Irresponsible Dog Owners

Gremlin

Gremlin

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This time of year always brings reports of sheep worrying, not far from me they have had the worst case I've ever heard of :

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116 sheep dying due to dogs chasing the, what is the matter with people, why can't they keep their dogs under control around livestock !!

Why do they risk the dog's life because they are too lazy to do basic training or be aware of what is around them.

I've helped clear up the mess that resulted from dogs getting in with a flock of pregnant ewes, not only the injuries to the sheep
to be dealt with, but a field littered with aborted lambs is not pleasant to see or deal with.
Lets hope the coverage this is getting helps remind people of their responsibilities
 
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I've typed, edited, retyped and deleted. Just no words!

I'm saving this link for the next time I see people in uproar about dogs being shot and how they should be tranquilized.
 
Julie1979 said:
I've typed, edited, retyped and deleted. Just no words!

I'm saving this link for the next time I see people in uproar about dogs being shot and how they should be tranquilized.
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I know how you feel I heard about this yesterday and had to calm down before I started this thread :banghead:
 
I assume the problem is people often think they have control over their dogs and don't realise they don't until it's too late. I expect it''s less about dog training and more about simply ensuring dogs are kept on a lead anywhere livestock are present, and ensuring people know to do this via signage and other methods.

Pretty shocking stuff for the farmer, though of course it could easily be something else as there is no evidence that dogs did this, could be some form of virus or food poisoning etc as well in this instance.
 
Don't think a virus is the answer - that would lead to the sheep just dropping somewhere haphazardly.

The clue is that they were all very close together
 
akr said:
I assume the problem is people often think they have control over their dogs and don't realise they don't until it's too late. I expect it''s less about dog training and more about simply ensuring dogs are kept on a lead anywhere livestock are present, and ensuring people know to do this via signage and other methods.

Pretty shocking stuff for the farmer, though of course it could easily be something else as there is no evidence that dogs did this, could be some form of virus or food poisoning etc as well in this instance.
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You live/walk in the country you know there will be livestock in fields, why should farmers put signs up ?
Local news today said the police had found evidence that it was dogs, and it just shows they don't have to be savaged to die.

I've lived in the country al my life and had dogs in multiples of 2 or 4 at any one time, I have never had a problem
with them and livestock, most were well trained and those that didn't listen were kept on a lead around animals.
 
If I'm out with my dogs they are always on a lead,I'm lucky enough to have a large garden and a meadow of my own where the dogs can run off lead but under my supervision,I live in sheep country,not worth taking the risk,all dogs will chase sheep given the opportunity.
This is an appauling case of sheep worrying.
 
Which ever way you look at it its terrible :(
I'm not saying that dogs weren't to blame, or even involved,
but with a pile up next to a gate, I wonder if it was an attempted rustling gone wrong?
 
I just don't get that people who walk their dogs don't get that they should control them near livestock.

Saying that I find it hard to believe that this was one dog accidently, unintended did this on this scale. I suspect there is more to this event.
 
I accept that the comment from the Sussex police must be better informed than anything I can say, but I am surprised there appears to be no injuries at all on any of the sheep.

I can also understand comments in this thread about people not keeping their dogs under control but if this was caused by dogs, isn't it more likely to be a deliberate act than some one with a dog, or a couple of dogs, getting out of control?

Dave
 
I'd be looking carefully for lorry tracks ;)
 
dejongj said:
I'd be looking carefully for lorry tracks ;)
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As above, I wonder if the owner knows exactly how many they had to start with, and if any are missing?
 
They had a bit about this on countryfile this week. Dogs chasing pregnant ewes can apparently be extremely stressful leading to death, aborting of the lamb internally leading to sepsis etc etc. Doesn't have to be physical bites.

Having been chased and bitten on a bike its not surprising. Unfortunately few people these days seem to have trained their dog to recall on command. Which should be bare minimum training.
 
Gremlin said:
You live/walk in the country you know there will be livestock in fields, why should farmers put signs up ?
Local news today said the police had found evidence that it was dogs, and it just shows they don't have to be savaged to die.

I've lived in the country al my life and had dogs in multiples of 2 or 4 at any one time, I have never had a problem
with them and livestock, most were well trained and those that didn't listen were kept on a lead around animals.
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Well you may be morally and theoretically right. I look at things more robotically sometimes though.

So to answer your question - why should farmers put signs up?

