Dog attack and ignorant owner

I find your response equally ridiculous rutland. I think there are just as many out of control riders, as there are dog owners. And I maintain if a horse is startled by a loose dog, that isn't bothering them, the rider should be questioning their own training, not insisting the dog is on a lead. There's absolutely no reason a horse should be permanently scared of harmless dogs. On bridleways I don't expect families etc to pander to what my horse may take a dislike to, whether its a kid on a scooter, a pram or a dog, I expect my horse to deal with it.
 
My mare is about as dog-proof as a horse can get. On my old yard there were always dogs running about and going in an out of stables, as my YO had two collies and a German Shepherd, and was happy for liveries to bring their dogs up so long as they didn't fight with her's. It did get a bit annoying when people (including YO) didn't clear up the dog muck, but at least my horse was used to dogs everywhere. One livery had a boxer that would play in the school while people were lunging! So I don't mind well-behaved loose dogs, as I know my horse isn't scared of them even if they stop and sniff at her. The problem is, having been chased (on her) by an out of control German Shepherd, I'm still very wary about dogs that are off the lead. After all, how do I know they're the well-behaved sort until they're too close for me to do anything about it if they aren't? So I do prefer it when owners call their dogs to heel or put them on the lead when passing, mainly because that simple act shows that they have control of the dog and it is unlikely to chase!
 
HashRouge said:
My mare is about as dog-proof as a horse can get. On my old yard there were always dogs running about and going in an out of stables, as my YO had two collies and a German Shepherd, and was happy for liveries to bring their dogs up so long as they didn't fight with her's. It did get a bit annoying when people (including YO) didn't clear up the dog muck, but at least my horse was used to dogs everywhere. One livery had a boxer that would play in the school while people were lunging! So I don't mind well-behaved loose dogs, as I know my horse isn't scared of them even if they stop and sniff at her. The problem is, having been chased (on her) by an out of control German Shepherd, I'm still very wary about dogs that are off the lead. After all, how do I know they're the well-behaved sort until they're too close for me to do anything about it if they aren't? So I do prefer it when owners call their dogs to heel or put them on the lead when passing, mainly because that simple act shows that they have control of the dog and it is unlikely to chase!
Click to expand...

I agree.....out highland didn't used to be bothered by dogs, as I say mine run around the yard, drink out of the trough with the horses...all fine and dandy. Since pony was dived-bombed by the dalmation when he was plodding along minding his own business and scared badly, he's now very wary of dogs away from the yard.

Not his fault.
 
You can borrow my shitland, when a dog comes up to him he turns around and chases it, so funny, must be the stallion instinct in him, i wonder if he has lost it since being gelded.
 
littlelegs said:
I find your response equally ridiculous rutland. I think there are just as many out of control riders, as there are dog owners. And I maintain if a horse is startled by a loose dog, that isn't bothering them, the rider should be questioning their own training, not insisting the dog is on a lead. There's absolutely no reason a horse should be permanently scared of harmless dogs. On bridleways I don't expect families etc to pander to what my horse may take a dislike to, whether its a kid on a scooter, a pram or a dog, I expect my horse to deal with it.
Click to expand...

C'mon now littlelegs, this is NL. All common sense should be forgotten when you log in ;)



ETA, maybe I should demand that the whipper in has all the hounds on leads on Saturday?
 
We had an incident at the farm i ride on in the summer, Horses and sheep were in field minding their own business when a staffy start causing problems. I run over with a lead rope catch it and waited for owner to turn up. Half an hour later she arrived, hurled abuse at me and walk off, apparently animals are not supposed to be loose in our fields, i bite my tongue she walks on with dog taken off my lead rope. 15 mins later i hear shouting and see her running towards me, little bit worried i go over to find out the problem. The dog is in the pig pen and she cant get it out. I told her if she helps me carry the pig food down i will go in and get it but as its close to feed time I'm not going in without them being fed (10 pigs in pen). This was met with a lot of abuse and i was informed the boyfriend was coming and she ran off. I go to the feed store grab feed and start heading down, half way down i am met by a man running he stops and asks me whats going on so i told him and he helped me with pig food. Arrive at pig pen to find dog and lady now in pen being harassed by pigs, boyfriend cracks up laugh helps me throw food in to pigs so they leave the girl and dog alone so they can escape. Boyfriend apologised apparently she can be dramatic this is as she storms off without saying anything.
Seems like alot of drama that could of been avoided by a little training. My dogs are off a lead lots, but they have good recall and are used to horses. I have also had a lot of people down to get dogs used to horses i think it's a case of common sense all round and a lot of problems can be avoided.
 
what have i started :eek: :P

Haha ! i think in this situation it was a very unfortunate accident that happend and couldnt be avoided. The owner was to blame not the dog, or my horse but a lazy owner . It could of gone worse a baby could of been killed, the horse pts due to injuries my sister attacked etc. I think at the end of the day it is manners when you see a horse to put your dog on the lead even if they are great off lead (they are unpredicatble) and walk past slowly paying full attention. Same applies for horses slow down to a walk and plod past :) I think we should be able to enjoy a country setting with both dogs and horses but alas women like we met make this difficult.

