Aibu to think I should be ok to exercise my well behaved dog wherever I like in fields

[Scrowy]

I'm not BU because my dog is a farm dog and the fields are my fields.

Sadly however the local dog owners seem to think that our fields (some with footpaths, some without) are fair game and that they have an equal right to use them as they see fit.

This week we have politely asked 6 people with loose dogs to remove themselves from the pasture we have just separated some lambs into. There is no footpath in that field but it has a nice view.

During lambing time this year we lost 4 lambs and 1 sheep to sheep worrying. About 5 years ago one dog killed 24 lambs in one go. Every week we are aware of minor incidents of sheep worrying, fortunatly most don't result in death but do always result in stress on the animals.

Also this week we have sent some older sheep to slaughter. Out of 30 of them 24 of them were condemned due to Echinococcosis, a disease passed on to sheep from dog poo and only identifiable at slaughter.

Neosporosis is another disease passed on from dog poo do cattle. It causes the cattle to abort their calves.

Letting your dogs poo on farmland is directly putting farms out of business.

Letting your dogs 'play' with sheep causes death, even if your dog doesn't actually maul something at the time.

You wouldn't walk into a shop, knock down a display and break stuff without expecting to have to pay for damages. Why do people think that the countryside is fair game?

I'm all for live and let live, I want people to enjoy the countryside and support it. I also want people to realise that it's not just there for their amusement, that some people are trying to make (an increasingly small and desperate) living from it.

It surely doesn't even matter whether they are fenced in fields or common land, if there are farm animals people shouldn't let their dogs run free and should clean up after them. On our holidays in the Alps I saw many notices up on fences about dog fouling (along the lines of 'this is our dinner, don't use it as a toilet' with picture of cow / horse and dog). I've only once or twice seen a similar notice in England. So maybe people do need to be made more aware of the risks to livestock from dog mess.

So in the woods is the public footpath separated from the rest of the woods by fencing? Or are there signs stating that only the footpath is public? That's the part that I thought sounded confusing.

You can shoot dogs IF they are in the act of sheep worrying AND the owner is not in the vicinity

No CCTV out there. I love dogs. LOVE them. But these daft bastards are messing about with peoples livelihoods. Surely once you've shot one, word will get around.

Screw making people aware, if you're in the countryside you learn the code and fucking follow it.

That makes me so angry. People seem to be becoming more and more entitled and short sighted.

The wood has 3 gates and a stile.

All three gates have Private on them.

The stile is new at the request of local dog walkers. It allows acces to a narrow footpath that goes in a straight line through the wood (a two min walk tops) to the other side of the wood. In the past the footpath was used by local children getting to school. The school no longer exists. The path now just leads to the wall at the other side of the wood. Because there is a right of way through the wood (to the now non existent school) people assume this means they have right of access to the whole wood.

They don't.

We have a sign on the stile but it is ignored.

AFAIK a right of way and a public path are different.

YADNBU, people seem to be perfectly ok to gush over cute lambs and calves but give absolutely zero shits that they are living creatures that their lack of consideration endangers. Not to mention the financial implications.
Although I think all the calls to shoot the dogs are a bit extra, it's the gobshite owners that are fault. I do agree that trying to get the dangers out in the public conscious is a good idea as a first step though.

I know it would cost, but could you put fences on either side of the path through the wood?

missy it really isn't down to a landowner to fence off a footpath or make idiot proof signs every few feet to remind people.

It's quite simple. If you plan to walk off the road, you check first for the public right of way, and stick to it. Rather than assuming everything is public unless clearly marked private.

Just like I don't have a fenced off path through my front garden to the door, or a sign to indicate my garden isn't public. But I still wouldn't expect to find someone sat in it and using the excuse they were confused.

That sounds difficult OP. I'm from a city so would be entirely clueless if I were a visitor but I would always pick up dog shit, never let dog chase or worry animals and absolutely would not trespass.

