Do you think we could have a case for harrassment?

[Elaine]

We have been having some problems at the field these last few weeks. The guy who has sheep next to us, land rented from the same person as us, is a very unpleasant man.
Since we arrived on the field he has refused to talk to us, which is fine by us. We as you all know have put up 8ft fencing to stop any dogs jumping into the field with sheep. Our dogs themselves are not at all interested in the sheep. The issue is that he has working dogs, not friendly. When he is working them, our dogs aint interested but them he lets them all out to run at the fence, he sits in his truck and watches while his dogs antagonise ours, often snapping at any of ours who run towards them.
We have worked hard to try to discourage our dogs from joining his in the frenzied fence chase, and many of them will come back to us when we call but we still have a few who dont. Dogs on both sides are damaging the fencing, one of my dogs became lame because of this and then last week one of his dogs bit Raynes nose.
My sister tried to talk to him and he flew off the handle imediately, shouting abuse and critisising what we do on the field, slandering our business and shouting really imature stuff like, I was ****ing here first. My sister didnt get into any of that with him and just kept trying to say that the fencing was being damaged and dogs were being injured while he sat back and watched.
He then went to the woman we rent the field from telling her that he wanted us out, which was no big surprise to us, he wants all our fencing down or he'll tear it down, blah blah blah.
We explained to the woman what happened, she knows only too well that he is a nasty little man. So until we can afford to screen off that side of the field the compromise is, if he is there working his sheep on the bottom field, we have to take our dogs into our top field and if we are there on our bottom field when he arrives, he should work his sheep in his top field. Is he sticking to this? No.
He now sometimes takes another bloke with him who just stands and watches us or he follows us up and down the field watching what we do, not that it's any of his business at all. He has also started moving the feed troughs around to vulnerable parts of the fencing which has resulted in my dog digging under the fence to get to the feed, we blocked that off with a big bit of ply and some boulders, so he moved the troughs again.
He was following my sister around, watching her, this afternoon, she realised that if she went into the top field and over to a far corner, he couldnt see her, so she crouched down for a few minutes and when she stood up he was almost hanging over the fence trying to see where she was. She got fed up of this and went to walk the dogs over the moors, as she left she looked over at him and he looked at his watch and shrugged as if to say, you didnt have those dogs out long, not realising that she was off walking on the moors with them instead.
As he very mush has control over his dogs, and knows that they are not friendly, even with each other, all he needs to do is whistle when they get too close to the fence, problem solved.......

[dandysmom]

What a nasty situation, Elaine. I don't know enough about law to hazard a guess as to whether it might be considered harrassment; do you know, or are any of your clients attorneys? It seems it would be a good idea to see of you have a case, and if anything could be done, such as a restraining order? You can't keep putting up with it; and I'm afraid there might be a serious problem if one of your dogs is attacked/injured, You might end up being sued knowing there was the potential for harm and not doing anything to prevent it. God forbid. I'm rambling on a bit, but really have no idea about British law .... but something needs to be done!

[angieh]

Sounds certainly like harassment or even incitement to me .... do you have a Citizens Advice Bureau that could give any legal advice?

[truthisouthere]

There is no pleasing some people. Unfortunately this nasty little cretin has a chip on his shoulder and will take it out on anyone who is in the near vicinity by the sounds of it. People like this don't love their animals because they can't even love themselves or anyone else for that matter.
What's the worst he can do? He's not the landowner so can't take anything away from you, some landowners can be just as nasty.
Smile sweetly and confuse the h*ll out of him, that's what I'd be inclined to do, he really doesn't warrant your time and energy.
Sorry but that's what I'd do.

[dandysmom]

Elaine, do you have insurance coverage if one of the dogs you walk is injured? And tell me MYOB if you want!

[Elaine]

For now we have agreed to keep notes on the things he is doing and when, pictures if possible just so if anything serious does happen we have some documented stuff to produce.
The thing is we dont want to complain to the owner of the field as he has been there for years and although she knows he's nasty, she might just ask us to leave to save any more bother for her.
We will be looking out for another field but it sticks in my throat a bit as we have put so much hard work into that one and it's in the right catchment area for us too.
I wonder if some advice frim the dog warden might also help, as he knows his dogs are3 not nice and he does have control but chooses not to.
We have also just enrolled in a 6 month Think Dog course via alpha education to try and become more skilled with the dogs.
Seems that every thing is always at our expense.....

[Elaine]

Originally Posted by dandysmom

Elaine, do you have insurance coverage if one of the dogs you walk is injured? And tell me MYOB if you want!

Yes Eileen, we do have insurance and we also adivse the owners to have their own insurance.
We do know where he lives and should any dogs become injured and need veterinary care, we will explain to the owners how the dog became injured and give them his details.

[dandysmom]

Originally Posted by Elaine

Yes Eileen, we do have insurance and we also adivse the owners to have their own insurance.
We do know where he lives and should any dogs become injured and need veterinary care, we will explain to the owners how the dog became injured and give them his details.

Excellent! That worried me a bit.

[Elaine]

Originally Posted by angieh

Sounds certainly like harassment or even incitement to me .... do you have a Citizens Advice Bureau that could give any legal advice?

We do have a citizens advice but we dont have the time to sit in their offices waiting to be seen, they wont give advice over the phone, its a first come first served service too and we just dont have the time.

[calismum]

This sounds dreadful - and what he gets from doing this to you??

Can you borrow or do you have a video camera - use it and make sure he knows - if he asks just say you took some advice from a lawyer re damage to property and dangerous dogs. He doesn't need to know it was a guy you met in the supermarket checkout queue.

It might be enough to tober him a bit?

In terms of the fence - could you even attatch some heavy duty black bin backs to it - that may help stop the sight stimulation some of the dogs have?

Wish you luck.