Apart from attacks on dogs by humans, this is one of my biggest fears. Poor little dog.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/6944592.stm

Very sad, but again due to human error (or at least that is the way I have read it). I certainly wouldn't let my dog out into a front garden that opened directly onto a country lane (nor road, pavement, whatever).

Neither would I but I do have to leave my property to take my dogs for walks. Even on lead I imagine it would be impossible to defend my dogs from a huge pack of dogs that are trained to kill.

These dogs owners also have no respect for boundaries and allow them to push through and leap over fences. I remember reading of a pack that killed something in the middle of a school playground. Surely they shouldn't be allowed in there?

Horrible as this is, it sounds like the owner got away lightly (of the terrier) - scratches only.  But that poor, poor dog.  There's so many things wrong with this - the pack of hounds attacking in the first place, they may be trained to kill but foxes, surely?  I would hope they could tell the difference between fox and dog scent.  Not my area of expertise though by any stretch.

And your own dog not being safe on your own property is just wrong IMO - at the very least a warning that the pack was to be exercised would've been a good idea, if a tad inconvenient for the pack owner.

As an aside, I wonder if this is a repurcussion of the hunting ban - maybe frustration from a pack of hounds that can no longer do what they were bred to do?  Purely conjecture, I'm thinking aloud (or the typing equivalent of aloud).

As an aside, I wonder if this is a repurcussion of the hunting ban - maybe frustration from a pack of hounds that can no longer do what they were bred to do?
actually it was incidents like this that were partly behind the push for the ban. There was a tv report about it way back.

Ah, that I didn't know.  Makes sense I suppose, though I wonder if the government considered that the dogs would still need to be exercised after the ban?  I don't recall reading/hearing anything about considerations for the maintenance of the hounds afterwards, but I didn't read that much into it.

Most of what was said was that the Hounds would either have to be rehomed (that was what the RSPCA said although most people said it wouldn't work) or put to sleep -there was hardly any mentions of them being kept, although this seems to have ended up being what happened.

I am sure they hoped or thought the Hounds would eventually be phased out and cease to exist.  I am sure that packs are being kept in the hopes that a change of government will bring hunting back.  If it doesn't then long term I think Hounds as we know them will die out.

Yes, it's very sad, but we fairly often meet up with hounds when we walk the dogs and the hounds take no notice of them at all. They're truly no more 'savage' than any other dog, as can be witnessed at any country fair when there are often several packs milling together in the arena with never a cross word. My greatest fear is that my dogs will go off with the pack and it'll take me ages to get them back again. I've never ever felt my dals were in any danger.

Of course it's foxhounds we meet, which are well used to terriers, not staghounds, which might not be.

We used to get them in our garden when I was a child, never any harn to us or the family collie. He used to think it was great fun to have lots of friends to play with, he could never understand how they got in or out of the garden though, he couldn't!!
Must have been awfull for the owner to see her dog ripped open in front of her. My sympathy to her.
I wonder what started them off? Could have been her terrier defending his property I suppose?
Aileen.

The Middleton Hunt have killed quite a few cats & attacked dogs in our village, this happens when they get away from the whippers in & the huntsman. Just up the road they caused a stampede of in calf heifers(on land they are not allowed to hunt on :rolleyes:)10 aborted calves, three dead heifers & several thousands of pounds of damage caused by the heifers breaking through a fence.

They seem very partial to cats & little dogs, they did come down our drive once, but fled when I let 5 of our shepherds out. They aren't really that brave or intelligent, the fox had gone up the road in the opposite direction :rolleyes:

The hounds of whatever type are hawked around as being totally under control !! yer right

How can you have total control over that many dogs? I think they will go after anything small be it a dog or cat- pretty sad, she is very lucky they didn't turn on her being a pack of dogs :(

This is too awful for words. I live near a kennels of this type and although we never see the dogs out, we do hear them and the sound of them is quite frightening when you hear all the dogs barking together.  I've no idea where these dogs are exercised as never (thank goodness) come across them on our walks.

