[Fieldfare]

...fortunately the dog was muzzled- but apparently would have eaten this particular ewe if it wasn't. I have a good description of the dog. But how to prevent this happening? I have a footpath running the width at the top of our fields. I have now put  a polite notice up at both ends- do you think this will work? Of course Ideally want to run sheep over the footpath with 100% confidence. Your thoughts woulod be most welcome!

[SallyintNorth]

I think the general public genuinely do not understand that the stress of being chased, even by a muzzled dog, is more than plenty to cause a ewe to collapse and / or to lose her recently implanted lambs.  If they did know that I am sure more of them would be a lot more considerate about their use of public footpaths through sheep fields.

Maybe we should lobby Adam Henson to make it the topic of one of his Adam's Farm slots on Countryfile.

[daddymatty82]

dogs on leads at all times and any violating dogs will get shot  on a sign both ends of path should work and get your self a powerful enough gun to shoot the dog or get someone to be on call to shoot it for you at minutes notice is good. sheep and footpaths dont mix so if you going to have pregnant ewes in there be prepared to lose a few in dog attacks that do happen every year all over the country

[VSS]

We had a ewe chased about the other day - by the dog of the landowner 

Pulled a lot of wool out but no damage. Bet she won't lamb though

[Crofter]

I've spotted a black mongrel chasing the sheep across the burn from us a couple of times this week!  The gun cabinet door is ajar, and the clip is filled with bullets.  Now I just have to tell it apart from our black Hebrideans!

[HamishMcMurray]

We have two footpaths through our fields (we have two areas we can close off which are private if we need to) and so far we've been lucky. We've put signs at each end saying that we have young lambs in the field, keep dogs on leads, keep to the footpath etc. We've also turned the gates into high styles to make it harder to get through in the hope that people will go round. In our case going round the field is hardly any extra distance than going through. It is a worry. 

[lachlanandmarcus]

dogs on leads at all times and any violating dogs will get shot  on a sign both ends of path should work and get your self a powerful enough gun to shoot the dog or get someone to be on call to shoot it for you at minutes notice is good. sheep and footpaths dont mix so if you going to have pregnant ewes in there be prepared to lose a few in dog attacks that do happen every year all over the country

Sadly you can only insist on 'close control' which the GP dont understand and which they rarely have. You cant insist all dogs are on leads. Personally if in an enclosed field with sheep I think it SHOULD be law that dogs other than the landowners own sheepdogs etc are on the lead.

[SallyintNorth]

Personally if in an enclosed field with sheep I think it SHOULD be law that dogs other than the landowners own sheepdogs etc are on the lead.

Hear hear

[Penninehillbilly]

Many years ago I was in Wales, there was a sign warning motorists to watchout for sheep  (the red triangle ones), but someone and slung the carcase of a dead lamb over it, that was much more effective than the sign itself.
Would it be feasable to get a photo of an aborted lamb (off internet?) and put that by the gates? saying 'this can happen when your dog runs sheep'.
Just a thought. It may drive the point home.

We don't have sheep, but it really annoys me that people (who should know better) walk down nearby field footpaths and let their dogs run everywhere, they can't see as they come over the brow of the hill whether there are sheep in there.

[jaykay]

Whether you are allowed to or not, I would put up signs saying that dogs MUST be kept on leads and that any dogs running around near sheep may be shot. Don't use the term worrying, it is misunderstood to mean hanging by it's teeth from a sheep's throat, anything less doesn't count Also townies think because we use dogs with sheep it's all a load of over-egged grumpy farmer nonsense- true, I've had apparently intelligent townie friends express this view at my kitchen table 

The most effective signs I ever saw were in the Lake District listing how many dogs had been shot  I suspect it was bluster but it made us hang on even tighter than normal to our dogs ( we were (responsible) townie fellwalkers in those days).

Whose going to make you take down the notices? Anyone short if the Police, ignore. If they turn up you can ask them what they're going to do about the dog problem!

[Rich/Jan]

We have the same problem here n France with the 'chasse' and their dogs.  We have sheep wire surrounding our whole perimeter (at some considerable cost) but the chasse train their dogs to jump over or get under it.  It is an ongoing problem for us and the chassers themselves sometimes help their dogs to get in by cutting the wire.  Gendarmes not particularly interested apart from saying ' shoot the dogs' but it is not really their fault - they are doing what they have been trained to do.  My OH regularly has confrontations with the chassers and we have recently started keeping outdoor pigs which is also a problem as some of the dogs are trained to attack and flush out the sanglier (wild boar).  Most of the pigs are kept in enclosures of sheep netting and electric fencing but the sheep roam free.  We have recently persuaded the chasse to let us know when they are hunting and have agreed to keep someone guarding the pigs until the hunt is over.  Hope this will work - we have given permission to our local chasse to hunt on this condition - rather than just letting their dogs break through. In France it appears that an Englishman's home is not a castle.!!

[jaykay]

Oh I think you'd struggle if you wanted to keep the hunt off your land here. I remember staying on a farm on Exmoor once. When the hunt had gone noisily through one of the two women who owned the place sId that she didn't like the hunt and would like to tell them to keep off their farm 'but,' she added 'we can't or we'd never sell anything at the local mart ever again'

[Lostlambs]

Not that I can add anything helpful but just wanted to comment it really must be difficult to deal with the close proximity of the public. Here I have bone chilling cold but not any foot traffic. We have coyotes, a few wolves and rarely bears or cougars but keep losses down with guardians dogs and llamas or donkeys. Any dogs chasing stock are shot-either by the farmer or by the owner. Here we are allowed to shoot any threat to our livestock-I've never had to yet touch wood.Although I did have a renter threaten to shoot my sheep if they got in his canola field again but since he rents the land from me he was just trying to bully me-they don't deal well here with female farmers,most back in time 40-50 years :wave:from Canada

[kanisha]

having also had a problem of the local chasse in france heres how i dealt with it after finding a pack of hounds running riot across my land. I politely spoke to the local chasse conveniently gathered a short distance from the house and was reminded by them that A I should put up signs and B  also that dogs don't read signs. Not a problem i replied my three dobermanns ( at that time occupying the back of my van and some what excited) would "speak" to their dogs

the following weekend the garde du chasse completed a tour of my land and since then I have never been bothered with huntsmen positioned on the adjacent land so as not to allow their dogs on to mine. except once last year a professional and not from the local hunt who placed his dogs at various points along a route ( not realising his dogs were on private land. at this point my two dogs then "found" him on my property and he was sent on his way with a flea in his ear  his tail between his legs and a rather p'eed off huntsman no problem this year...................... also take your camera and photograph every transgression and dog

[woollyval]

I have a public foot path on 2 of my fields and another field is leased from the woodland trust and has public access at all times. What I have done is put signs on gates and stiles reminding people of the law and quoting it......
Please keep your dog on a lead as it is an offence under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 to have them off a short lead in a field of sheep. Appropriate action will be taken if any dog is found to be worrying the sheep.

This is the law...close control is not enough ....and this has stopped people in their tracks......many people think just having the dog 'under control'.....(in truth not often under control) is enough but I have pointed out to several people that it actually mentions short leads in the Act.