Grimsbyforever
Member
- Location
- Co. Antrim
the case studies on that website are horrifying!! one of them 'bit someone causing a quite serious injury' 'we successfully argued the proceedings were invalid' what hope is there for sheep?!
Dogs That Attack Sheep
- Thread starter Frank-the-Wool
- Start date
the case studies on that website are horrifying!! one of them 'bit someone causing a quite serious injury' 'we successfully argued the proceedings were invalid' what hope is there for sheep?!
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
It is quite expensive to get a dog euthanaised these days but costs nothing to give to one to a 'rescue' or 'free to good home'.
Many small rescues are actually a neat way for the operator to make an income. Are their accounts open to the public and regularly scrutinised by The Charities Commissioner? I doubt it.
Absolutely agree that a rescue should be held responsible if an animal they rehome goes on to cause loss or damage. They also ought to carry insurance against that possibility.
Dogs often have large litters and anyone considering breeding should be aware that their responsibility extends to culling unwanted or defective puppies. Many think breeding a litter would be an educational experience for the kids but fail to realise that puppies become less attarctive to buyers as they get older. What happens then?
Many small rescues are actually a neat way for the operator to make an income. Are their accounts open to the public and regularly scrutinised by The Charities Commissioner? I doubt it.
Absolutely agree that a rescue should be held responsible if an animal they rehome goes on to cause loss or damage. They also ought to carry insurance against that possibility.
Dogs often have large litters and anyone considering breeding should be aware that their responsibility extends to culling unwanted or defective puppies. Many think breeding a litter would be an educational experience for the kids but fail to realise that puppies become less attarctive to buyers as they get older. What happens then?
Lili
Member
- Location
- Aberystwyth hinterland
Just noticed that following solicitor link above their definition of the 1953 Livestock worrying Act states that it is an offence to have a 'dog among sheep that is not on a lead'. I always thought that it was actually that the dog was 'under close control' which could be taken as expecting a dog to walk to heel etc. Are we in fact entitled to expect that anyone walking a dog through sheep is legally supposed to be on a lead please?
llamedos
New Member
This is the wording of the act.
(c)being at large (that is to say not on a lead or otherwise under close control) in a field or enclosure in which there are sheep]
RedMerle
Member
No the actual legislation doesn't say it must be on a lead.
If a dog has a control order slapped on it should be on a lead yes.
I personally would have my dogs on lead around sheep. And I would challenge anyone I saw who didn't have their dog on a lead to do so. But if its walking close at heel and they are not near the sheep
/causing distress to sheep legally you can't enforce that as it's not an offence.
llamedos
New Member
As galling as it is, you really have no reason to challenge anyone whos dog is not on a lead and under close control.
It can be used against you to local authorities and the police.
RedMerle
Member
I know the law
Always stay within it it
I wouldn't be breaking the law by politely requesting someone climbing over my stile into my sheep has their dog on a lead.
If someone parks their car over my driveway I've no legal power to compel them to move it. I can however politely ask them to do so.
- Location
- East Sussex
That then brings on the need for a definition of 'close control'
or does the 'and' mean it has to be both led AND under close control?It's a pity that dog breeding isn't run as in Sweden whereby the breeder is financially responsible for genetic health issues until the dog is two years old. Add in a clause for public liability and make it illegal to sell dogs unless a registered breeder (and so subject to the previous liabilities) and the cretins who breed the majority of dogs in the UK would be stopped. Anyone can breed anything, call it anything and charge hundreds for it on Preloved. The same applies to most KC breeders too.They have no obligation to homecheck, health screen etc. It's utterly depressing and results in masses of dogs, loads of which end up in rescue because the idiots that buy are as bad as the idiots that breed and sell.
Until breeding and selling dogs is addressed there will continue to be an ever increasing problem with rescues trying and failing to cope.
Equally as more inappropriate and incompetent owners let their dogs run riot and leave dog sh!t all over the place in urban areas, more councils are banning dogs from public areas. So more people head for the countryside.
And it's the dogs and livestock that pay the price for the stupidity of people.
Until breeding and selling dogs is addressed there will continue to be an ever increasing problem with rescues trying and failing to cope.
Equally as more inappropriate and incompetent owners let their dogs run riot and leave dog sh!t all over the place in urban areas, more councils are banning dogs from public areas. So more people head for the countryside.
