I have to get this off my chest somewhere as I feel awful. Took my Westie out for a walk yesterday and as we were in the woods I spotted two moles fighting with one another. I was intrigued so slowly walked over to them with our dog on the lead. Being the hopeless dog he is he didn’t even notice them.

The moles quickly scurried off in opposite directions. For some reason I playfully pointed out one of the moles to our dog, just to see what he made of it. He walked over towards it, excitedly and sniffed it as it started to dig into the ground. Within a split second our dog grabbed it in its mouth and more or less tore a hole in the poor thing. I shouted and pulled our dog away but it was too late as the mole took its last few breaths.

I know it’s just a mole but I feel terrible for letting that happen and essentially encouraging our dog to go and investigate. It’s played on my mind so thought I’d get it off my chest.

Accessory to murder?

*dials 999*

It’s nature in the raw. It’s what dogs (and foxes and ferrets) do. It’s OK.

<thread reported for perverting the course of nature>

What were you expecting your terrier to do exactly? Give it a cuddle?

& you get minus points for not knowing that’s what terriers do.

It’s OK.

is it ? hunting with a dog is illegal and carries £5000 fine

No, he’s only one and was on his lead and I thought I’d got him tightly enough on the lead to stop him grabbing it or getting his teeth near it but sadly not tight enough.

hunting with a dog

😆

You can’t be serious man.

terriers were designed to do exactly what it did, dont feel guilty, be proud your dog is a real dog…. set up your own pest control company and put it on the payroll, the world of tax free dog food and writing off any dog costs against the company tax awaits 😀

terriers were designed to do exactly what it did, dont feel guilty, be proud your dog is a real dog…. set up your own pest control company and put it on the payroll, the world of tax free dog food and writing off any dog costs against the company tax awaits

Goes without saying I’ve already done that. Guilty or not, if there’s money to be made….

You can’t be serious man.

nothing to do with me, it’s the law that has no sense of humour.

Terrier in doing what comes naturally shocker.
In other news recent reports suggest moles numbers may be in decline 🙂

What were you expecting your terrier to do exactly? Give it a cuddle?

This. You wanted to ‘see what it would make of it’? You thought they’d make friends and play?

I can’t help thinking that the OP is making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Let t’ dog see t’ mole 😀

My lurcher sometimes catches rabbits and pheasants. He is always so surprised that he just parades around a bit with the animal in his mouth. I tell him, “Leave it!” and he gently puts his prey down.

He’ll still chase the next furry / feathered thing he sees though. Not very bright.

You can’t be serious man.
nothing to do with me, it’s the law that has no sense of humour.

He’s right if your dog even chases a rabbit, technically it breaks the hunting ban. Doubt anyone has actually been done though?

there’s a big difference between instructing your dog to hunt on land you dont have permission to hunt on and your dog returning with prey you didn’t ask for though.

This. You wanted to ‘see what it would make of it’? You thought they’d make friends and play?

Yes. It’s the shock more than the guilt I think.

That’s a coincidence – I was taking my favourite ‘dancing moles’ out for a walk the other day, and left them to practice in the woods whilst I procured some truffles (they look like they are fighting when they dance, but in fact it’s a modern variation of a spanish tango).
Furthermore, it’s a secret routine, so I taught them to ‘make like a banana and split’ if they get disturbed – what with the Nationals coming up, we don’t want the routine to fall into the wrong hands.
Anyway, they must have had a tiff or something, as only one of them came back, and now isn’t speaking to me.

I’m still looking for the lead male, as without him the whole troupe are useless.

Haven’t seen him have you?

DrP

Is hunting with cats illegal?

That’s a coincidence – I was taking my favourite ‘dancing moles’ out for a walk the other day, and left them to practice in the woods whilst I procured some truffles (they look like they are fighting when they dance, but in fact it’s a modern variation of a spanish tango).

I’m still looking for the lead male, as without him the whole troupe are useless.

Haven’t seen him have you?

He wasn’t wearing a sombrero was he?

you can’t hunt with cats… cats can hunt with humans…. but never allow yourself to believe you can control a cat.

Oh well, he probably didn’t see it coming! 😆

there’s a big difference between instructing your dog to hunt on land you dont have permission to hunt on and your dog returning with prey you didn’t ask for though.

I obviously missed the bit where the OP told us he had permission for his dog to attack moles.

Is hunting with cats illegal?

No idea, but I can’t keep up with mine, the hole in the fence is too small for me to squeeze through….

to put it in perspective when we had cats one killed up to 4 mice a day, pus the odd bird and what ever it could get hold of,

so far our 10mth old springer has managed to catch a rabbit a squirrel and 3 birds, each of these i have managed to rescue, but it shows if its in the breed they’re gonna flush out and get stuff and theirs nothing you can do other than very intensive obedience classes where it can override its natural instincts

did he OP instruct the dog to kill the mole? or was he a bit of an idiot for expect them to make friends and grow old together?

sounds like a mistake, lesson learnt and no intention of hunting from the OP.

The Act makes it an offence to hunt a mouse with a dog but not a rat, you can legally hunt a rabbit but not a hare. You can flush a fox to guns with two dogs legally but if you use three it’s an offence. You can flush a fox to a bird of prey with as many dogs as you like.

No mention of moles

Best go back and say sorry to the other one.

They’re not as dumb as you think:

I suppose I naively thought he wouldn’t attack it as he very much falls under the soft and daft category plus I had him (I Thought) tightly pulled on the lead to stop him actually making contact with it but he lunged and that was that. Too late.

How big is this mole?

Best go back and say sorry to the other one.

They’re not as dumb as you think:

The dog did it! The dog did it!

thats a point, i need some moleskin trooozers… next time can you post me the skin?

OP, how much to rent this excellent dog of yours? I’ve got moles in my lawn, and the daschund won’t do a damn thing about it.

I’ve always been impressed at how well mole skins tesselate to creat a pair of trousers.

Maybe just aim for a pair of slippers for now, though?

thank you STW 🙂

Wwaswas ,some style please ,tsk!

Best moleskin waistcoats

bit more class?

Proper lol at DrP!