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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:
EYProvider · 11/02/2021 16:57

@ErrolTheDragon - Of course they view livestock as business assets. If they viewed them as sentient beings and formed emotional attachments - as people do with dogs - they wouldn’t be able to herd them off a lorry and into an abettoir to be slaughtered.

And what a disgusting threat for the farmer to make, whether he meant it or not - which is debatable, as none of us were there.

I suppose his big gun made him feel like a big man. Anyone else making a threat like that would be torn apart on here, but not a farmer, oh no.

If a bailiff threatened to shoot someone’s dog because the dog owner owed someone a thousand quid (which is more than the value of a sheep, given that the whole herd in that article linked to above was worth £17,000), people would be horrified. What’s the difference?

EYProvider · 11/02/2021 17:00

Sorry, should have said flock, not herd.

Obviously I don’t live in a farming community.

Impatiens · 11/02/2021 17:05

Footpaths
This public right of way is meant for pedestrians only. You are allowed to walk your dog as long as it is under your close control. When walking a dog, you must ensure that it keeps to the public footpath and does not trespass into nearby properties. Prams, pushchair or wheelchairs can also be used on a footpath.

That doesn't say a dog has to be on a lead either.

BillieSpain · 11/02/2021 17:06

The farmer did not speak to the OP

The farmer spoke to her Dad. Things get exaggerated and lost in translation I find, in the heat of the moment.

Shooting a dog who is killing/worrying a flock of sheep is damage limitation. It is NOT for revenge.

Farmers love their animals. One of my fondest memories was staying up all night with my friend, helping her father with the lambing. It was magical. He loved them so much. The runts we put in the kitchen and fed them through bottles. they had such lovely lives. They were his life.

EYProvider · 11/02/2021 17:44

@BillieSpain - This was NOT damage limitation; the OP said the farmer threatened to come to her house and shoot the dog.

No one who loves an animal could send it to a slaughterhouse to have its throat slit, so that’s rubbish.

ErrolTheDragon · 11/02/2021 18:28

Of course they view livestock as business assets.

But they don't all view them just as business assets. I think you're completely wrong that many farmers don't care about the animals in their care, being raised to feed people. Presumably you're a vegan so can take the moral high ground but most people aren't.

Anyway, I assume you agree that people shouldn't under any circumstances let their pets terrorise, maim or kill other living creatures?

People need to keep their dogs under control - as the OP knows.

thedancingbear · 11/02/2021 18:29

@ErrolTheDragon

I don't think you've grasped the viewpoint of farmers who've posted here, who very obviously don't just view their livestock as 'business assets'. (Derxa, for instance - she's one name I recognise from posts over the years who is about as far from your caricature as I can imagine.)

The fault in dogs getting shot is squarely on the shoulders of the owners who don't control them properly. I don't think farmers routinely shoot dogs in cold blood - they do so to defend sometimes many other animals. A flock of pregnant ewes, for instance.

The farmer in the OP hasn't, afaik, actually marched round and shot the OPs dog. That sounded like a stupid thing said in the heat of the moment, not a cold blooded action. The OP, I think, understands this.

I'm a dog owner, not a farmer btw.

Astonishing that there are posters willing to defend men's right to march round to people's houses wielding guns.

You've no idea whether it was an idle threat or not. I'm not inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I don't understand why you are.

thedancingbear · 11/02/2021 18:31

@BillieSpain

The farmer did not speak to the OP

The farmer spoke to her Dad. Things get exaggerated and lost in translation I find, in the heat of the moment.

Shooting a dog who is killing/worrying a flock of sheep is damage limitation. It is NOT for revenge.

Farmers love their animals. One of my fondest memories was staying up all night with my friend, helping her father with the lambing. It was magical. He loved them so much. The runts we put in the kitchen and fed them through bottles. they had such lovely lives. They were his life.

And then he had their throats slit in a factory.
ErrolTheDragon · 11/02/2021 18:47
  • Astonishing that there are posters willing to defend men's right to march round to people's houses wielding guns.

I'm not. I don't condone him saying that in the least. But - and I know the OPs case was a genuine accident - there are far too many people who don't keep their dogs under control near stock, or ground nesting birds. Farmers wouldn't shoot any dogs, nor threaten to do so, if there weren't so many cases of pet dogs worrying and attacking livestock.

BillieSpain · 11/02/2021 18:57

[quote EYProvider]@BillieSpain - This was NOT damage limitation; the OP said the farmer threatened to come to her house and shoot the dog.

No one who loves an animal could send it to a slaughterhouse to have its throat slit, so that’s rubbish.[/quote]
The farmer hasn't killed the bloody dog. There is no revenge. There is no damage limitation.

I think you are deliberately being a bit thick.

I said IF a farmer shoots a dog that is killing/worrying a flock of sheep it is damage limitation. It is not revenge.