As dollface says, the lady was lucky they didn't turn on her - poor poor little dog :(

I doubt very much they would turn on her, infact they didn't did they.  Despite laying herself over the object of their excitement she suffered only scratches.  Hounds are known for their desire to catch and kill furry things but they are also known for their love of humans.  The sound of their voices would not frighten me I think it is beautiful.

I doubt very much they would turn on her, infact they didn't did they.

No they didn't and that is the reason we think she has been very lucky!

I don't actually like the sound of a pack of dogs barking for any length of time, in fact I don't like the sound of my dogs barking constantly so I do try and stop that - but I suppose everyone is different!

You may have found a reason somewhere in my quote, not sure where though :), but as far as I can see although she was lucky she was not hurt more, laying down and getting trampled, I can't see that she was lucky they did not attack her.  I can't remember a single tale of hounds deliberately hurting a human being. 
I don't like dogs barking either but hounds sing so it is maybe not them you are hearing after all.

I was under the impression (dredging my memory from days of going out with the Quantock about 15 years ago)
That Stag Hounds differed from FoxHounds in that the FH would go straight in for the kill... but Staghounds (are the lead dogs called the 'tufters'?) Mindful of a Stag antlers! stand back and 'Bay'... so they are by nature a 'gobby' lot :)
Im not sure but think those 3 packs Drag hunt now.

>The sound of their voices would not frighten me I think it is beautiful.

I love the sound of hounds' music too, whereas the sound of dogs barking is unpleasant. :) they're completely different in timbre.

The hounds that wake us up every Sunday morning are certainly not very musical to our ears :rolleyes:

We all have different musical tastes. :)

Sure do! I love the sound of hounds music, they usually do it when they are about to be fed, go out, or when they are going hunting. The times we creapt down to the stables at 4 am trying our best not to wake the hounds :D :D

Case thrown out.

One five-year-old staghound named Bracelet was destroyed on the day and the hunt paid £1,000 compensation plus £450 to pay for a replacement terrier and Mrs Hodgson's vet's bill.

Why take it to court when the fair settlement has been paid and " Accepted"  what is it with folk. They want their cake and to eat it.

A court could grant no more than this even if they hadn't already settled up. :rolleyes:

Was it blood they were after :-)

Looks like the hunt were very sensible and proactive in offering compensation and paying all bills. A judge with common sense too, how rare :)  I still feel sorry for the woman, to watch your pet attacked would be all our worst nightmares, but she didn't have a case to take to court having accepted the hunts money, and previously allowed the dogs through her garden.

If I lived in an area where hound hunted or exercised I would make sure they couldn't get into my garden, as the judge said - dogs will be dogs.

A tragedy for those involved, but a victory for common sense, I think.

If I lived in an area where hound hunted or exercised I would make sure they couldn't get into my garden, as the judge said - dogs will be dogs.

It might not always be possible. Before we moved in here, my MIL and stepson lived here for a year, and according to them, they saw a hunt in the fields around us once, so seems it has happened at times. Now our front garden is as big as the back and I need two gardens -one for big dogs, one for little dogs. So the little dogs have the front. Planning laws here say I cannot erect a fence higher than one metre at the front, which would be easy for any large dog to jump. (Hence having the little ones there.)

If I were in your situation I'd fence off an area of the back garden for the smaller dogs. :) Then I'd have a dog-free front garden (less chance of a gate to the road being left open by a caller and the dogs escaping) as an added bonus! :D

I would too... the thought that the little ones could be in the garden when the pack runs through doesn't bear thinking about. Not that I think hounds would attack them but they may trample them.

Can't you build a cat/wee dog run like your last one in the back garden?

Yes we are actually planning to do that Jane. Technically speaking that's against the law too but we've decided we'll risk it. :)

Of course you could always 'test' the planning laws too :D I've had a 4' fence built in my front garden and hedging inside it that is now trimmed at 6 foot. The only weak points are the front gate and the driveway gate and I have an extra fence 3 feet inside these that keeps Mr Beastly away from passing dogs. The back garden is completely enclosed with 6' plus fencing so I could just keep him out there, but he likes to go out the front and watch life go by :)

The hunt did try to bribe the owner to stay quiet.

