A guest article submitted by John Dryden.
As the Regional Director for The British Association for Shooting & Conservation in the South and West of England, this is typical of some of the many questions that we deal with every day of the week.
Gundogs are used by those who shoot game (pheasant, partridge and grouse) for a variety of different jobs - for flushing game (spaniels), for retrieving game (retrievers) and for pointing (setters and pointers). The rough shooter likes to own a dog which can do some, if not all, of these things!
We would all like to own a well trained dog; in the shooting field this is even more important. But getting back to the original question - "can a dog commit trespass, can a dog in fact break the law?" - like all things legal, there is no easy answer so, although complicated, I will try to explain.
The law says that you should never send your dog over the boundary of your shoot, unless you have permission of the owner of that land. In other words, if you shoot a bird in the air over your own shoot and that bird, dead or wounded, finally lands over the boundary, it cannot be retrieved by you or your dog without the risk of committing and having an action brought against you for trespass, unless you have obtained permission from the owner of that ground. The same applies in the case of a rabbit or a deer.
Now comes the tricky part. If you, as the owner of the dog, send your dog onto the land of another without permission, a trespass is committed. If, on the other hand, your dog strays over the boundary of 'its own accord' then the owner, under civil law, is not responsible for trespass!
This situation is a problem which is usually well recognised by those who shoot and they will normally take the necessary precaution of making sure that they have the required permission from adjoining landowners before shooting. This in turn means that they can be confident about 'bringing to bag' everything that they shoot and they can comply with the unwritten law about immediately following up any quarry which is wounded so that it can be quickly and humanely despatched.
Owners of dogs which are not used for shooting should be aware that actions for trespass can be brought if they allow their pet to wander onto land where they may disturb game and the owner or occupier of the land has the right to physically remove a trespasser using "as much force as is reasonable and necessary in the circumstances".
Well controlled dogs are welcome in the countryside but those which are not - are not. To the gamekeeper the latter are a constant source of irritation and extra work, particularly in the spring or early summer when the ground nesting birds and newly born deer are especially at risk from marauding dogs.
Please do yourself, your dog and me a favour; if your pet is unruly do not let it off the lead. Enrol it and yourself in a dog obedience course - the dog, the wildlife and I will be eternally grateful.
John K Dryden.