My dog chased sheep

[Cath2907]

I am so upset and embarrassed. Was walking my dog yesterday afternoon off lead down a country lane. He is 15 months old and normally very reliable with recall. He is nice with other dogs, comes back when called and disinterested in people. We walk there daily and he's never shown much interest in the adjoining fields and the animals in them. Totally out of the blue he winkled his way through the hedge along the lane and shot into the field and chased the bloody sheep. I was with my Dad and we both went into the field attempting to call the dog back. He was totally oblivious. The farmer turned up (he happened to be passing) and told us off - all the time the dog was belting round the field after his poor sheep. Finally I caught the dog but only once he'd isolated a sheep in the hedge.

He is a small dog and wasn't trying to bite the sheep (he had plenty of opportunity to do so) but I do know that his behavior can still kill the sheep and had they been in lamb he could have caused them to abort.

I am still struggling today to look at the dog. I can't believe he nearly got himself shot and was at risk of killing a poor flock of sheep. I am so upset and ashamed of him and myself for letting him get into this situation.

His walk today was almost entirely on lead as there are so many sheep around here and I can never risk that happening again now he has a passion for sheep.

Not sure there is anything else I can do. I appologised to the farmer, the sheep were ok and the dog will be now treated by me and the family as high sheep risk and never allowed off lead anywhere there is the slightest risk of him coming into contact with sheep.

Anyone had similar? Will I eventually forgive myself for being so stupid?

I would not allow you to walk your dog off lead with my horses
Nobody asked to.

My spaniel did this when he was a youngster. He was off the lead at the stables which were in the middle of moorland. I saw traffic stopping on the road and went to look and there he was, herding a load of sheep up the main road. The sheep are allowed to roam free on the moors so he has been on a lead ever since. A local farmer did suggest that he should be left with an angry tup in an enclosed space and he would never go near a sheep again...

Our local farmer helpfully puts notices on gates to say when sheep are in residence, so we know to put the dog on a lead. He did have a problem with a large dog that killed one of his sheep once, and he told me that if he saw it again he would shoot it. So I would definitely keep your dog on a lead at all times. It's shocking when dogs do something like that out of character, though. My last dog used to go crazy around horses, so I always had to keep her on a lead in case one suddenly appeared, but the first time was a real surprise.

It's shocking when dogs do something like that out of character

It isn’t out of character though, that is the thing.
We are so used to seeing our dogs as beautiful, kind, sensitive little fur babies that snuggle with our kids and know when we are sad that we completely forget, or completely refuse to believe that, they are in fact predatory animals who derive great pleasure from chasing, and sometimes killing small animals.

Most dogs have some degree of prey drive, something as simple as chasing a ball is a manifestation of prey drive in fact.

It's shocking when dogs do something like that out of character

It's not out of character. Too often these issues arise when dog owners don't understand that their dog is a dog, an animal that for the entire existence of dogs and their relative species, as hunted other animals to kill them and eat them. The very name for the teeth that all other animals use for killing and ripping meat is the same as the descriptor for dogs - 'canine.'

There is solid evidence that dogs have been evolving into efficient killing machines for 40 million years. A few thousand years of domestication has taken dogs and honed their natural skills so that we now have distinct breeds which either hunt to kill big things (hounds, all of them, even cute beagles and lazy whippets,) or little things (terriers, specialised in crawling into small spaces and shaking the animal it finds there till it is dead,) or chase down and pick up things humans have killed, (retrievers, including spaniels, labradors or other loveable breeds,) or defend property from predators too much for a human to take on (shepherd dogs were not originally developed to round up sheep, they were selected for their braveness in killing mountain lions or bears that might attack your herd in the middle of the night.) Even the poodle developed from Puddelhunds - an old german breed of dog used in hunting and retrieving ducks.

It is fair to say that the very nature of dogs has evolved as a direct result of their enthusiasm in working as hunters and herders with humans. It would be out of character to say they don't have a prey drive!

I walk my dog round the same Loch every week. Today I stopped at a different section (I fancied a different cafe at the end 😳😛) and we went along a section I have been but never with a dog. It’s a great dog friendly area there are nature reserve area where dogs are not allowed they are clearly marked we don’t go there. It’s surrounded my fields normally they are ploughed fields so carrots hay etc. However today I happened to look up and see sheep, as I say not an section a regularly walk the dog but lots of off lead dog walking as it’s away from everywhere (or so I thought.) my dog is just about 13 months and right in the teenage phase but also 45kg of pure nonsense. I am just recovering from an operation so I had to think quickly which is difficult. Rather than make a fuss and get the dog on the lead I turned round said let’s go back “geekdog” and also sausage and he ran full pelt back the way we came. I think we were far enough away for him not to notice the sheep, however he was my responsibility it would be his nature to “play” with the sheep and I wouldn’t ever take that risk.
Your dog didn’t do anything wrong you did and your are lucky you have a dog and are not fined. Anytime I ever am near sheep I would put my dog on its lead. Normally I know this was a surprise as it is a dog walking area, clearly though a nice area for lambing too.

I know this is not what this thread is about but I think it's indicative of the stupid attitude of a lot of people towards their dogs.

I was in a very well known pet stores this morning, they sell rabbits and guinea pig that are on display in open top runs.

Some idiot woman was holding her medium sized dog up so it could look over the top to the run and see the 'bunny rabbits'.

And yes, I'll probably be told that it's none of my business but I did pull her up about it. She said the staff allow her to do it, apparently they're not allowed to stop people doing this sort of thing, so she's going to go on doing it.

With stupid people like that in charge of dogs is it any wonder there are so many incidences of livestock worrying.

We're semi rural here so one or two towns surrounded by farms and there are sheep everywhere.

Sometimes I just despair.

No one is saying it’s okay to worry sheep but let’s not pretend they are anything other than as a money making exercise.

Thats part of it, but not the whole story. No one is pretending, sheep are more than just money