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The doghouse

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Original poster

My dog has just done the worst thing

711 replies

93sdb · 09/02/2021 15:53

Hes just chased a sheep into a pond in the snow. Im heartbroken.

When he was younger he chased sheep before and he has ALWAYS been on a lead since then. Sheep or not.

We were walking down a field a walk through daily that has never had sheep in in the 20 years I've lived here. He was on his extendable lead and it was on loose but he was right next to me. I opened the gate to go through and felt him pull on the lead. Saw the sheep and put the clip on so he couldn't get any closer and the lead snapped. He chased the sheep and would not come back. One jumped into a pond and I finally got him back.

Another girl from the house nearby helped me get the sheep out but it went into shock but was still breathing. I put my coat around it and sat with her whilst she called the farmer and another lad came over and said the farmer was going to be furious as this had happened earlier this morning. I gave them my number said I would pay any vet bills etc and left it with my coat wrapped around it.

The farmer has just called and spoken to my dad as I was too upset. He's shouted at my dad (understandably) and is threatening to get the police involved and wants immediate compensation and threatened to come and shoot my dog. The sheep is alive and is warming back up in this man's house and is expected to make a full recovery and I am going to walk up there later (WITHOUT THE DOG) to check on it.

I just wanted somewhere to write and be devestated. Im upset how the farmer spoke to my dad as it was a complete and utter accident but I understand his frustration. I wouldn't of even walked in the field with my dog if I had any clue there was going to be sheep in there. He hasn't got excited around them since the first time but I would never risk it.

OP posts:
Hopingformydb · 09/02/2021 20:41

@Honeyroar yes the farmer does have the right if a dog is harassing sheep at the time and if the dog was biting attacking. He DOES NOT have the right to then days later or hours later hunt the dog down and shoot it when the sheep is OK. The sheep is fine and he was still threatening to shoot the dog and approach her private property thats not OK.

Stroppyshite · 09/02/2021 20:44

I really feel for you. Bloody extendable leads. I have had one snap too, they just aren't strong enough against a dog with a mission to get somewhere. If you like more freedom for Ddog, a long line is much better as they're so much stronger.
Not quite the same, as I didn't have to deal with a farmer, but my dog killed a deer. It was horrible and I felt irrationally angry at D dog, who was just doing what instinct had driven him to do.
I don't think police will take this further, even if angry farmer pursues it. Yes, your dog wasn't under control, but it wasn't through lack of trying. Like Saucery, I think stay away for now. You have done the decent thing and he will contact you if need be, but hopefully not.

GlendaSugarbeanIsJudgingYou · 09/02/2021 20:44

Christ some of these responses.

Right now there is a sheep sitting in a farmer's kitchen less pissed off than some posters on this thread and it got chased into a freezing pond today.

Shit happens. Sometimes all we can do is be sorry and learn from our mistakes which OP clearly has.

derxa · 09/02/2021 20:46

Right now there is a sheep sitting in a farmer's kitchen A likely tale

GlendaSugarbeanIsJudgingYou · 09/02/2021 20:50

Well, that's what the farmer told OP.

It could be warming itself by the aga as we speak.

Idontlikethatnameanymore · 09/02/2021 20:53

@derxa

Right now there is a sheep sitting in a farmer's kitchen A likely tale
Quite. And tomorrow the Queen is popping over to poach my eggs for breakfast.
MintyMabel · 09/02/2021 20:54

If you do have insurance, that kind of action can void it, as it is an admission of liability

What absolute rubbish. Admitting liability doesn’t void insurance.

Fuckitsstillraining · 09/02/2021 20:59

I think the farmer and his flock would say there was a very good reason to not continue walking there.

myfriendsgivebadadvice · 09/02/2021 21:03

derxa

I have personally seen a sheep sitting in a farmer's kitchen for exactly this reason.

He is probably worried sick about the lambing and what this means.

myfriendsgivebadadvice · 09/02/2021 21:03

Well, not sitting exactly :) But there, bedraggled and grumpy.

CaraDuneRedux · 09/02/2021 21:05

@myfriendsgivebadadvice

derxa

I have personally seen a sheep sitting in a farmer's kitchen for exactly this reason.

He is probably worried sick about the lambing and what this means.

derxa is a sheep farmer!
GlendaSugarbeanIsJudgingYou · 09/02/2021 21:10

derxa is a sheep farmer!

Does that change what myfriendsgivebadadvice has posted in some way?

PADH · 09/02/2021 21:11

@myfriendsgivebadadvice

derxa

I have personally seen a sheep sitting in a farmer's kitchen for exactly this reason.

He is probably worried sick about the lambing and what this means.

