My daughter just sent me a youtube link - don't know how to post it here (or if it's allowed), but if you type 'Jesus Christ in Richmond Park' into the search engine you'll get it.

I think the poster must think it's funny...  It shows a labrador chasing a huge herd of deer in Richmond Park and a distraught man chasing them.  Is the dog out of control or just doing what most dogs would probably do given a new experience, but getting a little carried away?

In your opinion, is this just a walkie gone wrong, or has the man been irresponsible?

You might feel more comfortable using this link :)
This was reported in the Telegraph this morning.  I suppose these things happen.

I assume the Park Ranger could have shot the poor dog for worrying the wild life ?
What if one of the deer had been injured, or a member of the public ?

I must be getting old because I don't find it funny.  

I watched it and it might just be me but I'm not sure it's meant to be a funny video.

I assume the Park Ranger could have shot the poor dog for worrying the wild life ?

But would this have been appropriate?  From the dog's body language, he looks like he's just enjoying a chase, rather than looking for dinner.  Is he out of control or just doing what comes naturally?

Yes I sw this yesterday and was not very impressed for two reasons.

The silly owner should not have let the dog off, with the lack of control of his dog because of the deer and being so near to a main road. Totally irresponsible .

> I assume the Park Ranger could have shot the poor dog for worrying the wild life ?

Could they? I know farmer can shoot dogs for worrying livestock but I didn't think this applied to wild animals. I don't even think it could come under the 'hunting with dogs' act.

Whatever I agree with LJS, grossly irresponsible :-(

It looks like prey drive has taken over any training he may have had. And yes the ranger could have shot the poor dog, same as any farmer can shoot a dog for worring his/her livestock.

Poor man.  I regularly walk in Richmond Park & often only see deer in the distance.  But sometimes they pop up right in front of you, when you least expect it.  In general the deer are fairly used to dogs and don't always run - but you would have to have pretty amazing control to stop a dog in full chase.   The alternative is to not walk your dog off-leash in the park - but I think that's a bit of an over-reaction.  There is however, significant risk to your dog - every year dogs are killed in Bushey Park and Richmond by deer - usually in the rutting season. 

By the way - I don't think the park rangers in Richmond are armed.  In fact, the rangers are conspicuous by their absence and when I lost my 5 month bitch in Richmond park for 6 hours there was no one to contact at all.

If I have to come back as a deer, it would be the ones in Richmond.  I have never seen such a bunch of laid-back looking deer.  Mind you - I do hope they can't read as it would really worry them when the culling notices go up!

> Totally irresponsible .

On the face of it but we don't know if the dog had broken its collar or the owner had not been aware of the proximity of the deer.  It really isn't funny, not least due to the obvious danger of injury to the road users, but sometimes unforseen things can happen due to lack of foresight.
I don't think there was ever a danger of the dog getting shot.  Even if, by chance, there was a ranger on the spot, using a fire arm in such close proximity to people and vehicle would have surely lost him his licence.

> In general the deer are fairly used to dogs and don't always run

I did get the impression they were not shifting at full speed and were perhaps not taking Benton all that seriously.
I remember walking in a Scottish park many years ago when a couple of deer shot past us very close.   They were going at a good lick of speed but they were being chased by a lurcher type and it obviously had the power to panic them considerably more.

It's a walkies gone wrong - the dog's doing what the vast majority of dogs would do given half a chance - chase something that moves (don't we encourage that by throwing balls for them?). It's inappropriate behaviour, but entirely natural. People forget that dogs are still predators, despite thousands of generations of domestication.

That is true we don't know if he did break loose but the poster above mentions about walking dogs off the lead so it looks like it is probably common practice.

Its true, it could happen to us all.

> Its true, it could happen to us all.

I appreciate the owner is running after the dog, certainly not encouraging it to chase them and yes, his collar could have broken :-)

I wouldn't let my hounds off lead in a park with deer and unfenced roads just in case, but I would let the collies off.

I don't think it's funny at all though and hope the dog returned safely to his owner.

No matter how much i trust my dogs i just wouldn't frequent a place like this unless they were on leads and well away from the herds. As we all know cattle can turn on humans & dogs and have done. The outcome could have been so different. What if there were other people walking in the path of the stampeding deer!
I think the video footage was taken in Richmond park and speed restrictions are in place, for vehicles anyway!
I don't suppose the gentleman will be going back there in a hurry and as for the dog it was probably the best day out he's had in a while!