Our horse is great round dogs always has been and still is, she plays with ours :p But the dog was going to attack and she knew it. I agree that schooling whips are a great idea and i shall start taking one with me. Just a shame my sister is completely nervous :(


Thanks for the replies guys, as a dog owner i am not picking sides but disguisted at the womans actions :)
 
Lol monkeybum, ring the sec & demand all hounds to be kept on leads, after all horses & dogs are unpredictable! Infact, don't go, the whipper in might allow one to go near your horse.
Op- my comments re dogs aren't aimed at you, that situation the woman is clearly an idiot.
 
I'm with Littlelegs on this one. As rider and a dog-walker, I'd hate to see either of our rights curtailed even further by draconian measures. A little common sense and consideration is all that is called for and, so often, lacking.

After all, the real problem here is that you can't legislate against idiots.
 
Out of interest. If a dog chases a horse and is subsequently kicked and hurt is there any comeback on the horse owner as to vet bills/compensation?
 
I imagine it depends on the situation ladyinred. If the dog is minding its own business, under the owners eye & some fool goes galloping past then I'd say its the riders fault for initiating the chase through lack of control. Whereas if the rider is in control, bothering nobody & the dog approaches the horse & gives chase, imo its the dog owners fault.
 
littlelegs said:
If the dog is minding its own business, under the owners eye & some fool goes galloping past then I'd say its the riders fault for initiating the chase through lack of control. /QUOTE]

I disagree with this, unless a dog has a rock solid recall and is likely to chase 'initiated' or not, the owner has absolutely no business letting it off the lead on a BRIDLEpath, where they are likely to encounter large, fast-moving, chaseable objects.
Like I say, I keep mine on lead, one in particular has a very high prey drive and I would not trust him on every occasion, so he stays on lead, it isn't difficult, there are plenty of places to exercise dogs offlead away from horses if you put the effort in and look.

I am super delighted that your dog is great but not all dogs are and not all horses are perfect either and I think both sides should be a bit more accommodating.
Click to expand...
 
The dogs fault.

A well trained Dog, would call off the chase if the owner recalled it. If it doesn't and the Horse kicks. It would be down to the Dog owner. Not sure why owners just can't put their Dogs on leads to be honest. After all it is a Bridleway and not a Dog park.
 
monkeybum13 said:
ETA, maybe I should demand that the whipper in has all the hounds on leads on Saturday?
Click to expand...


No, put you can realistically expect them to be responsive when whipper-in gives them an instruction and not to chase the horses. Rather different from the 'OOh he's never done that before' dog that chases horses on bridleways.
 
littlelegs said:
I find your response equally ridiculous rutland. I think there are just as many out of control riders, as there are dog owners. And I maintain if a horse is startled by a loose dog, that isn't bothering them, the rider should be questioning their own training, not insisting the dog is on a lead. There's absolutely no reason a horse should be permanently scared of harmless dogs. On bridleways I don't expect families etc to pander to what my horse may take a dislike to, whether its a kid on a scooter, a pram or a dog, I expect my horse to deal with it.
Click to expand...

The thing is, littlelegs, horses can be startled by many things besides a dog. No matter how steady a particular horse might be in the company of dogs, there are large birds (pheasants, as an example), rabbits, squirrels, dogs they haven't seen snuffling in the underbrush, anything that might be startled by the approaching horse. If there is a loose dog and the horse spooks there could be a very nasty accident. Even something as innocuous as the wind blowing a plastic bag in the path of the horse and rider. The same is true for well-trained dogs. They, too, can react to unforeseen stimuli. If you think my stance on simple actions of safety are ridiculous, then we will have to agree to disagree.
 
Cc, I see what your saying, but if for instance the dog is walking along & the rider comes racing along out of control, through trees or round a corner, there wouldn't be the time to tell the dog to leave, stay etc. Quite possibly owner too busy jumping out of horses way themselves. And if the same horse is the type who quickly kicks dogs, within a few strides, there wouldn't be time to call dog off before its kicked. I quite agree though, a longer chase the dog should come straight to call. I'm thinking of the two most extreme examples, I accept there's lots inbetween.
 