It was quite common for my granda to have sheep in the kitchen. Even more so when lambing as the ones who's mother's died he'd have to hand feed and if they were runts stayed in the house until they could tolerate the cold.
GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman · 09/02/2021 21:15

@Snoringmouse
Oh here we go, refusal to believe it.
Didn't say I didn't believe it.
This ridiculous line of all farmers being caring angels is not true.
Didn't say that either.

As for the location of slaughter houses, I would think that a shorter journey is less stressful. That was all.

myfriendsgivebadadvice · 09/02/2021 21:17

derxa is a sheep farmer!

Well, clearly I must have imagined it.

myfriendsgivebadadvice · 09/02/2021 21:20

The farmer is not necessarily doing it out of the kindness of his heart if there's a prospect of saving a lamb. You don't have to go all James Herriot.

Ritasueandbobtoo9 · 09/02/2021 21:24

It’s a sheep to you. It’s a livelihood to him and his family.

Eckhart · 09/02/2021 21:28

@Ritasueandbobtoo9

It’s a sheep to you. It’s a livelihood to him and his family.
And so it's ok for him to threaten to get his gun!
LowlandLucky · 09/02/2021 21:30

bitheby How dare the Farmer but his livestock in his bloody field, what a bloody cheek. Are you for real ?

Ritasueandbobtoo9 · 09/02/2021 21:30

The dog shouldn’t have been worrying sheep. Have you seen a dog worrying sheep? It’s horrific, the sheep will ram themselves into fences to escape or like this time into freezing water.

derxa · 09/02/2021 21:31

@myfriendsgivebadadvice

derxa is a sheep farmer!

Well, clearly I must have imagined it.

We often have newborn lambs in the house. In a box filled with straw. They're the poor wee ones that have had a bad birth. But not a full grown sheep. That's my experience but others might be different.
Scrowy · 09/02/2021 21:31

I don't even know where to start with this thread.

But have to agree it's highly unlikely the sheep is sitting in the farmer's kitchen. We have 900 sheep and DP can identify each and every one of them by sight, would stay out all hours of the night to keep an eye on one lambing or unwell but it if he brought one into the house I would think he had lost his mind. It would be terrified and when sheep are scared they shit everywhere!

Can people stop referring to public rights of way as 'public footpaths' they are RIGHTS OF WAY through private land not paths through a park. People and their dogs must stick to the right of way, a ROW through a field doesn't mean the whole field is open to use.

I find it laughable and slightly terrifying when people try to use out of date, vastly edited, plain untruthful propaganda from YouTube etc to claim that they have seen the horrors of the farming and meat industry in real life.

It's so frustrating when you are part of that world and you KNOW people are absolutely talking crap.

Think about it, why would anyone send a pregnant sheep to slaughter, the lambs when born would be worth far more than the farmer would get for the sheep who would be virtually worthless from a meat perspective due to being in lamb.

Sheep fleeces are virtually worthless. We got £131 this year for the total fleeces from all our 900 sheep, that's not profit after shearing costs that what we got before we took any costs off. Why would shearers injure or half kill a valuable breeding animal to get a virtually worthless fleece from it?

Tail docking and castration happens in the first few days of the lambs life, is done by a rubber ring, it works in much the same way as tying a piece of thread round a skin tag.

OP if this had happened to one of our sheep the reaction you would get would probably depend on the weather and how many other dickheads we had already had to deal with that day. If you explained that the lead broke we probably would have been very understanding.

Impatiens · 09/02/2021 21:33

For the poster who said the farmer should put a notice up about sheep being present, just nonsense. It’s his bloody field.

Yes, and also a public right of way. If people are trespassing that's different but if you know the public will be going through your field why wouldn't you put a sign up to ensure they're aware?

Scrowy · 09/02/2021 21:36

@Impatiens

For the poster who said the farmer should put a notice up about sheep being present, just nonsense. It’s his bloody field.

Yes, and also a public right of way. If people are trespassing that's different but if you know the public will be going through your field why wouldn't you put a sign up to ensure they're aware?

We have signs on every gatepost that has a footpath passing through it. It makes no difference.

I don't think people are wilfully ignoring them but the dogs on leads signs are everywhere across the countryside so I think most people have just become 'blind' to them and think they don't really apply.

derxa · 09/02/2021 21:43

I don't even know where to start with this thread. Nor me Scrowy I like dogs but their instinct is to chase prey animals.
The idea that we don't care for our animals is ludicrous. I recently had a poor ewe down with listeria and we spent a week treating her and coaxing her to eat. Lifting her up and turning her. In fact I make hardly any money from my sheep but we breed high quality rams and ewes and that is why I do it. You can portray me as a vicious murderer if you like. That's your opinion. I try to give my experience on here to try and balance the argument.

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