> I appreciate the owner is running after the dog, certainly not encouraging it to chase them and yes, his collar could have broken :-)
>
> I wouldn't let my hounds off lead in a park with deer and unfenced roads just in case, but I would let the collies off.
>
> I don't think it's funny at all though and hope the dog returned safely to his owner.

Completely agree and would certainly not let my terrier off.

As you say i fail to see what was funny about the video.

>I don't suppose the gentleman will be going back there in a hurry and as for the dog it was probably the best day out he's had in a while!

Absolutely. And of course it's worth remembering that deer are very numerous in the countryside as a whole; anyone who walks their dog off lead in the open countryside or through a wood runs the risk of this happening. Deer can be lyingup during the day and break when you come across them unexpectedly. It's a chance we all take - the 'guaranteed safe' alternative of never letting your dog off the lead at all is unthinkable.

Reminds me of when out on a shoot about 8 years ago my now elderly Lab started to chase a solitary deer that he put up in the beating line. He managed to catch up with it as it doubled back close to us, then his face was so funny as he looked at us as if to say ' OK I've caught up with it what do I do Now?' It eventually ran off and he came back.
We now live in a deer rich forest but this same dog now only gives a passing glance if one is sighted as he knows his legs are a lot slower now.

> And of course it's worth remembering that deer are very numerous in the countryside as a whole

True, I'm lucky in that I live close to a wildlife reserve with numerous dog walking paths, it's a vast area but is fenced on the perimeter. It's only 3ft fencing so there are deer there and the dogs do occasionally chase them, but in 25 years of walking there I've only had one dog jump the fence (once) after them. I wouldn't walk somewhere like that park, with a road running through it and deer all over the place.

If I were that dogs owner I would be absolutely mortified and ashamed that I didn't control my dog in this situation and he deserves a stiff word, the deer (or even dog) could have been hit by a car or the herd run straight into a person and killed them.

Dog was having a fantastic time loved every minute no doubt and was not to blame for having fun.

The owner should have known his dog was a chaser and did not have excellent recall, suggest he gets a long line and a whistle as I doubt the dog would wish to come back to that tone of voice anyhow.

Just glad no-one or no animal was hurt.

Yikes, he's lucky the dog / deer didn't cause an accident! I can sympathise as Henry was a sheep chaser, and we couldn't let him off the lead anywhere in the Lake District! To be fair to the man, it may have been the first time his dog had done that and he didn't know he would chase them - I certainly didn't know Henry was going to until it was too late!

Poor man

This is my reaction to it too, and I do think it could happen to us all as Claire 41? says. 

Wasn't it this herd of deer that made the papers for knocking two different members of the public over recently?(not suggesting they deserved it!!)  Deer roaming free in a public park - very romantic, but blooming hard work if you have to do your walkies in there whatever your breed.  In Greenwich, another Royal Park, the deer are behind a fence.

Another thought re. this clip - I do hope the pervasive anti-dog brigade don't decide to make an example of this unfortunate owner, it probably was breaking some wildlife ruling, but it does seem to have been an accident - a happy accident for Mr. Dog, but one he probably won't be making again I imagine!

> but blooming hard work if you have to do your walkies in there whatever your breed

But you just have to be responsible and aware :) We (and lots of others who live in the country) often have deer in our garden and the fields next to/behind our property in the autumn and winter. At this time of year, I daren't let Tara off the lead when walking out of our garden. Only a few days ago a pair of deer ran across the field and across the road only yards behind us. Had Tara been off the lead she would have chased them (Bramble fortunately doesn't bother now he is a senior citizen) straight across the road.

Have to agree with Daisy too, people know they can come across deer very easily in Richmond Park, it is no secret and should be viewed no different to those of us who live in the countryside, who will automatically be ready for this kind of situation you either keep your dog on lead, a long line or better still we train our dogs to obey whistle commands and they are taught from puppyhood, we come across everything from deer, foxes, birds, squirrels, rabbits to the farmers livestock, cows and horses, we know this and so we train, so that our dogs will be safe and behave well amongst these animals, we put that time into the first 3 months up to 3yrs of our dogs lives so that we can live in harmony with our surroundings and not have stress levels every time we go out on a walk.

A dog will always be a dog, but a dog can be trained or secured by us to fit in with how domestic dogs must behave.

