think its selfishness a lot of the time. Its more this bizarre, inexplicable attitude that says ‘I love my dog, therefore everyone else must too’

Its like Father Jack with his brick….

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1ZU6UMDfgY[/video]

You don’t get out much then? I meet them all the time. It doesn’t fret me much as I like dogs – but the dog owners don’t know that.

As I said in the post, we have just got the puppy and she has only been on a few walks so far so I am sure we’ll meet all sorts in the future.

I think it’s fairly clear no reporting of the event has taken place.

Even in my own friendship group I know people with dogs who clearly shouldn’t have them.

May as well ask in case anyone actually knows the answer.

I don’t have a gun but I do have sheep.

What is legally allowed to stop a dog mid attack on one of my sheep? We have had one close call when a dog escaped from a neighbouring house but the electric fence stopped it.

I have caught a husky killing a pregnant ewe on a friend’s farm and as the husky had done it before and knew it was in trouble it went into a submissive state and we grabbed it and lobbed it in the back of the pickup. We then handed it over to the police as once caught we have no justification to do anything else.

But if it happens and the dog cannot be safely caught and restrained without further damage to livestock or myself?

Moron with asthma lets dog kill sheep. Shoot the wheezing idiot and keep the dog on a lead.

You have the right to use ‘reasonable steps’ to stop the attack. These include using firearms if no other means are available. You also have a responsibility to deal with the dog humanely. Which means you can’t just run it over with your quadbike.

If an uncontrolled dog is running amok, and can’t be chased off, without a gun (and the ability to use it accurately), you’d basically just have to wait for the dog to stop.

andyl – I don’t know where you live but here in Scotland a farmer can shoot a dog attacking sheep, we have big signs up warning about it, but still people don’t understand. It’s such a big problem on the outskirts of Edinburgh the police patrol the hills on quad bikes at lambing time. There have still been a large number of attacks and sheep deaths already this year though.

You really need to find out for yourself. I’d argue the dog owners should be shot rather than the dog which is following it’s natural killing instincts though. Generally a farmer will aim to capture the dog if possible and the police will impound it. The police will then take over, I think the minimum action is a fine and warning, if sheep have been injured or killed it would probably result in dog being destroyed and owner prosecuted.

I’ve seen ‘Dogs found amongst sheep will be shot’ signs up in the hills near me whilst out riding, not sure on the legality, but sheep can often have miscarrages when prgnant if chased by dogs, so I wouldnt be supprised if farmers are allowed to ‘off’ any dogs running uncontrolled.

Near me I’ve seen a warning notice with a pic of a dead sheep, one of the farmer’s. It includes the prospect of the dog being shot.

I suspect many dogs can’t read and their owners don’t bother to.

As I understand it, farmers can legally shoot dogs if they are worrying sheep.

To be fair, you can legally shoot people who are attacking you as well, so it seems only reasonable.

A couple of local farmers have quite graphic pictures of dead sheep on posters warning that they will shoot dogs. The pictures should get the attention of even the most stupid dog owner. If the poster fails, I would suggest the second barrel may focus their minds.

I know the farmer near where my parents live has shot many dogs. His land is near a lake and many take their dog for a swim as its near the village. He has lost so many sheep due to stupid dog owners so just shoots the dog and asks questions later.
He’s actually a nice guy but is fed up. I always walked my dog on a lead over his land (a footpath crosses) as per the sign asking that dogs should not be allowed to run free by livestock and never got bother. Just a chat about the weather.

I’m not sure of the law when it comes to cattle. We were taught that land containing mothers with calves, again the dogs should be on a lead.

Just as an extra piece of info. if you have a dog and it poos on farm land, or land with livestick grazing, please pick it up. Dog mess is dangerous to farm animals if digested. Again I’ve seen many signs around the Peak District left by farmers, with disregard from the dog walkers.