I am sorry that I posted on Dogsey. Personal attack was not what I expected. We cannot all be training and dog gurus' but neither can anyone learn or change if they are attacked and ridiculed for their mistakes.

I was hoping that there would be some history of dogs that have attacked sheep previously recovering their position in the family etc Situations that had positive outcomes to encourage me to try something other than what I am being advised to do at every turn. In amongst all the advice and flaming there is one such anecdote. It's not encouraging.

Not once did I say that I thought the dogs would attack my son now they have attacked a sheep. I said I felt uncomfortable around them atm with him as they had acted in such an uncharacteristic way. Please read what I actually wrote.

I am absolutely horrified that it has been suggested that I should let my 4yo see and experience the mess the dogs made of our sheep. It does not say a lot for the frequenters of this forum. And it certainly does not add weight to any of your arguments - I just get the taste of evangelism not considered opinion. And from the acceptance of the comment by all but one other lone poster I assume you all agree.

My child knows where his meat comes from. He does not need to see his PET in a bloody slaughter scene, alive and trailing intestine and liver as it struggles to stand. To hear the guttural agonised moans and see his PET shot by his next door neighbour who he has known since birth.Why would you ever think ANY child needs to see that ?? I am appalled. I put my child well before the animals. Clearly you don't or wouldn't.

I had not decided what to do with my dogs but I certainly will not be taking anything from this thread. It's a shame. I was warned about posting on here and I ignored the warning.

I can't see myself posting again here so unfortunately I will not be able to let those kinder posters know the outcome of our situation.

Thank you. And exactly what you said.

I do not believe I mentioned anything like forgiveness etc.
Death is a part of life. Not a nice one but it is what it is.
Animals killing is a part of nature.
Upsetting it might be but the sooner the concept is introduced the better in my opinion. did not do me any harm.
Death is a taboo in this country.
People do not like to talk about it.
I do not get it.
If grown adults cannot accept the idea of predation.... Actually have no idea how to respond to that.


Alex

I'm not sure anyone suggested letting your son see what the dogs did they?

It think there were a couple of people telling you their experiences weren't there? I told you about my staffie killing a fawn..a more innocent gentle animal you would be hard pressed to find.

When you come on a dog loving forum seemingly already having made up your mind that your dog will have to put to sleep because it killed a sheep I would have thought you would have been able to guess that feelings would run high. Especially as you seem to have already ruled out rehoming.

Im sorry you have lost your family pet and i agree your four year old does not need to see the devastation and im sorry you feel you are not getting support you need we all have are own ideas and opinions. I do know off some one who was walking there dog and it was off lead and it attacked a sheep and the owner felt the right thing to do was have the dog put to sleep and i know this decision ended with a lot of her aquaintances feeling they didnt want to know her any more.I hope you come to a decision which suits your family. i personally although i would be devestated would not have my dog pts i would either manage the situation as i do with my own dog (he is walked on lead and never allowed off where i know there is a chance of dogs around as he can be aggressive) or i would rehome my dog to some one who was aware of the situation and would be able to give the dog more than i was able to at the present time.

But the child would have to forgive?
Because otherwise the dog would be despised and treated very meanly.
In which case, the dogs could hardly stay could they?
The atmosphere would be awful.

There is a big difference between knowing about death, where meat comes from etc and being told that their beloved pet has died. Distressing for anyone but especially a small child.
THEN to be told your beloved dogs did it?!?!

No, I really think that is cruel, utterly unnecessary.
I think it would take a very cold person to do such a thing.

I see no reason why some people seem to want to expose young children to adult subjects.
They do not need to know every gory detail, do you want them to visit a slaughterhouse instead of simply knowing pork = pig?
Perhaps they should see a woman being raped because just hearing about it and knowing it exists isn't enough?
Why don't we ship them off to Syria to see the horrors inflicted there because being taught about war isn't good enough?
Children deserve to have a childhood IMO.

There is nothing to be gained by teaching children above and beyond what they need to know.....

Grown people accept the idea.
They know very well animals kill animals, they aren't stupid!
But to see your pet who you associate with love, gentleness etc viciously rip an animal limb from limb.
I think most normal people would be at least pretty upset and worst pretty traumatised!

Your "final"post is exactly what I expected, you have decided that the dog(s)you blame have to pay with their life(ves)-I wonder if you have thought how that would affect your toddler ? Will it make him hate all dogs for being killers ? Will he miss the dogs(not sure if your dogs are pets I don't know anyone who keeps their pets in a barn)as his pets ? Will he blame you for the dog(s)being PTS ?

I presume you have decided which dog(s)will die ? You have no idea which dog instigated the attack so how will you decide which one(s)to punish by death ? Toss a coin or kill all the dogs that were out of sight when the attack happened ? How do you know one"was horrified at what happened and ran away from the others, she was not involved at all."

& as for not worrying about your dogs attacking you toddler

Sheep do not sunbathe BTW they lie down to digest their food ie ruminate, sleep or rest. As for your sheep being healthy, as a prey animal sheep along with many others can appear totally healthy & actually be on the verge of death, a shepherd can inspect a ewe one minute & it will be outwardly healthy, only to find it dead minutes later

Only you know what your child is old enough to see OP, when one of mine killed I had my nephews with me one was 3 and the other 4, they saw it all. We had a few sleepless nights but no lasting harm, both are now young adults and vegetarian but not sure the earlier killing caused that or not.

Children should know from an early age where meat comes from why not ? Many children go hunting from an early age, does this turn them into uncaring killers ?????

99% of farm children know that meat comes from the animals that farmers breed & grow, should they be kept in ignorance in case it upsets them ??

I became a vegan aged 12 when my father joked that the chicken we were eating for sunday lunch was my chicken-I could never eat any meat ever again. It would have been much better had I known about which animals are bred & raised eaten(my chicken was a prolific layer so would never have been killed to eat & was elderly when she had to be PTS-she would have been as tough as old boots if eaten)

Perhaps the OP would have been better to train the dogs to herd rather than using an e collar to try to stop them

I said that children should know where meat comes from eg pigs become pork, we eat chickens, sheep etc but I do not agree with the extent to which some individuals push this.
The fact that some want schools to encourage children to care for livestock to be slaughtered, taking children to duck shoots etc.
I feel that is a step too far and unneccessary gaining nothing other than making kids immune to suffering which can never be a good thing.

The op said her child knew where meat came from and knew the sheep died.
Why does the child need to know the dogs did it or the gory details of how it suffered and how a man he trusts and has known since a baby ultimately finished off his pet?

He knows what he needs to know, I don't agree with people trying to teach children more than they need to know.

Yes I think the children who hunt do grow into uncaring killers seeing as they tend to hunt as adults and I view hunting as a completely revolting, sickening, selfish practise.

Surprising that a vegan would appear to support it as the whole point of veganism is eradicating exploitation and suffering?!?!