It has nothing to do with this 2nd hand reported conversation with the OP's dad Hmm

thedancingbear · 11/02/2021 18:58

@ErrolTheDragon

* Astonishing that there are posters willing to defend men's right to march round to people's houses wielding guns. *

I'm not. I don't condone him saying that in the least. But - and I know the OPs case was a genuine accident - there are far too many people who don't keep their dogs under control near stock, or ground nesting birds. Farmers wouldn't shoot any dogs, nor threaten to do so, if there weren't so many cases of pet dogs worrying and attacking livestock.

So you are condoning it then.

Errol, to be clear, in what circumstances is it, in your view, fine for a man to march round a woman's house with a gun?

ErrolTheDragon · 11/02/2021 19:06

So you are condoning it then.

No, I'm not.

Errol, to be clear, in what circumstances is it, in your view, fine for a man to march round a woman's house with a gun?*

Never, of course. If he'd actually done it they should have called the police and had him charged. Obviously.Confused

TwelvePaws · 11/02/2021 19:20

Farmers love their animals. One of my fondest memories was staying up all night with my friend, helping her father with the lambing. It was magical. He loved them so much. The runts we put in the kitchen and fed them through bottles. they had such lovely lives. They were his life.

They were his living, not his life.

He loved them. 🙄

TwelvePaws · 11/02/2021 19:21

If he'd actually done it they should have called the police and had him charged.

I’d have called the police when he threatened to do it. Vile little man.

derxa · 11/02/2021 19:25

@TwelvePaws

If he'd actually done it they should have called the police and had him charged.

I’d have called the police when he threatened to do it. Vile little man.

I'd have done the same if he actually existed.
MrsHusky · 11/02/2021 19:25

@SofiaMichelle

I'm not willfully misrepresenting anything. That just says the dog needs to be kept under close control.

The only time it is a LEGAL requirement for your dog to be on a lead, is if the area is covered by a PSPO, which legally HAS to be signposted to inform Owners the Dog must be kept on a lead.

EYProvider · 11/02/2021 19:43

@thedancingbear - I’ll go further. In what circumstances is it even justifiable for a man to THREATEN to march round to someone’s house with a gun?

Answer: if the man is a farmer and a dog has worried his sheep.

This thread is a real eye opener. Apparently everyone who lives in a farming community is completely desensitised to brutality. If you question a farmer’s right to kill a dog in cold-blooded vengeance, you’re either a vegan or a bit thick.

You wouldn’t expect to find such a Neanderthal mindset on an enlightened forum like this, but you live and learn, I suppose.

TwelvePaws · 11/02/2021 19:45

I'd have done the same if he actually existed.

On here we can only go by what people say happened. I haven’t read anything to think it’s not true and I can be more than a little suspicious. 🧐 But maybe I’ve missed something.
I hope it’s not true though as then there’s not a sheep in distress. Poor sheep.

derxa · 11/02/2021 19:58

@TwelvePaws

I'd have done the same if he actually existed.

On here we can only go by what people say happened. I haven’t read anything to think it’s not true and I can be more than a little suspicious. 🧐 But maybe I’ve missed something.
I hope it’s not true though as then there’s not a sheep in distress. Poor sheep.

I have two ewes that are not very well at the moment. They're not in my house. They're together in a shed with feed, hay and water.
ErrolTheDragon · 11/02/2021 20:00

In what circumstances is it even justifiable for a man to THREATEN to march round to someone’s house with a gun?

I don't think it's justifiable.

My turning around of your post upthread was because you showed no thought for the terror inflicted by the dog on the sheep. The farmers response was excessive - but he didn't start the chain of events.

Fembot123 · 11/02/2021 20:01

@dublingirl66

Sending you lots of love

Sorry these things happen

You did very well considering

Lesson learned
Apologies
Keep dog on lead

Poor sheep and poor you
I bet that's the last thing you needed 😢😢😢

It was on a lead
TwelvePaws · 11/02/2021 20:09

I have two ewes that are not very well at the moment. They're not in my house. They're together in a shed with feed, hay and water.

I have family and friends of our family who are farmers. There’s definitely been times where they’ve brought animals into the house including sheep so I wouldn’t say that’s a reason to doubt the OP.

derxa · 11/02/2021 20:16

@TwelvePaws

I have two ewes that are not very well at the moment. They're not in my house. They're together in a shed with feed, hay and water.

I have family and friends of our family who are farmers. There’s definitely been times where they’ve brought animals into the house including sheep so I wouldn’t say that’s a reason to doubt the OP.

Fully grown sheep? Honestly? Did they wear nappies?
EYProvider · 11/02/2021 20:20

The chain of events was started by a dog with the sentience of a 2 year old child, Errol. It was an accident.

It’s very sad for the sheep; tragic for the flock of sheep linked to in the article above. But no, the farmer’s response was not ‘excessive’; it was the response of a madman who should not have access to a gun.

Apachepony · 11/02/2021 20:31

@EYProvider, the dog is an animal. The sheep is an animal. They have equal rights to each other. The farmer is entitled to kill the dog to save the sheep. Not in revenge - that was probably just anger and upset talking and the OP never updated us on what the farmer said after that initial heat of the moment conversation.