Farmers dogs on public footpath

[Cuppateeee]

Just been on a lovely walk in the countryside, only to be spoiled by a shouty farmer. Need a different perspective on it otherwise it will just wind me up. Will include picture.

Walking with my dog on a lead through a field, staying on the public footpath when I see two border collies barking in the distance. I stay where I am to look for a farmer to check if they are aggressive or not, no one in sight, they are staying where they are but still barking and in the way of where I need to walk, so I went back and walked down the other side of the fence.

I get to the bottom and see the dogs have gone, also notice the gate was open so they could have got to me anyway, never mind I’m there now and go over the stile back onto the public footpath.

Only then I notice the dogs have come back, so again I check to see if I can see the farmer because whilst they weren’t growling they were barking which is intimidating enough.

At this point there is a fence between us so not a problem but I check to see where the public footpath leads and you’re supposed to join the farm track but their gate is open. The dogs are following me and my dog down the fence, still barking, so I decided to walk away from them not wanting to risk what would happen when we reach the open gate. I am at this point on the farmers field.

After a few steps a farmer comes running shouting for my attention, I stop and see what he wants. He said ‘the footpath doesn’t go along there, you’re damaging the crops’. So he was clearly watching me, and would have been able to see that I was uncomfortable with his dogs around.

There is snow on the field so I wasn’t sure what I was walking on but either way I said, sorry I appreciate that but your dogs were being aggressive towards me and my dog so I felt I had no choice.

He kept repeating that if I can’t stick to the path then I shouldn’t go on the walk, which in normal circumstances I totally agree with, but in this case I felt it best, to protect me and my dog.

He insists his dogs are not aggressive, they are with him at this point, still barking but I admit not growling or coming closer, just staying with him, but I said again that I was not to know this and didn’t want to risk anything happening to my dogs.

In the end I walked away because he clearly could not see my point of view.

So was IBU waking on his land or was he. And if he was is there anything I can do to stop if happening to someone else. Sorry for the long post, thanks for reading.

Arrows are my path, dots are the footpath

You really shouldn't have cut across his land. It's his income. You don't walk across it as you risk doing damage.

I loathe farmers.

Not sure i understand you post but you never ever leave a public footpath as you damage a farmers crops. Re the barking dogs is that because you on his land.

@hundredmilesanhour I do understand this, so am happy to be told, but what else was I to do, especially when it could have been so easily solved by the farmer just closing his gate.

YWBU you knew that was not part of the footpath but continued anyway! In your situation I would have turned back when I realised what was happening! Why did you continue when you knew that there were two possibly aggressive dogs up ahead?

How nice of you Street

OP He won't see your point of view as you were trespassing and possibly doing damage. You only have access to the footpath. If you can't see where it goes you shouldn't start out on it!

He is allowed to leave his own gates open and have his dogs on his property, from what you said they were only barking and you were too nervous to make a sensible decision!

And remember, the counry walk was only lovely because people like him work it. Without him it would all be just another housing estate - as is happening all too often where I live!

StreetwiseHercules
How do you feel about food, though?
(I’m not a farmer, but I’m aware that a) they’re not all like the one described in the OP and b) we need them.)

they’re not all like the one described in the OP I suspect they ALL are when someone is damaging their crops or livestock!

The dogs were barking at me whilst I was on the footpath, I only left the footpath to get away from the dogs!

It’s frustrating because if it was my dog out of control then I’d be in the wrong, surely he should have to have his dogs under control on the parts of his land where the footpath goes through?

Where his dogs out of control? Or where they just barking.. alerting him to your presence, which is part of what their 'job' is?

YABU - if you were concerned about the dogs why didn’t you just go back the way you came? Trampling over his crops is not fair, that is not a public path.

You never actually got as far as the open gate as you decided to cut across the farmer's land in anticipation of something happening (or not as the case may be). Is there a reason why you couldn't have continued along the path and then closed the gate yourself when you got there if you were still worried?

I grew up in the country and was told from an early age that you never cross farmers' land. If you absolutely have no choice, you stay at the very edge. So I can understand the farmer being pissed off with you.

You were trespassing on his land and could have just gone back, so yes, YABU. Where I live, a lot of footpaths go through fields which are used by farmers. Their dogs sometimes come out to help herd the livestock. You just don't use the paths if you have concerns about their dogs.

Crops and livestock should be properly fenced in so that the public is not inconvenienced. They rarely are.

“StreetwiseHercules
How do you feel about food, though?
(I’m not a farmer, but I’m aware that a) they’re not all like the one described in the OP and b) we need them.)”

Oh I like food. Not all farmers are completely awful but in my experience most are.

That’s fair enough and I know for next time.

I couldn’t/ didn’t want to turn back because I was 1 an a half hours into a 2 hour walk.

I also didn’t want to get to the gate to close it because by then the dogs would have had full access to me.

Yes, I was nervous, my dog had been attacked before (on a park, not their) and it was horrible, didn’t want to relive it.

Surely I’m not the only one to feel intimidated by two dogs barking and jumping up at the fence, when I can see that it leads to an open gate.

It’s frustrating because if it was my dog out of control then I’d be in the wrong, surely he should have to have his dogs under control on the parts of his land where the footpath goes through?

They were working dogs by the sounds og it, and only barking. That's not really out of control, that's just using their voices. Working dogs will bark to alert people that a stranger has turned up. I regularly used to go to a farm where twelve working dogs would bark at me every time I arrived - just part of what they do.
There are also different laws regarding working farm dogs where I live, e.g. they do not have to be on leads on public paths.

The dogs were only barking though , does your dog never just bark , my dog barks at dogs / the doorbell but it doesn’t mean he’s going to attack anyone .

I don’t think you were U. You were using a right of way. Had it not been for the farmer’s aggressive dogs, you would have remained on the footpath.

If he was watching, he would have been aware his dogs were intimidating you. He didn’t bother to control his dogs so you were forced to take evasive action.

I generally don’t condone leaving footpaths at all. But in this scenario you left it for your own safety.

Crops and livestock should be properly fenced in so that the public is not inconvenienced. They rarely are. Erm... no, never mind! The legal workings of Public Footpaths are beyond some people!

YWBU to walk across a field rather than on the footpath. Regardless of the situation, damaging someone else's property really should be a last resort. You had the option of turning back if you were genuinely scared of the dogs.

Is it definitely a public footpath, or just a right of way? If the latter it is still land which belongs to him and provided the dogs weren't actually causing you any harm he has every right to let them be there, regardless of your fear of barking dogs. If it's a public footpath then you need to speak to the people responsible for it to see if they can do anything.

"Crops and livestock should be properly fenced in so that the public is not inconvenienced."

Since when has a crop 'inconvenienced' the public, Street?!

No it is definitely a public footpath.

And I’m not from the country so I don’t meet many working dogs.
Where I’m from if a dog barks at you when out in the open, it’s a warning not to get closer.

They are protecting their land which is why I felt if I went on their land which is the public footpath, then they would take further action.

I’m a farmer. I do sympathise with you feeling nervous but honestly you shouldn’t leave the footpath, you weren’t under immediate threat and the dogs weren’t out of control at all. I would’ve probably had a bit of a go too, faced with someone who kept arguing my dogs were out of control and they needed to protect their dog, when they clearly didn’t. Live and learn, I guess.