raisingirl, I love your account of your dog's encounter with pheasants and squirrels! I used to have a husky who I could never let off lead because she didn't bother to stay with me unless I called her back every 30 seconds so I walked her on an extending lead. She still managed to catch things and it was impossible to wrest them away. On one occasion she caught a pheasant and I had to go for much of the walk with a husky on a lead with a pheasant in its mouth worrying that I would be accused (quite rightly) of poaching! Another time I was on a friend's boxing day group walk and my husky (still on lead) caught a rabbit and proceeded to devour it under the disapproving regard of all my fellow walkers.
Hah! You know that video clip of 'Fenton' that everyone found so hilarious a few years back? Yeah well it isn't funny when it happens to you . Talk to any lurcher owner and they'll tell you horror stories of squirrels in parks with screaming children and disapproving parents standing around.
Huskies are lovely dogs . But they just want to run and run and run and run and run.......
The point is really that it's not my dog's fault if he rips a squirrel to bits under the fainting gaze of the mothers of a dozen 5 year olds, it's my fault that he had that opportunity and I could be prosecuted for having a dog that was dangerously out of control (probably not in your case, SG - as she was on the lead the whole time). It's not cats' fault that they eat birds, either - they just behave instinctively. But in British Law, it isn't the cats' owners fault either.
So all you people who think cats are a problem should be petitioning Government for a change in the law to amend the status of cats, and give owners responsibility for what their pets do. It won't solve the problem, but I think it could vastly improve it, and also improve the welfare of Britain's cats.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I suspect that for more birds and have been lost to man's thoughtless activities than those of felines behaving as nature intended. Chemicals, intensive farming, building on habitats, pollution from industry and transport and so on reduce or remove shelter and food supplies and upset the natural balance far more than cats.
However, I agree that cats should be neutered and also kept in at night for the well being of both cats and wildlife.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
How about getting a dog. My garden had no cats or rabbits when I had my last golden retrieiver. She died in March when she was 15 years old. The cats came back and the rabbits very soon after she died so I have just got my new 9 week old golden retriever puppy who is already chasing anything that moves, including my skirt which she is being told not to. Its a bit like having a toddler as she puts everthing in her mouth. Can run upstairs but cannot get down yet and the Christmas tree has had to go on a table so she does not take the tinsel or anthing else off the tree. She will be getting her teenage section soon and is already answering me back when I say no. I know that this will not last as they grow up very quickly. They are great with children as long as the children know how to behave with the dog and so a dog is a great learning source. In addition a child will not be frightened of dogs. My brother ran into the road to avoid a dog when he was 3 so my mother went straight out and bought a puppy. 30,000 dogs are taken in by charity after Christmas so going to Dogs Trust, Battersea dogs home etc is a good way to get a more mature dog so you do not have to go through the toddler, teenage answering back stage.
Posts
why as part of my post been removed is it bbc Big Brother Censorship ?
or was it we have our own views ,or sprinkeling pixie dust that caused the removeal?
I think it's Big Brother Censorship !
raisingirl, I love your account of your dog's encounter with pheasants and squirrels! I used to have a husky who I could never let off lead because she didn't bother to stay with me unless I called her back every 30 seconds so I walked her on an extending lead. She still managed to catch things and it was impossible to wrest them away. On one occasion she caught a pheasant and I had to go for much of the walk with a husky on a lead with a pheasant in its mouth worrying that I would be accused (quite rightly) of poaching! Another time I was on a friend's boxing day group walk and my husky (still on lead) caught a rabbit and proceeded to devour it under the disapproving regard of all my fellow walkers.
Hah! You know that video clip of 'Fenton' that everyone found so hilarious a few years back? Yeah well it isn't funny when it happens to you
. Talk to any lurcher owner and they'll tell you horror stories of squirrels in parks with screaming children and disapproving parents standing around. 
Huskies are lovely dogs
. But they just want to run and run and run and run and run.......
The point is really that it's not my dog's fault if he rips a squirrel to bits under the fainting gaze of the mothers of a dozen 5 year olds, it's my fault that he had that opportunity and I could be prosecuted for having a dog that was dangerously out of control (probably not in your case, SG - as she was on the lead the whole time). It's not cats' fault that they eat birds, either - they just behave instinctively. But in British Law, it isn't the cats' owners fault either.
So all you people who think cats are a problem should be petitioning Government for a change in the law to amend the status of cats, and give owners responsibility for what their pets do. It won't solve the problem, but I think it could vastly improve it, and also improve the welfare of Britain's cats.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I suspect that for more birds and have been lost to man's thoughtless activities than those of felines behaving as nature intended. Chemicals, intensive farming, building on habitats, pollution from industry and transport and so on reduce or remove shelter and food supplies and upset the natural balance far more than cats.
However, I agree that cats should be neutered and also kept in at night for the well being of both cats and wildlife.
How about getting a dog. My garden had no cats or rabbits when I had my last golden retrieiver. She died in March when she was 15 years old. The cats came back and the rabbits very soon after she died so I have just got my new 9 week old golden retriever puppy who is already chasing anything that moves, including my skirt which she is being told not to. Its a bit like having a toddler as she puts everthing in her mouth. Can run upstairs but cannot get down yet and the Christmas tree has had to go on a table so she does not take the tinsel or anthing else off the tree. She will be getting her teenage section soon and is already answering me back when I say no. I know that this will not last as they grow up very quickly. They are great with children as long as the children know how to behave with the dog and so a dog is a great learning source. In addition a child will not be frightened of dogs. My brother ran into the road to avoid a dog when he was 3 so my mother went straight out and bought a puppy. 30,000 dogs are taken in by charity after Christmas so going to Dogs Trust, Battersea dogs home etc is a good way to get a more mature dog so you do not have to go through the toddler, teenage answering back stage.