In your situation i would probably have some big signs make and dotted up around

"In 2012 24 lambs were killed by an out of control dog on this field" and some suitable warning

Also other signs up with the info about the disease passed on to make dog owners aware. Would even attach some dog shit bags to the sign for them to help themselves

I hope this is resolved quickly though with no more loss of livestock or stressed and anxious animals

How did one dog kill all those sheep? What sort of dog was that? That's a killing spree, was the dog put down?

Stop walking your dogs in your fields. Instead follow the trespassers home and walk your dogs in their garden.

It killed lambs not sheep Titania, so pretty easily really. It was a poorly trained German shepherd cross of some sort. It belonged to a neighbour who was renting at the time. They moved fairly sharply and I don't think the dog was put down in the end. The police were involved though.

I'm quite angry on your behalf about the locks being cut off, however because it is so blatant it also gives an opportunity.

Replace the cut locks, and put appropriate Private Property signs by them. Then set up one of those motion or IR cammoflaged wildlife cameras. Maybe like this www.amazon.co.uk/Stealth-No-Glo-Trail-Camera-STC-G42NG/dp/B01N1A2NN7/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1502377404&sr=8-19&keywords=trail+cam&tag=mumsnetforum-21

A few criminal damage convictions might help to get the point across.

My sister built a narrow metal corridor in her field along the public footpath using massively tall palisade type fencing. Should guess it cost a lot but she was sick of dogs running all over the fields shitting everywhere. It's unsightly and the locals were up in arms but bugger all they an do.

I won't walk my dog through any fields with livestock in. Ever. She's a giant sighthound.
Though I did do a walk over the downs and find cattle somewhere I wasn't expecting them. We gave them a VERY wide berth, I kept her on a short lead and would have picked up any poo.
Is picking up dog poo enough or can they still pass diseases on? Sorry to be stupid but as we avoid farm animals usually I don't know.

Yadnbu. Sadly I think many people are uninformed or just plain stupid.

I have just moved to the country and I think I am the opposite of all these numb skull dog walkers! Thank you to those that have mentioned the Country Code, I have now looked it up and am familiarising myself with it. Although up until now, I have only walked on paths (and only the path bit) that clearly have a "public footpath" sign. I have seen people wandering around on bits of land and wondered exactly how they know they are allowed to! Obviously, they just don't...

" Most of the land is common land (fell). "

Why should your money-making ventures as a farmer who grows and slaughters innocent animals have precedence over the rest of the population out for a walk with or without their pet?

Another vote here for shooting the dogs.

Your word against the owner as to whether they were chasing sheep.

Urgh, these people are idiots. I'm the opposite, country girl transplant who became a city woman - but ffs when you move to the country you should be learning this stuff.

I think that contacting a local MP and trying for an education campaign is a good way forward - massive signs would be part of this.

Either that or swap the sheep for massive cows that will take the dogs on...

Yeah good luck walking over that land Counterpoint if there are no sheep grazing it.

It would be a wall of bracken. That's why there are agreements for it to be grazed by sheep.

You see everyone, counterpoints attitude is exactly what we are up against.

Try putting up a notice that some horrible disease that effects dogs is in the area and advise they don't walk there.

i think you should get a couple of cctv cameras in trees etc and start charging people with criminal damage. Who actually cuts away locks? What entitled arses

Why should your money-making ventures as a farmer who grows and slaughters innocent animals have precedence over the rest of the population out for a walk with or without their pet?

Because most of the population is too lazy to produce their own food and prefer to pop to Tesco and buy food grown by farmers with money earned from their own 'money making ventures'.

And for those people who walk across the footpath on my neighbour's land, bag the dog poo, and then leave the full bags in the field...... not sure what planet they are on......

And for the people who took my yard gate off its hinges because they couldn't be bothered to climb the newly restored stile next to it.......

And the people who brought wire cutters on their walk along the footpath, so that they could make a hole in the wire boundary fence big enough for their dog to fit through, so that my neighbour's sheep could wander through into my fields...... that was helpful

And the people who put their hand on the electric rope, NEXT TO THE SIGN ON THE ROPE WARNING THEM THAT IT IS ELECTRIC..... well, I think they will be eligible for a Darwin award at some point in the not so distant future. Let's hope they don't have a pacemaker.