Rest in peace my beautiful girl! You did not deserve this, you where such a sweet and kind hearted girl and the whole neighbourhood loved you. You will be so missed you where so much more to me, you where my best friend and my baby, you meant the world to me and pulled me through so many hard times and always put a smile on my face I will miss you with all my heart and you will be forever in my heart and memory! I love you so much and always will! You where such a huge part of my life and I will keep you in my heart forever we will meet again in heaven I love you Skye and you will be missed by so many

What happened?

A delivery driver didn’t close our gate properly and she got out and a farmer shot her for walking through he’s field of sheep. He didn’t try to call her or give her a warning shot he just shot her for no bloody reason! We asked him did she attack one or worry them he said no but I did see a dead sheep with it’s guts out and we asked to see the sheep but he said I already took care of it, and when we asked did you see her attack the sheep he said no and when we got her back she did not have one drop of blood round her mouth paws nothing! It so evil and cruel! And the police won’t do nothing about it!!

Being from farming country originally, I can understand a farmers concern for his animals ... but living now in Texas puts a different light on it. Someone can't just go out and shoot a dog (or cougar or bear for that matter) it must be actively killing livestock or endangering a human.

No, @Liv_Skye she didn't deserve that fate, no one deserves that fate. I share your sorrow ...

How awful. I'm so very sorry to hear of this. You have my deepest condolences. We live in farm country with large coyote population. My greatest fear.

I would seriously put a lock on the gate. It really sucks that happened and really all you can do is make sure it doesnt happen again, especially now that you know who your neighbor really is.

@aljones here people actually do just shoot dogs for being in proximity to livestock (or houses) and its legal if they are on your property you dont need a reason.  The "open range" has weird laws

Here they shoot the dog then sue for 3x livestock damages. Squirt has been shot at but squirt is a cow killer

Thank you all, it just hurts because if would have just called her she would have come to him, she was so friendly and loved every one! All he had to do was call her, not shoot her. I don’t know how some one could be so cold hearted. It’s broke my heart into pieces! But thankfully I do have her 2 pups which I know isn’t her but it’s a piece of her

Been on the giving and receiving end of that scenario before. Hate losing a dog because they got out. Hate having to take a dog out for livestock but if something is killing unfortunately some stuff gets shot simply because something must pay for the crime. I had this worry with Kye a few years back when he got out the day before open of deer season. We luckily got him back home. He had been shot at some point before I got him probably for the same reason, just someone with less good aim. Hopefully it was a swift ordeal for sweet skye. So sorry for your loss. We had a sign at our old house to please keep gate firmly latched that went onto our front porch.

i am so sorry for such a tragic death of your girl, hugs to you

This is the thing though he couldn’t prove she hurt any of he’s sheep no video evidence no photos all he said was I saw a dead sheep, when we asked to see the sheep he said no!

Thank you for all your messages

I believe invisible fence is legal in UK even if ecollars are not? You might consider that for your remaining pups as a back up for the fence.

I feel for you. I had a springer spaniel that was doing his job protecting the yard and a footchase involving police went through the backyard and Baltimore city police murdered my dog for being in his own fenced in yard. So i really do feel bad for what happened because ive had a dog murdered also.

I second amymeme on the electric fence. I would never use one as the only fence but as a backup for an open gate or broken fencing

We’ve got a 3 acre garden so I’m building a galvanised dog run for them about 1/2 3/4 of a acre I’m going to go 2 ft in the ground and 6ft/7ft high that way when there out side they are in a locked pen/run, I can’t let this happen again, if it wasn’t for the pup I think I would be having a mental breakdown she was my best friend! And I’m so sorry to hear that about your spaniel. I don’t know how people can be so cruel and cold hearted!!!

My gate needs a post moved and a pair of wire snippers to open. I did that after some hunters went through the gate thinking they could get through and one of them got bit by shadow. People never surprise me anymore. Someone in alamosa found an almost dead dog, its amazing the dog didnt die but after what one of my neighbors did to his 3 daughters nothing really surprises me.

It took me about 6 months before i really came to terms with my spaniel, traveler was my dads dog and he was shot 2 years after my dad died

It’s hard for me to come to terms with it I still expect to go out side me have her howling at me or I’m going to walk in the kitchen and she’s sat there looking at the biscuit tin with her puppy dog face, I got Skye when I was 16 and my parents where hard on me and my siblings so Skye was always an escape for me and then when I got married to my childhood sweet heart (who got me Skye as he knew I always wanted a husky) we moved to put mini 3 acre farm and she done every thing with us and went every where, I think the best day we had was a day at the beach us 3 went crab fishing got sea food had a walk round the town and we sat outside a cafe and had ice cream we all loved that day, my husband said to me today it hit him hard when he pulled up from work yesterday and she wasn’t there to greet him. It so hard and I don’t know what to do but there’s nothing I can do

Eventually it will get better, not that it means anything right now. I will admit every time i look at squirt i get upset about rambo and patches and at this point that was over 5 years ago.

