Apart from my rather flippant previous suggestion on how to deal with unaccompanied dogs, I think it is worthwhile mentioning that irresponsible dog ownership, is perhaps one of the greatest obstructions to walkers be able to get the full access to our countryside.
Has general standard of dog training gone down?
Back in the 1950-60's when the Definitive map was being compiled, walkers were few and countryside dwellers were mostly farm workers and people who made their living from the land.
Then the Landowner's reluctance to allow access to the countryside was manifested in the 'Corruption of the Definitive map'. Nowadays this manifestation comes in many more diverse forms. The lobby group that opposes the fair sharing of the countryside between the required production of food and other raw materials and and the ever expanding Leisure Industry, is the Country Landowner's Association (CLA). As walkers, we are concentrated into an access network that had been planned for a national population of the 1940's and immediate post war years.
There are more dog owners, rural dwellings are now 'outer suburbia', the percentage of irresponsible dog owners has increased with that population increase and perhaps by another percentage beyond that. The CLA latch onto any excuse to exclude people from the countryside, so the threat that dogs pose to livestock is a favourite, it gives the owners of land the excuse to blame access for this threat, so it is the farmer, who feels the threat.
Unlike the CLA the farmers main lobby group the National Farmer's Union (NFU) does not have a published policy on access, as far as I know, despite the fact that the Access Network is the Best Public Relations Tool the agricultural industry has for its products. Sadly the NFU do not tell their members this, walkers are losing a lot of credibility when being blamed for the actions of irresponsible dog owners.
Where I used to live when I managed a farm is a village at the east end of a hill, open access, at the west end the hill is adjacent to the suburban sprawl of our county town. The few real locals left in my old home village connected with farming call the hill 'Dogcrap Hill'.
The more we as walkers are seen as an inconvenience or even a threat in the countryside, the more true farmers will join the CLA, who claim they protect the interests of property owners on the countryside, what their national policy on access does not say is the growth of the leisure industry increases the rural economy, tons of meat and cereals go into dogfood.
Time for a stroll, perhaps I will go down to the local park and kick a dog or go and irritate the local gamekeeper, by telling him that his predecessors, 50 years ago would have shot or poisoned any 'inappropriate dog' that was in or near his bailiwick.