"It's OK, He won't bite"

[RaceTheSweeper]

It sounds like you would like nothing better than for the dog to be shot! Its horrible that the dog did the attack and I'm in no way condoning that but the chap, having got his dog back under control, was probably worried by having to leave his three children (aged 3, 5 and 8) alone on the top of Mam Tor while he did so. The kids would have been horrified and traumatised too and he was probably (rightly) worried sick about them, not to mention his dog's life too in the hands of an angry farmer and his 'mates'.

In the circumstances the dog owner was caught between a rock and a hard place and probably couldn't have done right one way or the other, having failed so abysmally to control his dog in the first place.

And for just a little bit of perspective the real value of that ewe to the farmer might just be in the deadweight at market of lost lambs - aren't something like 15 million sheep/lambs slaughtered each year in the UK? Again there's no excuse for the dog attack other than horrible accidents do sometimes happen and hopefully a really hard lesson has been learned (at the poor ewes expense). And even more hopefully the chap will now contact the farmer and offer compensation and sincere apologies

Very well put Stolly. It is awful that that happened but I feel too many people are just awaiting an excuse to shoot a dog at the moment. Even those under control are coming under attack now. This man should of had his dog under control and like you I hope he contacts the farmer and makes recompense for the loss of the animal. This has never happened to us with our dog but if it ever did I think I would of got out of there PDQ and hidden my pet too, then contacting the farmer and sending him cash through the post! The majority of pet owners are responsible and do have control of their dogs. We never hear about them though as that isnt blood thirsty enough. Well done to the search and rescue dogs with the help of Edale MRT that found that chappie who was lying injured yesterday :-)

[Ilkley Swimmer]

I'm not sure paying off the farmer is a completely satisfactory answer to this problem. Doesn't this terrible incident raise questions about the safety of the three young children?

[djglover]

Just another irresponsible dog owner, I couldn't even begin to defend any of his actions. If we traded the word dog for gun in the incident there would be outrage and I don't see it any different either way.

[brett]

Hopefully, that might be the final post.....

[brett]

My new pup does bite!! Meet Jess (aged 11 weeks)

IMG_20160523_065756[1].jpg

[RaceTheSweeper]

My new pup does bite!! Meet Jess (aged 11 weeks)

IMG_20160523_065756[1].jpg

awww, how cute. Welcome :-)

[PeteS]

My new pup does bite!! Meet Jess (aged 11 weeks)

Hopefully, that might be the final post.....

I do hope so - this thread has long outstayed its welcome and seems to have morphed into a dog bashing post which I doubt was the intention of the original postee.

Lovely pup by the way - labrador?

[brett]

I do hope so - this thread has long outstayed its welcome and seems to have morphed into a dog bashing post which I doubt was the intention of the original postee.

Lovely pup by the way - labrador?

Exactly what Derby Tup and myself feel!

Yup, working Lab

[Derby Tup]

Jess looks a fabulous dog Brett. Looking forward to meeting her soon

[Stolly]

I do hope so - this thread has long outstayed its welcome and seems to have morphed into a dog bashing post which I doubt was the intention of the original postee.

Lovely pup by the way - labrador?

Here bleeding here. Aren't something like 0.25% of all men in the UK in prison? Given an 8.5 million dog population that means that 21,250 of all UK dogs could equally be bad uns to just be as criminally bad as men. Fortunately most dogs are not nearly so wicked