If it had been any other breed or non breed I would like to bet the outcome would have been totally different.

To say that it's ok as the hunt will pay for another dog is disgusting, no money can replace that dog & paying afterwards doesn't mean the pain caused to the dog disappeared with the payment.

What that judge has done is set a president for any other hunt to get away with out of control hounds killing dogs & injurying people in the process.

Nobodys saying it's OK MM, it must have been absolutely awful for the owner but justice has been done. The dogs concerned have been destroyed and the hunt have paid compensation. What more do you think should have been done?

I think it was very sensible of the judge to take it no further when the hunt had already done everything it should. If it hadn't been a hunt, but an individual owner with two dogs who had always been allowed to run through this womans garden, then one day they attacked her dog. The owner apologised, got the dogs put down and paid compensation and fees. Surely this would be enough?

If the hunt had done ,they could the hounds wouldn't have attacked the dog in the first place, they are allowed to take dogs out & about that are basically not under control, if it had been a GSD or a border collie the owner would have been fined or worse, but because it was a hunt they are allowed to do as they like in cases like this.

They should be made to have their dogs under control, they are allowed their dogs off lead & without collars & tags where the public are not. Running dogs is a pack loose is like having a loaded gun with the safety catch off-a disaster waiting to happen. If they cannot control their dogs they shouldn't be allowed to have them QED

Sorry but hunts have no respect for the public(unless they are hunt followers)how is anyone to know if they destroyed the two dogs that were the first in the attack ? Killing two of their dogs will mean nothing to them, after all they cull their dogs every year as a norm.

The justice system is up to its usual standard :rolleyes:

There's no doubt if this had been another breed it would have been different.

The irony is that had it been another breed its extremely unlikely it will have been bred and trained to attack other animals. The hunts are equal to the idiots who fight dogs and should be treated the same when their dogs attack pets and people (although I think dog fighters get off far too lightly).

The hounds did not attack any people.  Small dogs have been chased and killed by sight hounds too, it is sad when it happens that in prey mode the dogs did not perceive the small dog as a dog.

I have seen the packs at shows and they have super temperaments and seem to be under a high level of control considering they are a pack and not trained as individuals beyond puppy walking.

At shows I've seen multiple packs all loose and mingling in the arena at the same time, with never a cross word between them. Many visitors' dogs, however, are yapping and barking and straining at their leads to get to them. I know which ones are generally better trained and better behaved - and which I'd trust more.

Why is it that these dogs are not exercised by drag hunting? Would this not fulfil all the dogs instincts, and provide the right amount of exercise, and the thrill of cross country horse riding?
Kat

You still need to exercise outside hunting days.

You can't only take them out twice a week during the season and expect them to remain fit.

I don't understand the claim that hounds were allowed into the garden - surely anyone would not want this, no matter how dog orientated they were? I love dogs but would never allow anyone to let their dogs into my garden!

It's just an odd statement. I'd think it was more like the owner couldn't stop the hounds and so ended up accepting it perhaps?

I love hounds music, agree it is beautiful.

My experiences - have found hounds on busy roads holding up traffic (and hounds in danger) on a busy twisting country road, whilst whippers in and huntsmen a field away galloping after the others - not very impressed as we nearly ran over a hound thank god we didn't.

I have never felt afraid of hounds, never at shows or events, except the once when I could hear them hunting in full cry and I was in the middle of the open countryside with them racing towards me, and me with my elderly dog and nowhere to move to. I was really frightened then just in case - as Belgians can look like foxes   I  haven't forgotten that experience although normally I'd not be in any way concerned. It was the fact they were in fully cry and the fact that we could not move anywhere as we were right in the open. They went in the opposite direction further along and I was thankful for that.

Lindsay
x

Apparently the garden was unfenced and the owners had allowed the hounds to cross it in the past.