How annoying, what gives the farmer the right! LoL

Normally my dogs and I, plus several other dog owners in my area, walk along the edge of two fields growing corn then into a third field that was just long grass, mud and rabbits!! I great walk dogs can run free while we chat walking around the third field three or four times, then back across the edge of the corn fields to home.

Sadly we was shocked today, when reaching the third field we noticed the farmer has ploughed the field ready to grow something in it!!  According to locals the third field has been used by dog walkers for many years, but now it is a muddy mess!  The farmer has left a very narrow edge around the field, which we could walk around in single file but the dogs would not get to do their free run.
This is so annoying as now we have hardly any other fields to free run our dogs in, today I have done a short road walk but this is not fair on my dogs.
There is another field beyond the third field but can't see how we would get to it without the dogs walking on the crops as the walk way is very narrow!
will have to look around this weekend for another free run walk, there is a park near by but only half the size of the field and many kids like to play footie etc:
How very Annoying!!

Sounds like the farmer had setaside your field. He would have been paid not to cultivate it, until the change in funding means they dont anymore.
I have a good rapport with the farmers in my area, so I dont have your problem.
One thing you may find when the field does gets drilled you may find that he sows a lovely grass margin all around. Farmers get paid extra to create  a wildlife strip adjacent to hedges, ditches etc, the margins where i walk my dogs have established over the last 5 years. Farmers are creating more every year as they rotate root and arable crops. It might not all be bad news in the long run

Frustrating for you but unfortunately as the farmers source of income he has every right to do what he likes with his field. Have you spoken to other dog walkers in your area? Where do they go to let their dogs off lead for a run?

tough! its his field! go to a park like we have to!

Chill Sara the post did say "How annoying" lol

It is sad to have nowhere to walk the dogs, but after all the fields are someones private land and livelihood.

Often we hear that some dogs are better suited to country living, but this only really applies if the owner has their own land, as there is less public land and recreational land because it is in the country.

Many city's have large country Parks and other common land where dogs at present can be allowed off lead.

I know that I am in a better position re free off property excersise than many fellow owners who are in the country, don't often have to worry about livestock or wildlife disturbance either.

we have three farmer's fields that alot of people around my area walk around, he keeps a narrow strip around the edge which is just wide enough to walk down - ideal for the morning walk when the dogs have a mooch about.  Its great after the corn has been cut down as we are then allowed to walk across the whole fields with the stubble there and that doesnt get ploughed in for a couple of months.

I agree Gemini "Annoying" but one of those things that can happen to us all. I am lucky at the moment as I walk my girls in fields owned by The Duchy of Cornwall (Yes I know we are not in Cornwall...but he owns land everywhere!) They leave 15/20 foot headlands round all the fields on at least two sides so we have loads of walkies, and lots of public footpaths cross the land. Try getting an Ordinance survey map of your area and seek out the footpaths etc.. we have some nice places and most of the farmers are OK about you walking if you have control over your dogs. Try asking your nearest farmer for his permission to cross to the next field..you may find he is agreeable if you ask him first.
We also have a wonderful place called Ninesprings to walk in in Yeovil with a vast area of woodland/streams/pools and open space. I think I am a lucky dog owner for living here.
Aileen.
PS you at Crufts this year?

Err, are you taking the p*** or is this a serious post?

Firstly, I assume there was either a public right of way across this third field or you had express permission to use it.  Assuming it was a public footpath, then that does not give you the right to allow your dogs to free run across the entire field!  :-O  If it was a public footpath then presumably the farmer has met his obligations by leaving the headland for you to walk. Sorry, but don't have the time to look up how wide a public footpath has to be, but from memory it is something only like 8 feet.   Breach that and you are trespassing.

I am seriously hoping that you are having a laugh and that I am having a humour failure here..................otherwise, it is no wonder that dog walkers get a bad reputation and so many councils are starting to put restriction orders in place.

Gunner, if you re-read my post you will see that although I am 'annoyed' about my usual walk in the fields has been shortened due to the 'farmer' using his OWN field to GROW crops for a living, I did put LOL after my rant!!

And as I said in my first post, for many years dog walkers have been ALLOWED to use the field to free run their dogs in this field and I was only ranting an expression of being annoyed that the field was too muddy to walk in!
For goodness sake, I wish some people would lighten up on this forum.
I am not a complete idiot to think that I have the right to walk my dogs where ever I want, and I do respect other peoples land, I am surrounded by fields, some with Horses in some with other livestock, I and of course I would not dream of walkng my dogs in those fields, only the fields that are open to public use.

People dont really need to lighten up....I had to re read your post several times in order to work out whether or not you were joking. I let my b/f read it and he also read it as serious. Some people have just made a genuine error because your post was not clear....you knew what you were thinking, but i am afraid it did not come over right. After all YOU were the one that called it a "rant", and it did indeed come over as a rant. Unfortunately things put in writing can come over very differently to the spoken word, and can convey a meaning that you didn't intend....and thats why a few people  grabbed the wrong end of the stick. The inclusion of the small word "LOL" did not counterbalance the rant-like nature of the rest of the post, and more or less got looked over. Remember that stuff like sarcasm and dry wit do not come over well in writing. To avoid misunderstandings in future I would advise you to just post what you mean, and avoid the sarcasm, and that should mean a bit less aggro. If you had just simply said, "Im disappointed that I cant walk my dogs there any more" we would all know exactly what you meant!

I know that I am in a better position re free off property excersise than many fellow owners who are in the country, don't often have to worry about livestock or wildlife disturbance either.

I totally agree - I have lots of parks here for off lead exercise - more so than if I were to live in the country.  We do have deer in a number of the parks - although I think it's always a good thing to teach dogs how to behave around wildlife anyway.

