Bradders Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Thought this may be of interest, espescially the Police advice/warning to dog owners which i have cut and pasted below. Has anyone heard of a dog being shot for worrying sheep or other livestock? http://www.kentonline.co.uk/news/default.a...trecord=-1.#IND The following quote came from the article. "Police would also like to warn dog-owners that farmers or shepherds are within their rights to destroy dogs that are found to be worrying sheep.Q Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNAKEBITE Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 If it is a genuine error then that is bad enough but if it is poor dog handling then shoot the owner. I remember a few years ago seeing an Alsation run into a field of sheep with lambs, whilst it was not causing them physical harm it might have caused them "mental anquish". I was wincing as the farmers pick up was climbing the hill, the dog owner got hold of the dog and scarpered sharpish. It was moments away from being shot I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandersj89 Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 In all the years of farming the family have done, always with sheep, we have only had to shoot one dog. Having said that we have suffered a number of losses caused by worrying. This is mainly associated with ewes aborting lambing due to being chased by dogs. No ewes have been killed by dogs but a few have required vet treatment. In all cases other than the shooting the owners were either in plain view, we knew the dog or we caught the dog and traced it via collar tags or by taking it to the local vets to see if they knew the owners. (Micro chips are a great help here). The owner is then given a server verbal ticking off and we report them to the local police to get a crime number so we can claim on insurance if required. The dog that was shot was a persistent offender that no one seemed to own as far as we could tell, it lived a semi wild life it seems. It was dispatched by my father with the use of a 12g and a heavy load of shot at short range. No one ever complain and no one asked around the village about a missing dog. 9.9 times out of 10 it is the owners fault, not the dogs. Some owners will never learn though. One of the best ways to sure a dog worrier though is to pop it in a small pen with a ewe that has just had her lambs. (Take the lambs from the pen first). The ewe will happily butt the dog to hell and back defending her off spring. In a small pen the dog has no room for escape and soon learns a lesson to leave them be. Jerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevethevanman Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 If the dog is running wild then how will you get to withing shotgun range of it 22 Hornet,222,223,243 should be the ones to use, just pretend that it is a giant fox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNAKEBITE Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 One of the best ways to sure a dog worrier though is to pop it in a small pen with a ewe that has just had her lambs. (Take the lambs from the pen first). The ewe will happily butt the dog to hell and back defending her off spring. In a small pen the dog has no room for escape and soon learns a lesson to leave them be. Get a bigger pen and put the owner in as well, just to make sure a lesson is learnt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandersj89 Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 One of the best ways to sure a dog worrier though is to pop it in a small pen with a ewe that has just had her lambs. (Take the lambs from the pen first). The ewe will happily butt the dog to hell and back defending her off spring. In a small pen the dog has no room for escape and soon learns a lesson to leave them be. Get a bigger pen and put the owner in as well, just to make sure a lesson is learnt. Nah, smallish pen and big angry ram for the owner, preferably a breed that has horns as well! Mind you one of the polled dorset rams we have at the moment would not need a pen and does not have horns. He is mean as hell and will go for anyone even out in the middle of a field. He has had me over on the floor a few times in the past. Jerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 I have had to deal with dogs that have savaged and killed sheep, it is not a pleasant experience. Contrary to what some people might think, the most common breeds I have found involved have been labradors/retrievers and collie types. I can only recall one alsatian and one large cross breed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Browning Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 I also have had to deal with dogs worrying sheep at lambing time before, and believe me it is not a very nice experience. It is most definitely not a case of "pretending it is a giant fox". I also concur with Cranfields experiences, Colllie types/crosses were the worst offenders, and in every case the owners wouldn't believe that "Our Shep" had been worrying our sheep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiercel Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Collie's and Collie X's are more likely to chase sheep as the herding instinct is really in them. Many years ago my uncle was suffering losses by sheep drowning in the stream that flows through his land. one or two a year could happen naturaly but this was up to 2 week. The culprit was a retired sheep dog that would herd the sheep into the stream and not let them out again. At one time this dog was the one that all the local farmers took thier bitches to, as he was one of the best working dogs on the Brecon Beacons. I am afraid that his end was not befitting his status 410 @ point blank range. Tiercel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin.y Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 had a dog shot on our farm many moons ago ,it got into a release pen and killed about 50 birds .The big grip of this was that the owner had been warned 3 times before in the same week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digger Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 always an emotive subject,should the dog pay for its owners stupidity ? when a shepherd on minimum agricultural wage,living in a tied cottage and reliant on lamb bonuses to boost his earnings is faced with a dog causing his ewes to abort cant say as i blame him for pulling the trigger. shepherds owe their living to good dogs,my mate never has less than six collies.two semi retired,two working and two learning and he never lets a dog go,hence he has eleven collies. his vets bills are huge,he loves his dogs and others and its as he says,those who have dogs that " worry " sheep will never attempt to train them out of it. its reassuring to see non of the posts above this condemn a man for protecting his livliehood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurcherboy Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Nor should they. LB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGalway Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 We've had problems with dogs in the past as part of the farm is close to the village and a popular route for dog walking on a nearby quiet minor road. I've had to pull out good ewe hoggets dead from streams and have seen the results of dogs ripping sheep without killing them. Very nearly shot a dog last year as I posted about on this forum. In my area the breeds which have caused the most problems have been JR terriers, hounds and collies/collie x's. In fairnesss no problem with the breeds but it's the owners spoiling them and not working them but letting them run loose which leaves the dog bored which will also turn it destructive. I'd rather not shoot a dog but I wouldn't hesitate if I had to. AFAIK the law here says if the dog is/has/or is about to worry livestock then the livestock owner can take matters in their own hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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