Sheep Attack

Personally, I think the time has come when dogs, unless being worked or trained should be kept on leads, ask Dartmoor sheep farmers what they think!
Social media on our local groups has gone crazy, a 'rescue' dog 'teddy' (Alsatian) was 'lost' by it's owner near Haytor, the amount of money and time put into searching for this dog is crazy, groups of people, thermal imagers, and drones, less effort is put into finding a lost person in Devon compared to this over the top nonsense.
But not one person has asked the question, if it is still wandering around on Dartmoor what the hell is it eating?

It's a minefield for someone to shoot a dog worrying sheep, but I can tell you, if a picture of dead sheep and a dead dog beside the sheep was posted on social media a lot more people would be a lot more careful when out walking their pooch, but I wouldn't want to be the person responsible.
 
I have sat in sheep paddocks with every dog l own,lurcher,terriers and spaniels.
Late spring best,let the lambs come up and the ewes mooch about,pup on lead,give treats and positive reinforcement.
Not had a problem dog ever,never say never,but where you can teach them no threat,fear,or excitement, it works well.
My mate next door has had to shoot three dogs in 5 years,sad for him,the owners and for the local image of farmers.
 
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A older female farmer with sheep offerd to let my dog spend some time in a pen with a couple of Tups to quell any urge to chase sheep. Didn't take her up on the offer.
I’ve seen this old farming method done before and it can work espeacially with tups but you have to be careful , probably better with a few ewes as there not no hard on the dog as a tup would be but it does work .
 
Thankfully iv never had a dog do anything like this but I know plenty who have.its one of the very first things I di with pups earlier the better.two farms I shoot foxs on in Derbyshire have zero tolerance too free roaming dogs.even the hill walkers wont stray off the footpaths 🥺🥺
 
Thankfully iv never had a dog do anything like this but I know plenty who have.its one of the very first things I di with pups earlier the better.two farms I shoot foxs on in Derbyshire have zero tolerance too free roaming dogs.even the hill walkers wont stray off the footpaths 🥺🥺
Up near The Slaughtered Lamb?......
 
Social media on our local groups has gone crazy, a 'rescue' dog 'teddy' (Alsatian) was 'lost' by it's owner near Haytor, the amount of money and time put into searching for this dog is crazy, groups of people, thermal imagers, and drones, less effort is put into finding a lost person in Devon compared to this over the top nonsense.
But not one person has asked the question, if it is still wandering around on Dartmoor what the hell is it eating?

It's a minefield for someone to shoot a dog worrying sheep, but I can tell you, if a picture of dead sheep and a dead dog beside the sheep was posted on social media a lot more people would be a lot more careful when out walking their pooch, but I wouldn't want to be the person responsible.
If it's anything like my dog, it's eating inordinate amounts of sheep **** and the litter left by the anorak wearers.
 
Horrible. I’ve seen that a few times here and always ‘not the dogs fault’ ‘first time this has happened’ and ‘normally he is so well behaved.’

They may not look it but most sheep will be trying to get pregnant at this time of year. Even the sight of a dog can cause them stress and potentially birthing or fertility problems.

Ideally people should stay out of fields with sheep. If you have to cross use a lead. Elsewhere (and this is often an unpopular view) but 95% of the time i think a dog should be at heal (aside from a burst of speed in the garden first thing or after getting out of a car). Dogs like black and white and its hard for them to understand that sometimes they can run free and sometimes they can’t. The hidden impact of a deer running around in a wood on birds, animals and deer is not good. If a dog needs exercise, its owner needs to walk further! As an aside I hate this new creation of a dog exercise paddock - again bad training.
 
Let's see if I can win the prize for the most unpopular opinion on this thread:

Personally, I don't think anyone should be allowed to keep a dog unless they've got enough land of their own to exercise it on.
 
Let's see if I can win the prize for the most unpopular opinion on this thread:

Personally, I don't think anyone should be allowed to keep a dog unless they've got enough land of their own to exercise it on.
Just to give the opportunity.........
Are you also of the opinion that the same ought to apply to humans, children, and that we can get rid of footpaths, open access and so on?
And what about immigrants, while we're at it?
 
Just to give the opportunity.........
Are you also of the opinion that the same ought to apply to humans, children, and that we can get rid of footpaths, open access and so on?
And what about immigrants, while we're at it?
This thread is specifically about dogs.
 
Let's see if I can win the prize for the most unpopular opinion on this thread:

Personally, I don't think anyone should be allowed to keep a dog unless they've got enough land of their own to exercise it on.
Being a land owner does not make you a good dog owner- lots of farm dogs have got shot in my area for stock worrying-

Also the welfare of some sheep dogs on some farms is very questionable. Chained to up upturned bath with water running straight though sleeping areas when it rains-

There good and bad in all sections.
 
Being a land owner does not make you a good dog owner- lots of farm dogs have got shot in my area for stock worrying-

Also the welfare of some sheep dogs on some farms is very questionable. Chained to up upturned bath with water running straight though sleeping areas when it rains-

There good and bad in all sections.
I know that.
It's more a case of having somewhere to exercise your dogs that doesn't impact on other people and which minimises the risk of such attacks on other peoples' property. I don't think that would be an unreasonable requirement to owning a dog.
I know there'll always be occasions when a dog gets loose from a supposedly secure area and causes havoc, but most problems are caused by irresponsible dog owners who can't control their pets in the countryside.
 
I know that.
It's more a case of having somewhere to exercise your dogs that doesn't impact on other people and which minimises the risk of such attacks on other peoples' property. I don't think that would be an unreasonable requirement to owning a dog.
I know there'll always be occasions when a dog gets loose from a supposedly secure area and causes havoc, but most problems are caused by irresponsible dog owners who can't control their pets in the countryside.
I have never shot a dog chasing sheep that was accompanied by its owner- I probably in double figures on what used to be called latch key dogs in the 80’s 90’s. - don’t see the problems like that now thankfully. The farm I used to help on was always contacting the police informing they that more dogs had been shot.
 
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