Hi Guys,
I have very little knowledge of the above title but today heard some awful news from a friend. My wife's best friends mum was away in her caravan in wales last week and had her 18 month old collie/husky cross with her. Dug (the dog) is a really gentle palsied dog and wouldn't hurt a fly. She was walking him down a proper footpath that crossed a farmer field. Dug was off his lead and ran into the field as the gate was open. There was no livestock in the field. Before Karen got into the field she heard a bang and a yelp. turns out the farmer had shot dug. As he was running back to Karen he/she shot him again. Karen was on her own and had a dog covered in blood. He's going to be ok but has cost her £1700+ which she wont get back as the insurance doesn't cover being shot. Dug has his leg in traction and is full of shot which will need to be removed over a period of time.
Like i said i don't have much or any idea where the law stands with this but think its disgusting that it could happen to an animal. In my mind the farmer shouldn't have shot him, as there was no danger to livestock and it was a public footpath/right of way. Any input would be great!

Unfortunately I think if the dog was on the farmers land he probably does have the law on his side.

However - that being said I would nail the flucker to the wall. Personally I would say that I went into the field with the dog and the farmer was shooting at me. That's the only way the popo would do anything.

When I was a kid the farmers kid down the road shot our cat when she was in the field behind our house about 2 feet from our fence. The police didn't want to know. Cat survived but we had to pick up the vet bill. 

The police won't have any interest in this incident, despite the law on animal cruelty fitting well with his actions.

She would almost certainly succeed in county court though, provided she could prove that the field had no livestock. There has to be some kind of risk and the dog has to be out of control, before you can justify the action. I would sue his ass!

On a side note, what an utter t wat!
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Cheeers for the help. Will feed this back to her. If it was me an the farmer shot my lab he would find himself on the wrong end of his shotgun! i could understand if dug was causing problems or looked like a fox but he's quite big and white!

He should have explained himself in any case! I would also tell her to write to the chief supt of the local division, explaining everything and insisting his shotgun licence is reviewed. My Previous RR's!
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What an Hole I would beat him with his bloody shotgun ....has she spoke to the police and if so did she mention that she was retrieving the dog when it was shot a second time ....wedo have a pc here maybe he will know more "RANGEISM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED"
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Sad series of events

I guess that with todays daft laws the farmer would be perfectly within his rights to 'shoot to kill' a much loved family pet. I would understand that if the farmer had suffered repeated loss, or continued stress to livestock from various 'attacks' from particular dogs venturing onto his land, but, if all the details are correct in this particular situation, it just proves the farmer is probably some kind of inbred, bloodlusting C*?T.

If it was my dog - and I felt his actions were uncalled for - then this tosser would be currently trying to remove
his shotgun from his arse...

...it is a tough one this (because the law is probably on the farmers side) so I wouldn't know what to suggest (well nothing that didn't mean I broke the law myself), and as we all know - any personal legal action against the farmer would quite easily run into thousands and most likely fail for claim of compensation

With the help of Citizens Advice or Legal Aid and little expense - maybe your friend could cause a fair few problems for this horrid person (with the 'farmer' having to answer bundles of numerous legal correspondance explaining his actions throughly) - Not much satisfaction to be had by doing this I know - but at least this trigger happy fool may think twice before shooting at another beloved family pet again.


However awful this has been for your friend and her pet - I am glad to hear 'Dug' the dog survived and wish him/her a speedy recovery

Cheers for the info/advice/opinions. Will pass them on to her. Not sure if she will do anything but I know I would be atleast trying to get the vet bill sorted but that's me an I quite like an argument when I feel something is injust. Think the best she can hope for is to cause the farmer a headache with paperwork and questions. I'm glad Dugg is ok as well. He's a good dog and didnt deserve to be shot.

I'm really sorry to hear about this sad incident.
Although not a farmer I live on a working upland sheep farm and have dogs myself so know a little about what's right and what isn't as we get a lot of visitors here with dogs some of which are out of control.
Main thing is the farmer can only claim a defence to a charge of shooting a dog if it was actually worrying sheep BUT proving that it wasn't will be almost impossible after the event without independant witnesses.
The farmer has to report it to the police within 48 hours do you know if she reported it to the police?
The risk of trying to take action against the farmer now is that almost certainly he would submit a counter claim against her for sheep worrying which is also a criminal offence.
The other issue is use of the firearm,normally if a dog really was attacking a flock a rifle would be used if licensed and if a shotgun is used it must be done at very close range to avoid unessary suffering which is what seems to have happened here being shot at long range and inflicting those horrendous injuries,once again she has serious grounds to make a complaint BUT it would risk a counter claim from the farmer.
If it helps dogs do not have to be on leads on a public footpath going through an enclosed field with livestock in it BUT if not they must be under close control actually on the footpath and they don't actually have to be attacking the sheep just worrying i.e. chasing them and causing fear.
Hope this helps and really hope her dog makes a full recovery.

Edited later to clarify some points. Banished back to RRS for the moment !!!