I always find people get aggressive when they know they are wrong. I think it's embarrassment that darling rex has shown them up ;)

I backed one of mine this summer and had my parents collie doing her 'round up' he got used to her and now ignores dogs who walk in and around his legs or who bark when we walk past their driveway. Just part of bombproofing to me :o

Of course all dog walkers should have control of their pooches in an open place but some don't so I try to help my horse by teaching him to stand when chased and not making it an issue to him.

That said I alway carry a whip in case I need to defend my horse. I had a GS go for my old horse, who I also taught to stand when being chased, and this was teeth bared snapping. No owners in sight so with my horse standing still I managed to crack it one with my schooling whip right across its muzzle. It yelped and legged it back pretty sharp. Didn't like doing it but sure made him go away. Just a shame it wasn't the owners I could of slapped :cool:
 
Rutland, I'm confused as to what your stance is on safety? I'm not quite sure how my dog being on a lead will make any difference to a horse spooking at bags or pheasants? I maintain off lead dogs are not the problem, out of control ones with idiot owners are. And the same goes for riders, horses aren't a danger out in public either, just out of control ones. And tbh, all dogs on leads would solve nothing. The worst dog attack I saw the consequences of involved a dog who was meant to wear a muzzle in public, under the old 3 strikes & out rule. It didn't stop the owner leaving it off lead & unmuzzled in public. As someone else said, you can't legislate for idiots.
 
My dog was off in a split second, and had good recall, until chasing something, something that is being worked on, but not something I had created as a situation prior to this. Tbh we walk on many bridle paths, and I'd say 95% of the walks we meet no horses. I'm not going to keep him on lead for that small chance. Maybe I'm lucky in having plenty of places to walk, I haven't met a horse out walking since this incident 2 months ago, and I can assure you he's walked at least 3x a day! :)
 
Pearlsasinger said:
You were not the only person who admitted that your dog runs into/out of fields. However as you said it was a wheat field that your dog was in, I am amazed that the farmer agrees to this.
There are a lot of people round me who seem to think that it is fine for their dogs to run in and out of fields, including ours which have horses and sheep in them. But then they also seem to think that it is fine to walk a dog off its lead, with no hi-viz whatsoever for animal or owner, along a narrow 40mph road in the dark - morons!.
Click to expand...

Maybe I own said field, maybe my dad does? People always assume things though on here don't they ;)

I wouldn't however walk my dog off lead in the dark anywhere - being black I wouldn't see her and she'd most probably trip me up :)
 
littlelegs said:
I find your response equally ridiculous rutland. I think there are just as many out of control riders, as there are dog owners. And I maintain if a horse is startled by a loose dog, that isn't bothering them, the rider should be questioning their own training, not insisting the dog is on a lead. There's absolutely no reason a horse should be permanently scared of harmless dogs. On bridleways I don't expect families etc to pander to what my horse may take a dislike to, whether its a kid on a scooter, a pram or a dog, I expect my horse to deal with it.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with this - I expect my horse to behave and do what i ask of him, not leg it when he chooses. In my experience there seems to be a heck of a lot of horse riders about these days who seem to think their horses are terrified of so many different things (it's a wonder they even get on board!) and it's always someone else's fault when they lose control.

I am not saying this is what happened in the OP's situation. That was unfortunate and I imagine, had the rider not 'dismounted' the horse wasn't likely to have run far, it was just a spook that sounds like it unseated the rider and the woman who owned the dog should (a) have known how it may react and have been prepared (not having it attached the the pram for a start!) and (b) should have apologised at the very least!!!

If I meet a horse with my dog I won't necessarily call her right back to me if she is just sniffing about and minding her own business. I may tell her to wait where she is but I really have not come across many riders with dog-phobic horses. I also do not expect dog owners to recall their dogs to them if they are just trotting about doing their own thing. in my mind bridleways are for everyone's enjoyment not just horse riders.
 
Situations like these make me sooo mad. Can seriously sympathize. I broke my arm because a loose dog came charging out of nowhere mid canter and sent my horse into a bucking frenzied panick. Still have pain from this break.
 
Bridleways I use have walkers on too. When the grounds hard, its not unusual to see families with a pram, or a kid on a bike/ scooter etc. Didn't think it was that bizarre tbh.
 
I would be notifying the dog warden and starting a claim for personal injury for your sister. If you have home insurance they may have a legal helpline as will the BHS if you are a gold member. NO WAY would that owner get away with this. Make sure you get an incident number from the police too.

That STUPID woman should have that dog removed from her pronto, and the dog should be with someone who understands and can control and train a rottweiler correctly. They are lovely, lovely dogs in the right hands but this one sounds like the owner is interested in it as a status symbol and sadly, this gives the breed a reputation it does not deserve.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top