And it's the dogs and livestock that pay the price for the stupidity of people.
CopperBeech
Member
- Location
- A Welsh man lost in England
One of the biggest things that has led to it . . . . . is people like country file, telling everyone to get out, go walking, embrace the countryside. . . .
Personally id rather they all just stayed at home.
Personally id rather they all just stayed at home.
- Location
- Fife
Good idea in principle. But how would you avoid it becoming
a) merely a tax on dog ownership
b) a weapon for antis/animal rights extremists to prevent people owning working dogs (both stock and hunting)?
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
These days you need to go on a course and sit an examination to do anything, so why not to own a dog?
The dog licence was a farce and I suspect the micro chip scheme and registration will be too.
The dog licence was a farce and I suspect the micro chip scheme and registration will be too.
I'm well aware the bureaucrats who actually make the licence will f**k it up but the idea is good
farmerm
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
Had our first ever dog attack recently. 2 ewes injured, 1 of which might have been put down had we not also the welfare of her lambs to consider, though she is not out of danger yet. We had the massive good fortune that the attack was promptly distrupted by our neighbours or it could have been catastophic. I was armed and on site within minutes but the dog had left the scene... but as more good luck would have it, I located it moments later making its way back towards its owner, nearly a mile away. The lady was rather shocked to see a very angry, armed farmer rally driving accross a stubble field to intercept her animal and load it into his truck! Police gave me two options. Option one was insist it goes to the CPS to decide if the case goes to court and let a judge decide on the fate of the dog and any compenstation. Option two was to agree to a community resolution whereby the offender agrees to pay a level of compensation asked for by the victim, keeps the dog and a police caution. Not sure I will ever know which was the right thing to do, it would have been an easier decision had I not met the dog and spoken to the owner for quite some time before the police arrived.
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
The dogs themselves are not at fault. Any breed may be a sheep worrier from a Peke' to a mastiff. The problem always lies with the owners. The solution is not to target dogs with legislation but to have the courts recompense sheep owners each and every time. A 'lifetime value' must be placed on any lamb, ewe or tup to reflect pedigree, breeding potential or simply meat value over the lifetime of the animal. Thus, a flock ewe may be deemed capable of 6 crops averaging 150% so she is worth cull value plus 9 lambs and nominal figure for her genetic addition towards an ever improving flock. A system for tups, pedigree ewes and lambs could likewise be proposed. When a dog attacks sheep the court apportions a value to the damage done and orders compensation to be paid. In a flock with a recorded lambing potential valuations could even be allocated to slipped lambs or decreased lambing %.
I'm sure a few high profile cases with women sobbing that their kids were starving or they couldn't afford to change their car this year and some fat b'stard saying he had to give up fags and beer all because his dog got loose would raise public awareness.
It wouldn't be long before some aspiring insurance company started producing pictures of torn lambs and dead dogs saying 'this could be your Fido' selling wayward dog insurance, and raking it in. A small tax on dog insurance could provide an uninsured dog attack fund for untraceable owners/pikeys.
The above may be a bit pie-in-the-sky, but come the revolution that's what I'm going to make law.
I'm sure a few high profile cases with women sobbing that their kids were starving or they couldn't afford to change their car this year and some fat b'stard saying he had to give up fags and beer all because his dog got loose would raise public awareness.
It wouldn't be long before some aspiring insurance company started producing pictures of torn lambs and dead dogs saying 'this could be your Fido' selling wayward dog insurance, and raking it in. A small tax on dog insurance could provide an uninsured dog attack fund for untraceable owners/pikeys.
The above may be a bit pie-in-the-sky, but come the revolution that's what I'm going to make law.
- Location
- Ceredigion, wales
The thing is most people who have dogs have no reason to own one apart from it seeming like a good idea at the time. Of course there are responsible owners but there are many more who wish they'd never bought one and just take it for a walk so it doesn't sh!t in the garden.
I think it would be far wiser to discourage dog ownership so that only those with good reason would bother to buy one.
I think it would be far wiser to discourage dog ownership so that only those with good reason would bother to buy one.
CornishLleyn
Member
- Location
- Wiltshire
Return of the dog licence, plus proper legal penalties for offending owners, not the current slap on the wrist. All dogs now have to be microchipped, but also have the dogs DNA registered to the owner.
Plus a total ban on importing dogs from the land of the travelling pikey.