I do feel sorry for the man that he had no control he didn't do it on purpose and he was very upset and worried and yes it does happen a lot unfortunately, but he surely could not have been surprised to come across deer, just because he lives in London he should still train his dog just the same as those of us in the country given where he walks Fenton.

I saw this the other day and am shocked that anyone would find this funny.  Interestingly in our local paper today is a bit about a farmer sho shot and stuffed the boddy of a 15yr old dog down a rabbit hole. the dog had been worrying his cattle.  the police said he was within his rights, which I thought, but I thought that he would have been against the law not to repost that he had shot the dog...anyone. this is scottish law.

> The owner should have known his dog was a chaser and did not have excellent recall, suggest he gets a long line and a whistle as I doubt the dog would wish to come back to that tone of voice anyhow.
>
> Just glad no-one or no animal was hurt.

I once came across two deer as I was walking my dogs in the woods - never ever seen or heard of deer being there before and I have walked those woods for over 30 years. Both dogs were off lead and the deer trotted across our path maybe 20 feet ahead of us. It was totally unexpected and as soon as I realised what was happening I called the dogs - both of them had started to run after the deer and into the woods to the side of me. The terrierist was amazing and instantly came back to me but my GR who is a working dog and very obedient totally ignored me and chased after them into the woods. It took several calls and whistles for him to come back but he did return.

If you had asked me beforehand which dog I would have guaranteed would ignore my commands it would have been the terrier - but he was brilliant and my well trained, trustworthy and reliable dog was the one for whom instinct outweighed training. However well trained our dogs are sometimes instinct takes over and it's very hard getting the dog's focus back on you so the training can then overcome the instinct. I was mortified at the time but the incident did remind me that it doesn't pay to be complacent and that the unexpected can happen and I have to remember at all times that my dogs are dogs and sometimes things go wrong.

>Deer roaming free in a public park - very romantic, but blooming hard work if you have to do your walkies in there whatever your breed.

Remember that Richmond Park is massive - 2500 acres about. To say not to walk your dog there is like saying not to walk in the New Forest, which also has roads running across it.

Having lived on the boundary of Richmond Park we used to jog in it daily whilst at uni. As others said the road has restrictions on it as it runs through the park so i think its a 10MPH speed limit and you regularly have to stop to wait for deer, dogs etc. to get off the road.  It is also enormous as others have said.

The deer in Richmond Park are very tame and I've seen the odd dog chased by them before.

Yes the dog shouldn't be chasing the deer but it is instinct. Surely what the owner did next is whats most important? His reaction to the dogs behaviour is probably what needs the most work.

I agree that we could find ourselves in this situation once (we've spent an hour trying to get back a 9month old irish setter who reversed out of her harness on a beach and then chased sea gulls in huge circles on the beach) but it only happens the once....

I was mortified at the time but the incident did remind me that it doesn't pay to be complacent and that the unexpected can happen and I have to remember at all times that my dogs are dogs and sometimes things go wrong.

True enough and perfectly forgiven from an adolescent as well (if Fenton was) who are often at the hard to recall stage. Again....... longline folks.

The fact is as well if dogs are walked from puppies amongst the wildlife or livestock in the area which they can come into contact with soon enough they learn to completely ignore it, it is completely uninteresting to them, perhaps Fenton was new to the area and had not seen the deer before? Or perhaps it was a case of the dog was usually walked by the other half and hubby had taken the dog out, oh, oh, :-D we hear this so often that a dog won't take a blind bit of notice of the O/H, maybe this is why he decided to screech his head off, not knowing how to recall the dog properly. :-D Mind you I used to come across a man with a GSD like this his screeches were heard for miles, no wonder the dog ran the other way. :-)

I saw this the other day and am shocked that anyone would find this funny.  Interestingly in our local paper today is a bit about a farmer sho shot and stuffed the boddy of a 15yr old dog down a rabbit hole. the dog had been worrying his cattle.  the police said he was within his rights, which I thought, but I thought that he would have been against the law not to repost that he had shot the dog...anyone. this is scottish law.

They're required to inform the police within 48 hrs.

I do feel sorry for the man that he had no control he didn't do it on purpose and he was very upset and worried and yes it does happen a lot unfortunately, but he surely could not have been surprised to come across deer, just because he lives in London he should still train his dog just the same as those of us in the country given where he walks Fenton.

