Sick to death of irresponsible dog owners

Sadly there are many dog owners out there that have not trained their dogs properly or at all.
Dogs must by law 'be under control at all times in a public place'.
So if the dog can not be controlled in a public place then clearly it should be on a lead.
Please be aware that most dogs are carriers of Tetanus and if they bite a horse they can cause tetanus in a horse (even if it has been vaccinated).
Taking a photo of them sounds like a good idea.
You can also report a dog attack to the police but you should tell them you were in fear of your life i.e you thought that the dog was going to attack you. In which the police are obliged to take action. Always ask for an incident number.
Also remember that a Public Right of Way forms part of the public highway network.
Dog attacks can cause a serious accident and should be treated seriously. Some horses may well be trained not to respond to a dog but the fact is that if the dog attacks and bites a horse it can give the horse tetanus which can prove fatal for the horse concerned.
 
Two of my dogs are Newfoundlands which are a giant breed. They weigh in at just over 11 stone and just over 9 stone. They are intimidating purely on their size but are fabulous with horses. However I never walk them loose on our local bridle path as I never want to be in a situation where my boys could get hurt as well as a horse.
People don't help themselves with dogs, any dog can get over excited when out on a walk etc....it's the owner's responsibility to be in control ALL of the time.
 
Maybe it's time that any dog off the lead out of control that bites or harasses livestock, horses, people or other dogs is PTS, only then wouold these idiot owners take some responsibility.
 
a few weeks ago we were hacking up a bridle way- saw a lady and 2 dogs (one small terrier, other rottie) coming towards us. but they then turned around and headed up the track. we kept going but could not see where they had gone. then all of a sudden the dogs come bounding towards the horses. they spooked, but luckily managed to make them stand, dog barking away and owner shouting at it- honestly for a second thought omg, my horses are going to get hurt- bitten or spook into the ditch on the other side or up further onto the road. so proud of my horses behaving. luckily the dogs backed off, but still did not return straight to the screaming owner. she had walked away from us and then up into a (private) field next to the bridle path, but then had not though to hold on to her dogs!!!
i have a GSDx who is regularly in the barn with my horses, who are used to him and he stays out of the way, but he could still spook other horses. went for a walk on the ridgeway, and there was a horse there. he went on lead as did not want to risk any thing. if anything he would just walk over to say hi, but that could scare the horse or he could be kicked.
 
Irrisponsible dog owners do my head in.

I've got 2 very large golden retrievers. One is "overheight" for his breed by a conciderable amount and weighs the best part of 40kg, he is entire, 6 yrs old and incredibly fit and athletic. If he chose to go there is no way on earth I could stop him on a lead but he is well enough trained that he wouldnt dream of pulling on the lead. Off the lead recall is good except when he is in the water, however he would not dream of chasing livestock (our recall issues only occur when there is water about and the dog has gone for a swim) and he has had a kick from one of my ponies so gives horses a very very wide berth!

The other dog is an failed guide dog (a bit too excitable) so no issues at all there!

If a dog attacked me I'd have no problems letting fly with my schooling whip and god help the dog if it actualy made contact with my horse!
 
I emailed our local forestry commission a few weeks ago about this problem after being barked at and chased by an out of control dog in the woods ( it is a bridleway ). He says its becoming a real problem and there are signs telling people to keep dogs on leads, but "what can I do if people don't read them?"!

Get the bloody ticket warden to walk round and fine them same as you did me for parking my lorry about 10 feet from where it should have been; The fact that someone had parked a car in the horsebox parking area right in front of the mounting block didn't seem to matter. Boy was I mad, and no I didn't pay the fine.

I have had so much abuse over the years from dog owners when you ask them to put their dogs on leads it has made hacking out not as enjoyable as it used to. One lady last week told me to bu**er off and get a life..........
 
Dogs have a right to enjoy life too .
Of course out of control dogs should be on leads but if some asked me to put my perfectly behaved dogs on a lead I would refuse why should my carefully trained dogs have to live life on the lead .

Horses must be capable of coping with dogs in situations where they don't know the dog is there and it appears .
In our FC wood your far more likely to get unseated when the horse is spooked by high speed mountain bikes who ride with no care for the safety of others .
 
Goldenstar said:
Dogs have a right to enjoy life too .
Of course out of control dogs should be on leads but if some asked me to put my perfectly behaved dogs on a lead I would refuse why should my carefully trained dogs have to live life on the lead .

Horses must be capable of coping with dogs in situations where they don't know the dog is there and it appears .
In our FC wood your far more likely to get unseated when the horse is spooked by high speed mountain bikes who ride with no care for the safety of others .
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Of course dogs have a right to enjoy life but if they aren't safe around horses why have them off a lead on a bridleway is my question.

