amage
Well-Known Member
Last week while on the beach on my mare we were chased by a vicious looking husky. It's owner had zero control over it and it repeatedly bit my mare's hocks, jumped up at her and was snarling/growling. Thankfully my mare is an absolute saint with dogs...she did give a few mild warning kicks but didn't do any damage. Dog was so out of control that in order for it's owner to catch it again we had to let it foloow me back to yard (1/2 mile or less) and into my mare's stable so he could corner it. Owner apologised profusely and swore that dog would be kept on lead and some serious training would be done. I explained that had I been on any other horse in the yard it would have been very serious as they are fit ready to run racers, not as good with dogs and certainly wouldn't tolerate being bitten/chased/jumped at. My mare was bitten but there were no marks however she has been mildly lame since. Now I am not blaming the dog for that as she is 15 and feeling her joints abit but equally I don't think that all the furore with the dog helped and she was sound before but lameness is jointy rather than related to the bites! Anywho fast forward to this evening and myself and OH went to feed cows & calves who are just moved into field above the beach....to find the aforementioned dog chasing the cows while at the same time having one of the calves cornered with his owner aimlessly wandering around field trying to catch him. The bull had got in alongside the cornered calf so was preventing dog doing any damage but animals were very stressed all the same. Myself and OH ran in and got between dog and cows and chased him off. Poor calves were absolutely petrified...they are still young enough that dog is almost bigger than them! His owner kept calling and dog ignored him so eventually I whistled and called dog and it came straight to me....Where I discovered the poor thing had a collar so tight that the hair is rubbed off down to the skin (bear in mind it's a husky so very thick coat)....no wonder the poor thing won't be caught to go back on lead he must be in agony. No to where I need advice...dog is a liability there is no doubt about that. It is vicious when it is chasing the animals though admittedly was lovely when I caught it and seemed happy to have someone asserting control over it. However we have a special license to use the beach for exercising racehorses and we are very conscious of the fact that we are coming into Spring/Summer and this being a holiday area there will be alot more people around so were this dog to create an issue 1) there is a danger that if a horse got loose it could cause an accident (obviously this is always a risk but an animal outside of our control causing the issue needs to be stopped) and 2) it may only be a matter of time before this dog sees a child on a bike or pony and does the same thing as it has done to our other animals. We want to report it but not sure whether to go to the Guards (police) or dog warden or both. Obviously there is the issue with the collar being way to tight but dog is healthy/well fed etc so not obviously a neglect case which kind of rules out ISPCA. our reason for reporting is as much about protecting our own safety/animals as well as for public interest. I was prepared to write off the first incident but it is now proving a threat to our livelihood (both the dairy and horse training enterprises) so any thoughts? Will police think we are over reacting? Because my mare is so good with dogs and reacted so well the day of the first incident that I actually offered to ride mare if he wanted to do a training session to try and educate dog. Any suggestions? I am worried about dog's safety too as if cows had not newly gone into that paddock they would have been more comfortable in their surroundings and would most def have reacted much more severely. Apologies for the long rambling post but any suggestions greatfully received!