He had no control in this situation - the dog's natural curiosity overcame training - regardless of it living in London.  It really could happen to us all.  How many times does your dog surprise you in it's lifetime, or let you down when you didn't expect it?  I don't think this dog was 'out of control' in the true sense, just having a training breakdown.  It's happened to me many times, but just hasn't included deer and been filmed in a Royal Park!!!

I saw this the other day and am shocked that anyone would find this funny.  Interestingly in our local paper today is a bit about a farmer sho shot and stuffed the boddy of a 15yr old dog down a rabbit hole. the dog had been worrying his cattle.  the police said he was within his rights, which I thought, but I thought that he would have been against the law not to repost that he had shot the dog...anyone. this is scottish law.


This really scares me. Potentially the above dog could have been legally shot had it been worrying livestock on private land.  Sometimes dog training does break down, this would be an awful price to pay. 

It really could happen to us all

I'll have to disagree with you there, sorry but it would not happen to us all. I certainly would not let it happen.

What our dogs do is in our hands, we need to always be vigilant and always cover for instinctual reactions, this was not done, that is the only reason the dog got to chase the deer.

We can say it is one of those things, but it still comes down to the owner, seen it myself, annoyingly seen dogs chasing cows with the owner shouting for them to return but, to no avail, I always tell these people that their dogs should be on lead, they think it is not their fault, but it is, it is only their fault.

We are in charge of how our dogs behave and many of us take precautions to make sure it just does not happen.

>I'll have to disagree with you there, sorry but it would not happen to us all. I certainly would not let it happen.

Then you either never let your dogs offlead outside your own garden, or they're robotic.

It's not robotic it's socialisation, if a dog has never seen a deer or larger animal it can react but if you know you live in an area where wildlife or livestock is part of your daily walk then it is so easy to socialise a dog in these circumstances, if walked alongside from puppyhood they are uninterested as adults and generally after only the first few walks, it works in the same way as any socialisation and pups should be off lead.

None of our dogs even look at the deer or cows, horses, sheep and it is not because they are robotic just down to pure socialisation.

If the man at Richmond has lived in the area for a long time his dog purely has not been socialised or properly recall trained and the man certainly needs to whistle train. I dare say many people with loose dogs there do not have chasers and their dogs also walk straight past the herd it is not unique at all. :-)

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Then you either never let your dogs offlead outside your own garden, or they're robotic.

I think that I must be the only one on here who saw the funny side of this clip, not because of the obvious situation that the poor deer were in but that I could identify with the bloke.  We have all, at some time, been in this situation or have known someone who has and I could recognise the sheer desparation in the bloke's voice!  O.K.,  he shouldn't have let the dog off the lead there but the deer could have been really far away from the dog initially, and maybe it was part of the 'socialisation programme' that the dog was going through.  My son has two labs. and they are totally single minded about what they want to do.  Training doesn't always come into it IMO and there is such a thing as 'Making a mistake', however,  I can guarantee that most of us don't make the same mistake twice!  :) .............I'll go and put my hard hat on now shall I?  :)

While pretty much agreeing with the posts above, I did still find it very funny indeed - does that make me a bad person? Its the repeated 'Jesus Christ - Benton!' that gets me.

By the way, theres already loads of spoofs of this on Youtube now - Benton in American Werewolf in London, in Jurassic Park, at the student riots etc.

But, yes, poor bloke, we've all been there to a lesser degree I'm sure. 

does that make me a bad person?

Nope, :-) We are all wired differently, your not the only one to find it hilarious.

When I see it my reaction is fear for the animals and feeling the stress from the man, to me it's not funny but stressful to watch.

We all have our own reactions and 'funny button' to things, I'm all about safety and care so I wouldn't find it funny, now if the guy's dog had tripped him over and he'd fallen head first into a cow pat I'd laugh my head off, but the danger of this situation turns off my 'funny button'.

> None of our dogs even look at the deer or cows, horses, sheep and it is not because they are robotic just down to pure socialisation.

Out of curiosity Carrington what breed/s do you own? I do think that plays a huge part. My collies can safely walk through a field of livestock, but will still chase wild deer/rabbits/hares/foxes if allowed, they can be easily called off them though. I defy anyone to 'socialise' a borzoi into ignoring a wild animal running away from it though :-D

> I'm all about safety and care so I wouldn't find it funny, now if the guy's dog had tripped him over and he'd fallen head first into a cow pat I'd laugh my head off, but the danger of this situation turns off my 'funny button'.

