Who do I report this to?

[Midori1999]

One of my neighbours has a dog that is frequently escaping from the garden, both into other gardens and the street, at which point it buggers off. Then, this morning, she has been 'boasting' about it killing a sheep at the weekend.

She reckons she has rang the police apparently, and they have just told her to keep it on a lead in future.

I'm wary of reporting as I am not sure what this would bode for the dog's future (it's a staff cross) but it's likely to end up getting run over or shot at this rate anyway and that poor farmer/sheep.

What a tosser . I doubt the police would do anything, neither would the RSPCA. If you could find the farmer he might be able to take legal action, but the dog would probably be put down

I'd get in touch with the dog warden about a loose dog tbh. That's probably the quickest way of getting something done.

Are you able to say where you are? We've had a spate of dogs killing sheep up here in Cumbria and the police are looking for the dogs/people involved.

I'm pretty certain that if a dog is killing sheep it is very much a police matter and that's who you should report it to if you suspect the dog has killed or is attacking sheep.

The dog warden is the person for wandering dogs.
Is your friend aware that if her dog is worrying livestock that a farmer would be legally entitled to shoot her dog. If it has killed one sheep I would suspect there is an extremely angry farmer somewhere who won't be asking questions when he next sees a dog in with his sheep.

how would she know it killed a sheep? Unless she was there? Dogs just dont go killing sheep willy nilly.

More likely to have been a rabbit or bird if at all.

Person involved is not a friend, more an acquaintance. She was there when the sheep was killed apparently, walking the dog off the lead.

They are morons. When they first had the they went round telling everyone it was from a drug dealer and a pit bull. It wouldn't surprise me if the former were true as these people have relatives in and out of prison. I have no idea if they are aware a farmer can shoot their dog, although I suspect not as they are 'townies'.

It doesn't help that I have a dog aggressive (rescue) Staff cross myself and am pregnant. I keep my own dog on a lead and away from other off lead dogs at all times, but I do worry that I'll be walking him one day and this dog will be out and loose, as it is also not great with other dogs and I really don't want to have to deal with a dog fight.

They are a forces family and I've asked my DH to try and get it dealt with through work channels for now, which may also involve the police, as I suspect this is least likely to get their dog killed.

Oh, and the owner of the dog was laughing whilst telling how she had to wash all the blood off in a big puddle and how funny it was that there was so much blood...

Is there not a level of loyalty within the forces to report to a senior officer when another member is bring the force into disrepute? Knowing how much most of the forces rely on the goodwill with local farmers I would think this might be the route to go.

oh god midori they sound awful. And people like them give people like us a bad name!

The last thing you need is to meet their dog while out with yours. Hopefully your DH can get this sorted 'internally'

sorry, meant to add - I wasnt questioning you, just that people often 'big up' their dogs 'crimes' and embellish the story.

There will be one v peed off farmer around, who will be keeping an eye out for dog walkers, if it was a sheep.

We live in a rural area. The local farmers are extremely tolerant of the dog owners in our community and rarely complain about us walking on their land. In turn, the vast majority of dog owners clean up and keep their dogs under control.

Last year, there was a lab who kept escaping, it was vicious and had attacked both dogs and owners alike, I know the RSPCA and police were involved but I don't know the intricacies tbh. It started attacked the local livestock. First time the local farmer actually caught it on his land, it got shot I am afraid.