Told by the farmer to keep dog on a lead?

[mudstuck]

I was walking my dog through a field and the farmer came up on his tractor and complained that he had seen my dog off the lead. There are no sheep or livestock around, and I would always always put her on a lead if I there was any chance of encountering any livestock.I did raise the fact that the field was empty with him and he said there are young pheasants going about... I apologised and agreed to keep her on a lead in future. However on reflection I am wondering if he is in the right to ask that of us? My dog doesn't have a very high prey drive at all and lives happily with three house cats. I don't allow her to chase wildlife although her recall, even though it's good, is not 100% and we have had the very occasional chase of a squirrel or deer. She probably would chase a pheasant if she saw one running away but she would never catch it. What do you think? Like I said I am happy to keep her on a lead just for an easy life. I live close to the farmer and don't want the trouble/conflict. Just wondering who is in the right..

@Scrowy

The male lambs will nearly all go for lamb chops when they are between 6 months and 12 months old. By this point the average person off the street are unlikely to recognise them as being 'lamb'.

So they get slaughtered after just six months of life? How long would they naturally live for? 😳

[quote mudstuck]@Scrowy

The male lambs will nearly all go for lamb chops when they are between 6 months and 12 months old. By this point the average person off the street are unlikely to recognise them as being 'lamb'.

So they get slaughtered after just six months of life? How long would they naturally live for? 😳[/quote]
They can live for about 12 years.

The ethical issues of the meat industry are a separate problem. Doesn’t make it any less barbaric/inhumane for someone to let their dog chase and harm livestock or wildlife for fun.

They can live for about 12 years.

That's just sad.

'The male lambs will nearly all go for lamb chops when they are between 6 months and 12 months old'

Omg. Doesn't this ever bother you? can't you try crops for a livelihood? How can these cute sentient animals just be pound signs for you as you pack them off for a distressing trip to the slaughterhouse. Ugh.

@mudstuck @JaniieJones you’re both vegans right? And if you own dogs do you buy vegan food for them?

@Roonerspismed

I think if I was a pheasant, I would rather be chased by a spaniel than shot dress by an arsehole in tweed

Have you seen a dog kill a pheasant? Probably not otherwise you would say it is preferable to be shot outright than mauled by a dog.

'The ethical issues of the meat industry are a separate problem. Doesn’t make it any less barbaric/inhumane for someone to let their dog chase and harm livestock or wildlife for fun.'

No one has let their dog chase livestock. There was a jobsworth farmer allegedly bothered about pheasants that he'd rather his tweed wearing pals pay him to shoot 🙄

They're his pheasants though, his perogative within the law.
There are also plenty of wild animals around which you would not be aware of when out and about.

It's sad a lot of people just think game shooting is just rich people rocking up in tweed paying a farmer hundreds or thousands for a days shooting.

There is a lot of flora and fauna management that goes on behind the scenes and conservation management.

It also supports a lot of jobs and industries in places where there aren't "regular" jobs. Yes the aim of the day is to ultimately shoot a bird or two.

Most people who are against shooting still think it's perfectly acceptable to go down to Tesco's and by a £2.50 caged chicken to eat.

And yes I do own a shotgun, I own a few, I mainly shoot clays but I have gone game shooting once or twice and I took home anything I shot and ate it. No I'm not rich (lowly band 2 NHS worker) and I did not wear tweed.

I’m not pro shooting at all and I dislike the meat industry in this country, but I am a landowner. You have the right to walk on a footpath- with your dog - also on the footpath. You don’t have the right to let your dog run all over the rest of the field, whether there are sheep, pheasants or nothing at all in the field. Some land owners are ok with allowing people’s dogs to run along free while the owners walk through, others aren’t. But it’s up to the land owners. The only right you have is to be able to cross that field on the footpath. Everything else is good will. Don’t abuse the good will. If the farmer asks you to keep your dog on the lead have the manners to do it!

@JaniieJones

'The male lambs will nearly all go for lamb chops when they are between 6 months and 12 months old'

Omg. Doesn't this ever bother you? can't you try crops for a livelihood? How can these cute sentient animals just be pound signs for you as you pack them off for a distressing trip to the slaughterhouse. Ugh.

I take it you're vegan, don't own pets that eat meat, don't wear leather shoes or clothes, then?

I would also assume you don't eat anything that comes from crops or vegetables because insects and bugs are killed to produce vegan food too.