Absolutely agree, the clip horrifies me because of the potential danger.

Out of curiosity Carrington what breed/s do you own? I do think that plays a huge part.

Funnily enough over the years the majority are medium to large gundogs, labs in particular have always been in our family and the working strain much more prominent, the assortment of Collies and GSD's also never had a prob with, excellent to train and socialise, along with the few utility breeds, the terriers IME are the worst to call off rabbits etc but fantastic after whistle training too and my nieces new SBT is doing great, I have her over for socialisation and she is just following my girl and the other dogs lead when they are here, she already ignores the deer and cows.

Never worked with sighthounds but can imagine far, far more difficult to work with due to high prey drive, I guess I would never fully relax with a sighthound, but in all honesty a lab is not a difficult breed to control one of the easiest in my opinion, although mighty bouncy and boisterous in the adolescent stage and more vigilance is needed, perhaps Fenton is an adolescent? Pups should walk freely as they will stay with the pack and with the owner building up confidence and getting used to the world, but adolescents become independent wish to listen to their instincts more and do as they please it's when extra care needs to be taken, which is why it is time for a lead and longline to always be at hand for those who decide to turn deaf and I guess why many have said "It only happens the once!"

I would say to anyone with an adolescent, just expect it to happen and be ready, it's just prep and understanding the different stages of a dogs growth, but if an off lead pup is used to walking with larger animals occasionally, even at adolescene it shouldn't then decide to chase them, I've never had that happen. :-)

> Fenton is an adolescent?

Or a rescue?
We got our last dog (lab cross) as a 4yr old rescue. We used to walk him through the woods, either side of the track leading to the woods were fields (large hedge-row between track & field), sometimes with sheep in. For about 8 months we walked him that way, letting him off when we were past the fields, but as our confidance grew in him and he never showed any interest in the sheep, we started to let him off in the track, closer and closer to the entrance to the track.
One day, we let him off and he made a bee-line to the sheep Oh my gosh, completyely mortifying. Thankfully he was not the fastest dog (thanks to a dodgy rear-end), the sheep fled to the bottom of the field and our dog did a few mad circles at the top end and came back out. He was never let off the lead in the track again.

He had never, in the previous 8 months showed even a passing interest in the sheep. I grew up walking our dogs around cows, they were pups when they first passed cows and were never interested, never chased them, could be walked off-lead around them with no worrries that they's chase. I had stupidly assumed that our rescue dogs apparent lack of interest in the sheep was a sure sign he was not interested and allready used to passing them with no reaction - bad judgement call!!!!

I've seen the clip and I too cannot find it funny. The man is mortified and worried, the situation is dangerous.

it could happen to us all

Very true--we were taking a very early walk one morning in a country park a couple of hundred yards from our house and in the mist I saw six deer standing under the trees. The dogs got the scent and began to chase once the deer started. I was terrified they'd run into the road and cause mayhem, but they actually came back to the whistle that time--maybe Benton's owner needs to invest in one.

Who was filming? the sceptical side of me wonders was it a set up?there are a lot of 'funny' videos appearing online now as people have cottoned on there is money to be made.
I'm of the consensus that it could happen to us all and there are a lot of unknown factors to consider before criticising the man or dog.

> We have all, at some time, been in this situation or have known someone who has and I could recognise the sheer desparation in the bloke's voice!  O.K., 

> .............I'll go and put my hard hat on now shall I?  :-)

I don't think so :)  I recognised it too.

> By the way, theres already loads of spoofs of this on Youtube now - Benton in American Werewolf in London, in Jurassic Park, at the student riots etc.
>
>

Anyone know if Bentons owner has come forward yet?  There must be some royalties to collect :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9w7I507D6E
This must be the best one :-D

Now, that I can find amusing as it is not real, how do people even think of these things? :-) Mind you, I can't help it I still find the mans sheer panicked voice upsetting even in this spoof.

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Mind you, I can't help it I still find the mans sheer panicked voice upsetting even in this spoof.

I must be a sadistic devil because it was his voice which I found hilarious.  :)  Do we know for sure then that it was a 'spoof'?

> Do we know for sure then that it was a 'spoof'?

Well I'm pretty sure the Jurassic Park one is :-D but no, I don't think the original can be or he must be a terrific actor.