To remind you that, tourist season coming up, KEEP YOUR DOGS ON THE LEAD

[Jux]

Please.

Every year, hundreds of sheep and lambs die in fear and pain due to carelessness or maybe ignorance from dog-owning town dwellers. Sheep and lambs, which a farmer, their friends and family, have tended carefully and endeavoured to give happy lives to, for years.

And then a tourist with a dog forgets, leaves their dog running free, and bam! Sheep and lambs terrified, mortally wounded, many abort their babies, either then or soon after. And the farmer, their family? Well, sometimes it's the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Now imagine, that your lovely little dog, tiny thing, is chased and mauled by a bigger dog, which is just having fun, only wants to play, doesn't mean any harm. Nevertheless, your dog is badly mauled, may not recover no matter how hard the vet tries, even the magic Irish vet from tv can't help it. Your cute little dog is still so traumatised that it dies without even realising you're there stroking its head and murmuring comforting noises. It never calms. It dies still terrified. Believe it or not, that is what your dog - big, small, medium, teenytiny - is doing to the livestock. And the more scared the sheep get, the harder they try to run, well maybe your dog thinks they're playing too. They really really aren't.

So please, any idication of livestock, get that dog back on the lead.

Happy UK holidays!

Thank you. 🌻

We can but dream! Sadly most people are idiots and won't listen.

I lost a fair few sheep to 2 particular dogs in our village years ago. After a few words with owners that went unheeded I shot them, I took photos and posted them on the village facebook page (before facebook got all sensitive about that sort of thing, nowadays I am sure my account would get banned and photos removed fast).

It went round the village like wildfire and I quickly became known (mostly amongst the entitled owners of badly behaved dogs) as that bastard who will actually shoot.
To this day people walk through the village, get to my gate, clip a lead on their dogs and walk across my land. When they get to the river bridge that marks my other boundary they literally unclip the lead as they walk across despite the fact that the neighbour often has horses in that field.

Everyone round here knows I WILL shoot. And when I'm riding around on my quad the rifle is often in plain view on the back as a little reminder.

I'm so sorry about your sheep. Dogs can be a menace, but it really IS the owners.

My cousin lives on a tiny island in the Pacific near NZ. She had two lovely dogs, but the male was unruly and was always getting out and into her near neighbour's chickens. Bad result. The farmer warned her he'd shoot next time (patient guy, it was the fourth or fifth time. Admittedly my cousin did try to keep her dog in at night, but he was an escape aritist, got out, got into the chickens and was shot by the farmer.

When I sympathised with her about the loss of her dog, she shrugged and said "my fault, I didn't keep him in and I was warned". She loved that dog, but she was so sensible about it.

I saw a local post on fb once with pics of dead sheep savaged by a dog, which was the sight the farmer was greeted with that morning. It was heartbreaking and I've never forgotten it. I shared it on my timeline and sent it to everyone I 'knew' on fb. Years ago now and still it happens.

They are talking about possibly introducing legislation so that irresponsible dog owners are fined up to £40K if their dogs worry livestock; hope it goes direct to the farmer. Good thing, I'd support that wholeheartedly.

Do you have cameras up about your fields? That will be the next thing I reckon. More expense for farmers.