Sadly because of what happened with skyy i went and got a harness spider cant slip out of, unlike her collar that she knows how to get off. I really doubt the rancher would shoot her but 3 years ago squirt and spider attacked his blue heeler and tore him up so for all i know he will shoot her. He has made threats about shooting squirt but squirt did kill one of his calves... doesnt matter that the calf was on my property.

Hopefully the pups keep her memory alive

It’s just so heart breaks how that man done it to her, she didn’t have one bad bone in her body there was so much more he could have done than shoot her. He could of gave her a warning shot called her, he could have got me he knew were we lived! Anything!

I’m so grateful that she left me with the 2 pups I see so much of Skye in Apollo more and more each day, I took a video of him howling last night and I played it next to a video I hid of skyes howl and it was like I was playing one video there howl were the exact same! It littles things I see in them and in Storm she does a “Scooty” run I call is where the run and tuck the back legs in and Skye used to do it when she was excited. You don’t realise how much you love and how much your day revolves around them until there gone it like a kick in the teeth, I feel like I’ve took the biggest sucker punch.

Yes we all need to take extra care and extra measures so this doesn’t happen again or to any one else, it’s the most heart breaking thing that’s ever happen to me

This is the last photo I took of her

Ranchers are a weird breed of people, they dont view animals the same way most of the world sees regarding pets. And ive also been in the position the rancher felt like he was in. It was slightly different as i had given the owner of the dog multiple warnings before i shot thier dog. It devastated me to do that, but it would have been just as devastating if one of my foals had been hurt on top of income loss.

Something that makes me feel better about hunting vs buying a steak is at least said animal was happy until it died, i cant say that about the cow at the feedlot. Be glad skye had a good life until the tragic end.

Yes I may have seen he’s side if he gave me warning or he had proof that Skye hurt or tried to hurt he’s sheep but he said that she killed one but yet he never saw her do it or saw her chase a sheep! He also could not show me the body of the so called “DEAD” sheep and Skye had no blood round her mouth or paws,
And I bet you wouldn’t of killed someone’s pet if she/he was just walking through your field with out any intention of hurt you animals.

Not animals.... but i have shot at people for that. Its amazing what a shotgun loaded with rock salt can do. But i have heard of the ranchers that just kill animals that aren't theirs for being on the property. Perfect example is the guy that killed several mustangs and 3 bald eagles just because he could. Well he did get a 15 year prison sentence. But yes the guy that owns property across the street from the 10 acres i just sold told me straight off if my dogs stepped foot on his property he would kill them and claim he thought they were coyotes. I felt bad my dogs ended up on chains but it was better then him shooting them. And the dog issue wasnt even my dogs.. some loose dogs got into his garbage pit and made a mess and by default any dog that wasnt his he shot at. Some people are just not right in the head

The 'discussion' between those who work cattle, sheep, etc and those of us who have potentially dangerous (to said animals) is one that's ongoing and I don't think there'll ever be a happy meeting ground.

Those animals are their livelihood and represent quite a bit of money, and in their mind our dogs are just nuisance pets.

When I was just a kid (12 yo) we inherited a Samoyed - he had literally torn his previous owners porch off his house and we lived in the country. Our next door neighbor as raising sheep - a bit for wool and a bit for personal meat. Nanook, the Samoyed, got loose and killed one sheep - well, he came home bloody, followed shortly by the neighbor who had followed tracks in the snow to our place. This was in central Illinois, he told us that if he ever saw Nanook in with his flock again, he'd shoot him - no questions asked - the State Police came out later (next day??) and told us the dog had to go somewhere else or they'd be back to put him down.

Kill a dog? I'd have to be real hard pressed to kill someones pet. Shoot, I have a hard time shooting around the coyotes here when I just want to scare them off.

It wouldn't solve anything but I presume the UK has cruelty laws. A quick look, animals are considered property so killing a dog without cause could invoke criminal damages. Oh, shoot, I won't retype this, but a quick look at this link suggests that the shepherd may have 'over exerted' his rights.

There's little that you can do now, that's a a forgone fact. Look at the memories you have of her little puppy dog face and enjoy her puppies ... the pain only lasts forever. I find myself looking for two of mine who have gone wandering here and never come home.......

Makes me think of my horses and how my friends didnt quite understand that they weren't pets

Horses confuse people. Sometimes they're work animals (draft /riding) and other times they are very definitely pets.
I don't guess it's really the horses half as much as it is their owners but then they're human and thus the most confusing animal that God ever created ....