Well of course they don't have to, but if it reduces the likelihood of this happening and educates people as to why this is required it will help. I imagine many people in summer especially don't live in the countryside and are on holiday, and like or not will be oblivious to the danger caused by their dog chasing sheep. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, I just think it's the reality. I imagine it's the same for some people who live in the country (I am merely speculating of course).

You state above you've never had an issue with your dogs near animals, but I'm assuming therefore you walk them off lead near livestock if you train them. I assume other people do the same, perhaps with less experience and control, but thinking they have the same control as you, and perhaps sometimes dogs will be dogs and will ignore their owners no matter how well trained. Again I am merely speculating but this seems plausible, so a dogs must be on lead sign would make sense to me.

So technically I agree with you, but practically something that better informs people walking dogs and reduces the risk of harm to farmers livestock would seem to make sense to me.
 
akr said:
Well you may be morally and theoretically right. I look at things more robotically sometimes though.

So to answer your question - why should farmers put signs up?

Well of course they don't have to, but if it reduces the likelihood of this happening and educates people as to why this is required it will help. I imagine many people in summer especially don't live in the countryside and are on holiday, and like or not will be oblivious to the danger caused by their dog chasing sheep. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, I just think it's the reality. I imagine it's the same for some people who live in the country (I am merely speculating of course).

You state above you've never had an issue with your dogs near animals, but I'm assuming therefore you walk them off lead near livestock if you train them. I assume other people do the same, perhaps with less experience and control, but thinking they have the same control as you, and perhaps sometimes dogs will be dogs and will ignore their owners no matter how well trained. Again I am merely speculating but this seems plausible, so a dogs must be on lead sign would make sense to me.

So technically I agree with you, but practically something that better informs people walking dogs and reduces the risk of harm to farmers livestock would seem to make sense to me.
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Lambing would be much of an issue in summer ;) Now is the time ....
 
dejongj said:
Lambing would be much of an issue in summer ;) Now is the time ....
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No lambing won't be a problem in the summer, but it is now, loads of pregnant ewes about .

@akr You assume correctly, when l had dogs they were rarely on leads except one who wasn't trustworthy, but even he got
free running time when safe.
All the local farmers knew me and the dogs and never had a problem with them.
There is a thing called the Country Code that states keeping dogs under control amongst other things
 
From a purely pragmatic point of view, I'm with akr on this.

In my experience many people wouldn't know the country code if you slapped them round the face with it.
 
dejongj said:
Lambing would be much of an issue in summer ;) Now is the time ....
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Well yes, but I assume farmers are still not too keen on their sheep and other livestock being chased around in summer ;)

Gremlin said:
No lambing won't be a problem in the summer, but it is now, loads of pregnant ewes about .

@akr You assume correctly, when l had dogs they were rarely on leads except one who wasn't trustworthy, but even he got
free running time when safe.
All the local farmers knew me and the dogs and never had a problem with them.
There is a thing called the Country Code that states keeping dogs under control amongst other things
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For the sake of clarity I was not criticising you :)
 
Not a good news story, is it?

On a brighter note, we had someone who kept sheep in a field we used to own. We were chatting to him one day while leaning over the gate and looking at the lambs and our labrador was trundling around in the field. She chased - actually it was more running after - a lamb and the lamb pooh'ed. The labrador immediately stopped to eat the milky pooh. Then she ran at another lamb until it pooh'ed and she immediately stopped to have another snack.

We and the sheep owner couldn't stop laughing :)
 
akr said:
Well yes, but I assume farmers are still not too keen on their sheep and other livestock being chased around in summer ;)
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I don't assume, I live amidst them...Especially love the fields with cows ;)
 
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EdwardL said:
Not a good news story, is it?

On a brighter note, we had someone who kept sheep in a field we used to own. We were chatting to him one day while leaning over the gate and looking at the lambs and our labrador was trundling around in the field. She chased - actually it was more running after - a lamb and the lamb pooh'ed. The labrador immediately stopped to eat the milky pooh. Then she ran at another lamb until it pooh'ed and she immediately stopped to have another snack.

We and the sheep owner couldn't stop laughing :)
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Hopefully you stopped her doing that, another farmer might have seen her as a threat.
I was walking through a field once and a hand reared lamb came over to the dogs, I shooed it away, the farmer said it's ok it was
used to dogs etc, being hand reared. I really didn't want my 2 thinking lambs could be sniffed etc. though
 
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