All of mine are pretty good with dogs but I would fully expect them to defend themselves the only way they know how if a dog comes in to bite them - leaping and barking is one thing and yes (to an extent) horses should be able to cope but attacking - no way. If one of mine kicks a dog then the dog was too close. End of.

After having the local dog warden walk with me on a few occasions (on public bridleways) there are now clear laminated signs for the dog owners pointing out to them that they are totally liable for any damage to their dog should it get too close to a horse.
 
No one is saying it ok for dogs to attack horses
And of course if a dog bit your horse you could take the owner to court and you would win but no one can say x is always liable for damage you would have to prove your case ( or insurance companies make an agreement ).
Horse spooks at dog behaving in a normal fashion say with it's head down a hole looking 'odd 'horse overreacts rider falls off that's no ones fault it's just an accident
Just like a blowing bag or a pheasant or a deer causing a fall.
Bridleways are rights of way that horses can use as well as others ,horses don't top other users all have rights .
 
Sorry Goldenstar the 'puter missed of the last part of my post which should have read:

We used to have issues with mountain bikers but the local bridleways group were successful in having some sections of bridleway restricted which has made an absolutely huge difference. We now have a good 12 mile loop that we can ride where no mountain bikes are allowed - my girl hates bikes - to her they just seem to appear from nowhere and don't half put a feather up her tail. Being able to ride without getting a crick in my neck from constantly looking out for bikes is such a relief. Have you tried contacting your local bridleways/footpaths association?
 
madlady said:
Sorry Goldenstar the 'puter missed of the last part of my post which should have read:

We used to have issues with mountain bikers but the local bridleways group were successful in having some sections of bridleway restricted which has made an absolutely huge difference. We now have a good 12 mile loop that we can ride where no mountain bikes are allowed - my girl hates bikes - to her they just seem to appear from nowhere and don't half put a feather up her tail. Being able to ride without getting a crick in my neck from constantly looking out for bikes is such a relief. Have you tried contacting your local bridleways/footpaths association?
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No because it's on open access Forest enterprise land .
And my horses are pretty good I saw one spectacular near miss where a young man on mountain bike flew off a bank crossed one of the main tracks and disappeared down the bank at the other side he seemed completely unaware than he missed by inches a toddler on a bike cycling just in front on his family the adults and my friend and I where frozen in horror .
He could have killed the child .
 
Goldenstar said:
Dogs have a right to enjoy life too .
Of course out of control dogs should be on leads but if some asked me to put my perfectly behaved dogs on a lead I would refuse why should my carefully trained dogs have to live life on the lead .

Horses must be capable of coping with dogs in situations where they don't know the dog is there and it appears .
In our FC wood your far more likely to get unseated when the horse is spooked by high speed mountain bikes who ride with no care for the safety of others .
Click to expand...

If dogs are perfectly under control then there is no need to ask for them to be put on a lead. It's only the ones that aren't that need to be on the lead, and if a rider thinks they or their horse is at risk, then what's the problem with popping a lead on for a few minutes if you are asked to do to until the rider is out of sight. It's hardly infringing their doggy rights, especially if it means that the risk of an accident is reduced to just about nil. Would you really want an injured rider, horse, or dog on your conscience if it could have been avoided by simply clipping on a lead?
 
Goldenstar said:
Horse spooks at dog behaving in a normal fashion say with it's head down a hole looking 'odd 'horse overreacts rider falls off that's no ones fault it's just an accident
Just like a blowing bag or a pheasant or a deer causing a fall.
Bridleways are rights of way that horses can use as well as others ,horses don't top other users all have rights .
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I am certainly not moaning about a dog having it's head down a hole and my horse spooking at it!!!

I'm moaning about being chased by dogs who are off their leads, and then their owners shouting at them to come back (they don't) while they bark/growl/jumped up at me on my horse.

Just to add, when this happens, me and my horse stand as still as a statue until the owner can get it under control. My horse behaves beautifully but it completely scares the sh** out of me.
 
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3OldPonies said:
If dogs are perfectly under control then there is no need to ask for them to be put on a lead. It's only the ones that aren't that need to be on the lead, and if a rider thinks they or their horse is at risk, then what's the problem with popping a lead on for a few minutes if you are asked to do to until the rider is out of sight. It's hardly infringing their doggy rights, especially if it means that the risk of an accident is reduced to just about nil. Would you really want an injured rider, horse, or dog on your conscience if it could have been avoided by simply clipping on a lead?
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Because no horse would care a jot whether a dog is on the lead or not so therefore it's not relevant to the situation .
My dogs would never chase a horse never leave my side unless told .
Putting them on a lead would just be letting some hysterical rider throw their weight about.
 
