FOUR lambs have been killed and a ewe chased off a cliff by an out-of -control dog.

The attack happened at the Golden Cap.

Farmer Dean Exton, of Downhouse Farm, received a call from a member of the public alerting him to the dog, which was still chasing his livestock, and he arrived to find the lambs scattered around the fields.

Mr Exton said: "The owners were still there so I managed to talk to them. They were here on holiday and the dog had run off and they didn't realise there were sheep on the site. It's an undulating site, it goes up and down, so you can't see the whole site and we go all the way from Eype to Seatown.

"This has happened to me many times before and it's always the same story - that they did not think the dog was capable of doing it and it had never done anything like that before. I've heard that so many times, it's what they all say. The whole farm is a livestock farm - there is no reason why, if you're on a farm, you shouldn't have your dog on a lead and under control."

Mr Exton, a National Trust tenant whose farm forms part of the estate, says he experiences three to four attacks a year.

"It's very difficult to describe," he said. "You feel angry and annoyed. We are a business and of course this will effect us. The lambs were only young so we'll never know the real cost - we haven't even found the ewe as it's a 400ft drop.

"The site is popular with walkers and dog walkers but it is also a working farm and people should value that."

A spokesman for the National Trust says sheep worrying can, and does, have 'horrendous consequences' both for the farmer and for dog owners.

The spokesman said: "We rely on people walking their dogs to do the right thing and keep their dogs under close control to avoid farmers losing sheep and lambs to dog attacks. Pregnant ewes can also abort through the stress of being chased. Cattle and sheep can get extremely agitated by loose dogs and so keeping dogs under close control is also courteous to other countryside users in the vicinity. We want everyone to have a great experience of the outdoors. Please remember, too, that due to the beautiful, undulating landscape of west Dorset it is not always possible to see very far ahead to check if livestock are present.

"Other wildlife can also be affected by dogs who aren’t kept under close control. Populations of ground nesting birds can be affected if dogs disturb nests and their young. Sometimes they are little more than a scrape and are cleverly camouflaged, so they are not always obvious to dog walkers. A loose dog can soon destroy nests, eggs and young birds.

We would urge dog walkers always to be responsible and keep their dogs under close control in the countryside.