Dog owner to pay for sheep attack in East Lothian
A dog owner whose pet savaged several sheep in East Lothian has pleaded guilty and is to pay compensation.
Faye Cook, 53, from Dunbar, was walking her terrier off the lead when the dog bolted and confronted several sheep in the corner of a Dunbar field.
The dog left several of the livestock covered in blood during the attack on 4 May and a lamb had to be put down.
She apologised to the farmer and offered to pay for the cost of the animal and the £1,213 vet's bill.
Sheriff John Rafferty decided to defer sentence to 3 September for Cook to pay the farmer.
Cook pleaded guilty to being in charge of a dog, which worried sheep and lambs by chasing, attacking and causing severe injury to them and necessitating destruction of one lamb when she appeared at Haddington Sheriff Court on Wednesday.
Depute fiscal Brent Bissett told the court a witness saw the dog cornering the sheep in a field and managed to tie the dog to a fence post.
Mr Bissett added some of the sheep were "very distressed", and Cook had subsequently turned up at the farmhouse looking for her terrier.
Solicitor Robert Lowe said his client was "quite horrified and upset" at what her dog had done and "was not used to living in the country" after moving to her farm cottage just weeks previously.