It's a bummer when we've been spoilt with something like that and then it gets taken away :-)  Maybe as the farmer sounds like a very understanding guy you could ask him if there are any other fields you and you friends could walk through and maybe you could all chip together and make it worth his while and offer a monthly rental fee or somthing?

I had to re read your post several times in order to work out whether or not you were joking. I let my b/f read it and he also read it as serious.

Oh to have that much free time :-)

Just a note to say that if it were me, I would be happier if I asked permission to continue excercising there.

If he leaves stewardship margins around the field, they are supposed to be to protect wildlife.    I know horses are banned from some stewardship margins round here, for that reason - maybe the same would go for dogs - I don't know.

Jo

Im with you Geminio5, sometimes people on here are so quick to jump down your throat and get on their high horse. Thought this was supposed to be a friendly forum for dog lovers. All it seems to be sometimes is a competition as to who knows the best and to slag off those who might offer alternative advice. Yes, sometimes posts can be misinterpretted but the post said lol to show it was a joke.

Totally agree Fredsmum!
recently its got a bit bitchy on here!
i am lucky as i have 6 fields i use for my dogs right next to my house!
its also a shortcut to the local shop and the doctors in the next village
however if these fields were brought into use again i would have to road walk for miles to give them a decent off lead run!

Come on guys - everyone reads posts differently ;)  The only person 100% sure or the meaning behind the post in any instance is th OP!

Please don't go down the inflammatory route of slagging off members who regularly give excellent all round advice on countless topics and get little appreciation but when they read something differently from the intentions of the OP suddenly they're castigated

Yes, we are all "dog lovers" but human too and entitled to have "pet hates" just like everyone else - sometimes those pet hates are flaunted and touted in our faces again and again so hardly unusual that occasionally an otherwise exceptionally helpful and friendly member will get exasperated!

Teri

im a believer in if you havent got something nice to say keep your mouth shut. Theres things i read that i dont like or dont agree with. Thats life. We all bring our dogs up differently like we do our children. Doesnt neccessarily make one more right or wrong than the other. I just look at it as something different to consider in how i bring up my dog.
I didnt mean it to sound like i was slaggin off members - im not. Theres generally some good advice but yes it can be very bitchy and i sometimes write things then delete it for fear that someone will be nasty about it.
With regards to fields:-) (back on topic) im very lucky that i have woods, fields and beach all within spitting distance. Must be frustrating to not be able to ue the field now but it will probably only be for a few months. Farmers dont grow crops in it all year round.

To Freds Mum

>im a believer in if you havent got something nice to say keep your mouth shut. Theres things i read that i dont like or dont agree with. Thats life

in that case there was no need or point to the remarks you made in the post I replied to :)

Best we all remember to have a little goodwill and tolerance, think before we hit send if we feel we're "reacting" rather than "responding" and bear in mind that we are all governed by the TOS :)  Should you or anyone have a grievance about a poster's comments then use the "report" button on the bottom of a post rather than the reply one.

Sorry Teri i dont really understand what you're saying :-)

I like what you say though. people need to respond not react.

I am sorry guys did not mean to start another tiff.
I will try and be careful of my English grammer next time I want to share something on here, my post I feel was a LOL as I am not stupid, I know the field is owned by the farmer I do not have the right to protest against him using his own rudy field, just thought I would share this story with fellow doggie people!!  oh dear put me foot in it again! LoL :)
Thank you to those, Freds mum, etc that read my post as a LOL jokie, I do understand however that some may read it as a serious post, but even still, why hit back with negative posts, sympathy would have done!!!

So just out of interest, where are you now going to take the dogs? Have you managed to find anywhere suitable?

We have the same problem up at one of the walks I go on. It is next to our allotments so really good during the summer as I often leave my OH doing the hard work on the allotment whilst I take the girls around the field.

The field normally has a good 5 metre boundary which is left so really good as you say if you have a few people and a few dogs on the walk. For some reason they have decided to now leave only just about room for one person to walk along.

There is no real reason to do this as it has been like it for years :-)

I know your pain. We have lots of places open for walking the dogs because with living in a city we are well provided for most of the year when it is cold or  raining. However when the sun comes out suddenly there is no space to walk the dogs cos the parks and nature reserves are full of kids and footballs and picnics and people suffering with serious cases of MPCP (media provoked canine phobia). they spread themselves out all over the fields at even distances apart  leaving nowhere to run the dogs. It is a real pain. We can't help feeling that we have policed and cared for the parks all year through so should have some space for the dogs even when the sun comes out.

Yep, I too avoid the parks with my lot when the Fair weather walkers are out and school holidays and weekends.

I'm really, really lucky where I live - although I'm in the middle of an estate, I've got:

A big field with a fenced park for the kids to play in while I walk the dogs - 2 mins walk away.
An even bigger field with a wood in the middle, with a park for the kids - 5 min walk away.
A HUUUUUUGE country park with fields and woods and tracks.... 5 minute drive away.
Beaches 20 mins drive away.

I have gone from being a complete exercise-o-phobe, to wanting to just walk and walk and walk.... the country park in particular is just lovely, I could walk round there all day but have to be careful of over-exercising the pup!

KateC, are you in the south of England? Just its sounds familar where you are!! I know the UK is a huge place!!

Well we are managing to get past the muddy field we used to walk in, and through to the other grassed fields, so as long as we remember to put our dogs on the lead going through the muddy field things aren't too bad!!

We do have many country walks in our area, would have to drive the car 10 - 15 mins up the road to get to them and we do have beaches 20 mins away too.
so not all bad!!

I'm in Essex :)

KateC, Oh Lol thats no where near I live, oh well just sounded similar to near me thats all xx