Hi @sunflowersandbuttercups
I'm still waiting for you to show me the law about keeping my dog on a lead during bird nesting season in Scotland? Seeing how you were so vocal about how I'd broken the law and that...

😆

[quote mudstuck]@Scrowy

The male lambs will nearly all go for lamb chops when they are between 6 months and 12 months old. By this point the average person off the street are unlikely to recognise them as being 'lamb'.

So they get slaughtered after just six months of life? How long would they naturally live for? 😳[/quote]
They wouldn't even exist, and neither would the majority of the rest of the herd. If they weren't being produced for meat then the farmer wouldn't have them, nor would anybody else want them. You might get a very few wild in the few remaining wildernesses in the country, but nobody would rear them except as pets.

Grass is a crop, it is harvested and fed to livestock throughout the winter months. We don't want to feed your dog shit to our animals or handle it ourselves. To us it is more important you pick up your dog shit than keep your dog on the lead in an empty grass field. And if you do pick up after your dog, don't leave a bag of shit hanging on branches waiting for the hedge trimmer.

Some dog owners are as thick as mince, vegan mince obviously 🙄 What sort of ‘animal lover’ is quite happy to disturb ground nesting birds
unless they have immediate access to a bit of paper with ‘the law’ on it?

OP, I’m talking about you now, you are NOT an animal lover. Get it? Cruelty to wildlife so your pooch can have ‘fun’ is cruel. I actually feel sorry for your poor dog and all the other ‘vegan dogs’ out there. What awful lives they must lead, scoffing their lentils down twice a day 😮 Your cruelty has been pointed out to you over and over and still you entitlement drives you to ‘prove’ you are right. You are special I’ll admit that.

'take it you're vegan, don't own pets that eat meat, don't wear leather shoes or clothes, then?'

Why would you presume all this because I disagree with a stroppy farmer 'protecting' pheasants (so he can earn money to get them shot) whilst also farming livestock. He either has ethics about animal cruelly or he doesn't.

@JaniieJones I assumed you were a vegan because you said this:

can't you try crops for a livelihood? How can these cute sentient animals just be pound signs for you as you pack them off for a distressing trip to the slaughterhouse. Ugh.

Kinda sounds like you have a problem with livestock farming? Fair enough if you do, but I’d assume you were either a vegan or a hypocrite if you are till happy to pay money towards cute lambs being slaughtered if you think it’s cruel.

@MiaChia

Some dog owners are as thick as mince, vegan mince obviously 🙄 What sort of ‘animal lover’ is quite happy to disturb ground nesting birds unless they have immediate access to a bit of paper with ‘the law’ on it?

OP, I’m talking about you now, you are NOT an animal lover. Get it? Cruelty to wildlife so your pooch can have ‘fun’ is cruel. I actually feel sorry for your poor dog and all the other ‘vegan dogs’ out there. What awful lives they must lead, scoffing their lentils down twice a day 😮 Your cruelty has been pointed out to you over and over and still you entitlement drives you to ‘prove’ you are right. You are special I’ll admit that.

You sound unhinged and unkind. Who are you to say if I'm an animal lover or not, you don't know me. Based on your logic all dog owners are animal abusers unless they keep their dog on a lead at all times? That's insane.

My dog is not allowed to even chase wildlife. I don't agree with dogs chasing things as it causes distress to the animal. I know she would chase wildlife if left to her own devices but that's why we take reasonable precautions. It's called being a responsible dog owner.

@JaniieJones

So you eat meat, but you berated a farmer on here for farming livestock?

If you cant see the problem with that then.... well, if I say what I think then I'll probably get kicked off mumsnet for insulting someone.

'Kinda sounds like you have a problem with livestock farming? '

I do have a problem with livestock farming but I have a bigger problem with arsey farmers having a go at someone legally using a public right of way, allegedly to protect their pheasants so they can shoot them. The op's dog was under control.

Unbelievable. I take it you're not serious. If you are, and you plan to have your dog for many years, put it on a lead when on someone's land. Or be prepared for it to be shot when it remembers it's a dog and gives chase to someone's livestock while you wail 'oh, he's never done that before'.

Responsible access and the law:

www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2003/2/section/2

"In determining whether access rights are exercised responsibly a person is to be presumed to be exercising access rights responsibly if they are exercised so as not to cause unreasonable interference with any of the rights (whether access rights, rights associated with the ownership of land or any others) of any other person."

This is the law that requires you to put your dog on a lead if a farmer asks you to. Your access was interfering with his rights to breed pheasants on his land. What more proof do you need?