Most people know that you don't let your dog roam around other people's livestock. There are plenty of local stories about the consequences that face owners and their dogs who wander.

When we first moved in a neighbour suddenly acquired two border collies. Beautiful dogs, but he left them at home when he went to work and they started exploring the area. I stewed over it after I found them, a couple of times, in my paddocks. Then the next time I saw them they were trying to get into the paddock where we had geese. I went and talked to another neighbour to get some pointers as the best way to deal with the issue.

He wasn't home, but I spoke to his wife. She had a few things to say. One, she hadn't seen them yet. Two, the neighbour with the dog should know better. Three, if her husband saw them he'd shoot them. Its a pretty simple equation.

So I went and called on the dog's owner. I didn't start an argument, I simply pointed out everyone around here had livestock and if the dogs were seen trespassing they would be dealt with. He took it seriously, sorted out a day cage for them, and we only ever saw them in his company after that. (Actually, now that I think about it...he did do the day cage, but only after one of the dogs was run down on the Great Alpine Road. Same result as being shot , but without a neighbour clocking up bad karma points.)

A few months ago, at night, I heard dingoes howling. That's a first for us. Although we are literally across the river from the north end of Mt Buffalo National Park we've never seen or heard dingoes near us. Well, I thought they were dingoes. A week after that the chap who leases the paddocks across the river (next to the National Park!) showed me a picture. He'd brought in professional shooters to deal with some wild dogs, and in one night they had shot a few. I was a bit taken aback with the photo....the three healthy looking dogs laid out in the picture were black Kelpie's. Exactly like my dog Fry.

Yes, good idea not to let your dogs wander! ( Fry is an inside dog at night. We have a dog-door, but it was sealed off when we had Bertie. Bertie used to wake up the house by crashing through the dog-door at 2am to take off after barking foxes. I would get up and go and get him, and although we had some interesting adventures...me, Bertie and the foxes... it played havoc with my sleep and we locked it. It has remained locked since.)

So, recently I was a bit surprised to drive into the far paddock with a trailer of mulch and see my sheep huddled in a corner, facing towards a large dog. The dog wasn't harassing them, but the sheep weren't taking any chances. The dog looked familiar, but I couldn't place it. I got out of the car and rather than shooing it off, spoke to it. Obviously we had met before. The dog came over to me, I gave it a pat, and I opened my door and it jumped in! I thought a bit, and worked it out, and rang the owner.

"Are you missing a dog"?, I asked.
"Yes, I've just realized she's not here."
"I'll bring her round"

I do know this dog. It has a partner, both beautiful hunting dogs, very disciplined. They share their farm with a lot of changing livestock and they know how to behave. The owner couldn't explain why it had taken off like that, it was very out of character. But it hasn't happened again.