Advice re dog out of control?

[Greyhorses]

Hi. This is not my dog but a friends.

Friends dog escaped from her land, she lives on a farm and the dog is normally behind a fence but there was a gap that she hadn't noticed. The dog is never normally unsupervised or off lead outside of private land but is only 6 months old and bouncy (would be intimidating to have running up to you if you didn't know it!)

Puppy ran outside and saw person who got a fright and ran. Puppy gave chase, not sure what happened as both dog and person ran out of sight but puppy is normally friendly and proberbly thought it was a great game, not good for scared person though. Dog is a collie so likes to herd people but has never hurt anyone but is a collie and she is aware they can nip when herding, she heard dog barking but it was a playful chasing bark not aggressive (the runner didn't know this though!) Dog returned 5mins later but no sign of person. Owner shouted at person to stop but they kept running. Friend looked for person to apologise/explain however couldn't find them. She has no idea if the person was hurt.

Friend is now distraught, feels terrible and wondering if she will be asked to have the dog destroyed. The dog is a farm dog and is nervous when people come onto the land, hence why it is normally secured or on a lead, so could fail a temperament test if the police were to come round to assess it. She is normally VERY careful (much more than me!) and never lets the dog around strangers or strange dogs without proper introduction just incase.
Should she report it to the police first and explain? Obviously the escape route is now gone...
Would the police seize the dog for something like this?

[tabulahrasa]

No, the likely worst case result of the runner contacting the police would be them coming to have a chat about what your friend is putting in place to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Unless the runner was seriously hurt anyway.

[SunshineAndShadows]

Very unlikely - at most she'd get a warning from the dog warden unless injury has occurred. Regardless of the DDA its unlikely that the police will follow up unless there has been an injury.

However she has a duty of care both to other people and to her dog - her dog needs to be well trained and socialised - it being a farm dog is absolutely no reason for it to be nervous, nippy or aggressive. Those behaviours are a result of poor socialisation and training, not of it being a farm collie (I speak as the owner of several farm collies). The dog is still young enough that she has the opportunity to address these issues before they become more problematic but your friend needs to wake up and take some responsibility. It is unfair to keep the dog locked away, because she can't be bothered to train and socialise it.

[GuinefortGrey]

Almost this exact scenario happened with my friend's farm collie at about the same age - jogger got nipped passing the farm. I remember her saying if it happened again he would have to be put down but I'm not sure if that decree came from the jogger, the police, the dog warden or just her own thoughts on the matter. As a working collie he attempts to herd literally anything that moves but he has grown into a very gentle and sweet animal who has learnt that humans are off limits and (touch wood) there have been no more incidents.

I really feel for your friend. I have a couple of rescue dogs who have various "issues" and one of them attacked another dog when we were out walking - the other dog was not on the lead and approached my dog who was on the lead. My dog picked the other dog up and gave him a good shake whilst I screamed at him "No!!!". I was very shaken up by the incident and desperate to apologise to the other owners and make sure their dog was ok. If he hadn't been I would have offered to pay vets bills etc. However, the other owners just picked their dog up and walked off without a word to me, even as I shouted "Is he ok?" after them. I was very upset and really wish they had stopped at the very least so that I could be certain their dog was not injured .

[Greyhorses]

I have spoken to her as she's so upset and shaken, she wanted to report it so she could explain to the police or whoever that it's only a puppy and that it was a mistake that won't happen again.

She does take the pup to agility and has attended dog training but admits she needs to socialise more. She walks with my dogs and also other friends dogs and walks the dog every day in different places (it isn't solely a farm dog) but she struggles with recall...hence why it's on a lead most of the time not because it's a nasty dog

[Chrisalice]

What a shame, I'm sure she feels sick with worry.

I hope no one was injured and it is just a sobering prompt to your friend to up the socialising efforts / manage the dog extra carefully.

Tough in a location where there are few passers by - even if improved in other places it can still be a different matter when someone appears in an unexpected context, especially moving quickly or doing something that isn't really calm and steady.

[EasyToEatTiger]

I'm sure if there was any problem, your friend would have already had a visit from the police. It is awful having dogs who are out of control, really grim. Joggers are often pretty stupid around dogs, and collies are only doing what collies do. One of ours used to nip joggers but luckily didn't get into trouble. Also some people are trouble makers when it comes to dogs, and do things that terrify the animal. Your friend sounds lovely.
One of our dogs used to run for the hills and stay out for hours at a time. He even leapt out of a bedroom window to escape. He was hell on legs and I went through trainer after trainer after behaviourist after behaviourist. The dog knocked me over, pulled me over, gave me rope burns, in his bids to run away. It was horrible. I finally found a sheepdog trainer who put him in his place, and since then he has been a different dog. It took about 2 years to sort that one out.

It is hard work, but when you have the situation better, it all seems like a bad dream!