Yes its yew.

agree Yew!

Thank you. We'll have to be vigilant as the doggy will chew and eat anything!

as it has never had berries it is a male plant. My middle brother has a yesw in the garden and his dogs have never eaten them as far as he is aware, though if they have they have come through unscathed. they were small puppies when he got them, sprockers I think he said they were.

I lost 2 cats that used to sleep under my Yew esp on hot summer days. They chewed on everything. I can't say for certain if this is what they ate, but they were under severe respiratory distress for a couple days until they finally succumbed. Nobody could figure out why they passed so quickly. I keep looking at that yew bush.

MOST parts of Yew are poisonous.

See this webpage:

http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/atoz/taxus_baccata.htm

Apparently yews were usually planted within graveyard walls to prevent grazing cattle eating it. Many of our ancient yews are to be found in medieval graveyards as the yew was used to make the English longbow.

That webpage (under "Folklore and Facts") and separately, on Wikipedia - see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_longbow

seem to state that the best yew used for making English longbows - was imported from Europe.

It never occurred to me that it was a male plant Seaburngirl! Unfortunately there is a huge laburnham tree in the garden as well, so perils all around. Thanks for all the useful info everyone.