Last edited by Seepee on 11th Apr 2011 4:58pm. Edited 1 time in total

having read this i feel we are only getting a vague outline of what happened via a third party - something the op admits

i shoot and have many farmer/landowner friends and this is strange to say the least

how does anyone know if the 'shooter' was the farmer/landowner?

and it just seems unlikely that a farmer would just happen to be in that field at that time with a gun?

its outside the shooting seasons so at best he would be after rabbits/pigeons etc and to be truthful he'd appear to be too bad a shot to pursue either of those

might i suggest it was a 'local' idiot or pikey?

i'm very sorry the dog was injured and am pleased to hear its making a recovery

maybe the forum could help by raising donations to cover 'dugs' med bills - i'd certainly contribute

without actually seeing the event I don't think that it is fair or right to comment on either side.

We get a lot of tourists in our area, who think they can walk where they want, leave gates open, walk through standing crops, dump litter, don't KEEP THEIR dogs on leads and frequently allow them to chase livestock and have a general disregard for the countryside and those who struggle to make a living on it.

April is spring lambing, and I have seen on numerous occasions so called gentle dogs undertake a total metamorphosis and and go absolutely berserk chasing ewes and their lambs and also killing lambs. It doesn't take much stress to induce a heavily preganant ewe into losing her offspring.

Why was the dog off a lead? It certainly wasn't under control otherwise it wouldn't have dashed off, furthermore it was also out of eyeshot - otherwise she wouldn't have just heard a bang and a yelp. A Collie cross Husky is a deadly combination to let lose anywhere there may be livestock - do the maths.

I am not for one minute condoning what happened, but there are always two sides to a case and I have never known a farmer shoot a dog for no good reason, it is in their interests to protect and nurture life.

Whatever the situation was he would / will have to justify his actions.

Last edited by Vogue on 11th Apr 2011 11:38am. Edited 1 time in total

Vogue wrote:

without actually seeing the event I don't think that it is fair or right to comment on either side.

We get a lot of tourists in our area, who think they can walk where they want, leave gates open, walk through standing crops, dump litter, don't KEEP THEIR dogs on leads and frequently allow them to chase livestock and have a general disregard for the countryside and those who struggle to make a living on it.

April is spring lambing, and I have seen on numerous occasions so called gentle dogs undertake a total metamorphosis and and go absolutely berserk chasing ewes and their lambs and also killing lambs. It doesn't take much stress to induce a heavily preganant ewe into losing her offspring.

Why was the dog off a lead? It certainly wasn't under control otherwise it wouldn't have dashed off, furthermore it was also out of eyeshot - otherwise she wouldn't have just heard a bang and a yelp. A Collie cross Husky is a deadly combination to let lose anywhere there may be livestock - do the maths.

I am not for one minute condoning what happened, but there are always two sides to a case and I have never known a farmer shoot a dog for no good reason.

quite correct


in some respects far too much bullshit about the 'right to roam' - some have to make their living in the countryside

when i worked as a sporting agent we had stalking/grouse shooting ruined by those who have no comprehension of rural life and the rural economy

F**k the law, its a family pet not live stock, if anyone shot my dog they would get a serious kick in 2004 black Vogue TD6

Vogue wrote:

without actually seeing the event I don't think that it is fair or right to comment on either side.

We get a lot of tourists in our area, who think they can walk where they want, leave gates open, walk through standing crops, dump litter, don't KEEP THEIR dogs on leads and frequently allow them to chase livestock and have a general disregard for the countryside and those who struggle to make a living on it.

April is spring lambing, and I have seen on numerous occasions so called gentle dogs undertake a total metamorphosis and and go absolutely berserk chasing ewes and their lambs and also killing lambs. It doesn't take much stress to induce a heavily preganant ewe into losing her offspring.

Why was the dog off a lead? It certainly wasn't under control otherwise it wouldn't have dashed off, furthermore it was also out of eyeshot - otherwise she wouldn't have just heard a bang and a yelp. A Collie cross Husky is a deadly combination to let lose anywhere there may be livestock - do the maths.

I am not for one minute condoning what happened, but there are always two sides to a case and I have never known a farmer shoot a dog for no good reason, it is in their interests to protect and nurture life.

Whatever the situation was he would / will have to justify his actions.

I completely agree but even if a dog is sheep worrying it should be despatched humanely not shot at long range with a shotgun,if that is what happened.

regarding signs it's very difficult to have signage everywhere on a large farm covered in public footpaths,we have signs at the moment at every public entrance point now insisting on 2 metre leads on all dogs due to lambs and ground nesting birds for the next 3 months.
I run a syndicated fishery and had some signs made up which I put on gates at both ends of the fishery,on average they were ripped down in less than a week by people who objected to me asking them to keep their dogs either on a lead or under full control i.e. away from anglers baits and hooks and out of the water which was private property.
I received a written complaint from the Parish Council who had a woman complaining to them after it had eaten a baited hook which cost her hundreds of ponds to remove surgically,I had to point out that it was her responsibility to keep her dog on the footpath well away from the riverbank and the anglers. Banished back to RRS for the moment !!!

Last edited by Seepee on 11th Apr 2011 12:43pm. Edited 1 time in total