When my youngster was attacked he had leather boots on so that saved his leg but it would not let go horse was very calm and did not even kick out luckily my other half was walking my Doberman x Weimaraner so a big boy and I shouted them he tried to get the dog of when that failed I set my dog loose to chase him away the owner soon appeared to give me a telling off but that didn't work as my horse had enough by the time the dog came back for a second go.
 
Goldenstar said:
Because no horse would care a jot whether a dog is on the lead or not so therefore it's not relevant to the situation .
My dogs would never chase a horse never leave my side unless told .
Putting them on a lead would just be letting some hysterical rider throw their weight about.
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Then your dogs aren't the type I am talking about! The only time dogs need to be on a lead is when they haven't been trained properly or can't be trusted not to chase!
 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/DAZER-II-Ul...UTF8&qid=1395178948&sr=8-1&keywords=dog+dazer

It doesn't bother horses in my experience and does the trick with dogs (so far!). The only downsides are there's no indicator to tell you when the batteries have run out and you have to point it directly at the dog, so need to be able to get it out of your pocket whilst keeping a potentially scared horse under control, and then point it in the right direction.
 
DubbleTrubble said:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/DAZER-II-Ul...UTF8&qid=1395178948&sr=8-1&keywords=dog+dazer

It doesn't bother horses in my experience and does the trick with dogs (so far!). The only downsides are there's no indicator to tell you when the batteries have run out and you have to point it directly at the dog, so need to be able to get it out of your pocket whilst keeping a potentially scared horse under control, and then point it in the right direction.
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Get rechargeable batteries for it and keep them topped up
 
Goldenstar said:
Because no horse would care a jot whether a dog is on the lead or not so therefore it's not relevant to the situation .
My dogs would never chase a horse never leave my side unless told .
Putting them on a lead would just be letting some hysterical rider throw their weight about.
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Well let's hope that you don't get the £110 vets bill, £80 tack bill and permanently scared (and scarred - legs, belly, buttocks) horse that I was left with after it happened to me in a public place. Because if it happens to you I'm quite sure you'll be the first to change your tune.
 
When out walking my dog, if we see horses I call him to heel. He spends all weekend every weekend loose on a yard of horses and he's far more scared of them than they are of him but it's only polite.

I've also only ever bumped into dog owners that call their dogs to them and I always thank them and say that my horse is fine with dogs.

If you are in a situation where a dog looks as if he is going to attack, act like you are his owner. Leaping off your horse screaming and brandishing a whip is unlikely to calm the situation, calling him over and asking him to sit may be more efficient.
 
Dizzle said:
If you are in a situation where a dog looks as if he is going to attack, act like you are his owner. Leaping off your horse screaming and brandishing a whip is unlikely to calm the situation, calling him over and asking him to sit may be more efficient.
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If the dog isn't listening to it's owner then it's not going to bloomin' listen to me is it!
 
I can't help thinking reading this thread, that there are a lot of paranoid riders out there, either that or riders who are just scared of anything or anyone they meet out hacking. I have been riding and walking my dog for many years and never had a horse attacked, or anything close. Maybe some of you if you meet a dog when you are out riding should just ignore it and ride on past instead of being concerned about whether or not it's on a lead. I'm not saying it never happens but I think dog attacks on horses are incredibly rare.
 
Bonny, it is not as rare as you think.
I've had a horse attacked by a dog out on a hack and I've had my dog attacked when walking on the beach! (my dog was not the instigator and didnt know what to do so ended up quite badly injured).
I have several friends who have been chased by or attacked by loose dogs.
 
bonny said:
I have been riding and walking my dog for many years and never had a horse attacked, or anything close. Maybe some of you if you meet a dog when you are out riding should just ignore it and ride on past instead of being concerned about whether or not it's on a lead. I'm not saying it never happens but I think dog attacks on horses are incredibly rare.
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Lucky you.

Lets hope you don't experience it.
 
bonny said:
I can't help thinking reading this thread, that there are a lot of paranoid riders out there, either that or riders who are just scared of anything or anyone they meet out hacking. I have been riding and walking my dog for many years and never had a horse attacked, or anything close. Maybe some of you if you meet a dog when you are out riding should just ignore it and ride on past instead of being concerned about whether or not it's on a lead. I'm not saying it never happens but I think dog attacks on horses are incredibly rare.
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I don't think they are rare.
Have you looked at the number of reported dog attacks on thd BHS website?
 
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