Neighbor's Dogs attack - your opinion??

I had my first chicken attack the other day. I walked out and saw the dog(s) responsible and chased them off (only because I can't run fast enough to catch them). I lost one of my 19 chickens to the attack, but ALL of them were absolutely terrified!

Now I will admit perhaps I shouldn't have had my chickens out unfenced, but they have been unfenced on my property for several weeks. They also stay on my property, I'm on three and a half acres in a semi-rural area. They are also more than capable of flying over the four foot fence that "keeps" them in if I do fence them in. I know because they do it almost daily.

My neighbor, across the street, has a dog that is chained up. They also have a female that they let run free all over the neighborhood and they allowed her to have free ranging puppies over the winter that are probably about 4 months or older now. There are also a couple other neighborhood dogs, that I presume have owners, but for all intents and purposes the dogs are stray.

It was one of these "strays" that actually killed the chicken, but the puppies were watching. I don't know if the female mother was there as I did not see her. The attack must have been pretty vicious as I saw feathers of various colors around the yard, but only one pile of feathers where they/it actually caught one. The other chickens were terrified and I had to spend a couple hours digging through my property trying to find them and coax them out in order to put them back in the coop and run as the had found the smallest and most inaccessible places to hide and DIDN'T want to come out.

I know I need to put up a fence on the edge of of my property along the road, but since I've been unemployed for 6 months, finances are extremely tight. The fence in the back that I use for a run is too short to put along the road.

I plan on speaking with the neighbor and basically stating that I will keep my chickens on my property and if possible fenced in. However, if I find their dog(s) on my property bothering my chickens, given the current history, their dog(s) may not make it home alive.

What would you do (that is legal)? FYI - if I catch their dog(s) "worrying"or killing my livestock on my property I am within my legal right to injure or kill their dog(s). Also they are committing an "offence" by having a dog that is uncontrolled on my property without my permission and Tennessee state law also says that they have a duty to keep their dog under "reasonable control" at all times.

I don't want to make enemies of my neighbors, but I also know that there are some people you can't please, so what would you do?

I would talk to them one time to let them know that their animal was bothering me. That is what I would want someone to do if one of my animals was bothering them. If they do not keep their animals off your property, SSS (shoot, shovel, shut up). Period.

I think I might print out a copy of the ordinance and leave it on their door, with the applicable parts in bold and a note that they need to keep their dogs contained on their property if they want to keep them.

In Oklahoma and most other "farming" states, if a dog is harrassing your livestock of any kind, you are perfectly within your legal rights to shoot it immediately. I think I would talk to the neighbor, but not threaten to shoot the dog yourself. You might say something general like, "SOME people shoot dogs that threaten thier livestock, and I'd sure hate to have that happen to your dog." You can proceed to the next less-lethal step of loading some shotgun shells with rock salt and giving the dogs a backside of it. Make your property an unattractive place to visit.

I would never threaten to shoot the dog in my talk with the neighbor. It would be a simple conversation like, 'we are neighbors and I don't want my animals to bother you either, please keep your dogs in your yard and I'll keep my animals in mine'. I would NEVER mention what happens if they don't. That is the point of SSS...

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LOL Okie Amazon in Oklahoma you can shoot a dog for looking at you funny

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Years ago, I had a problem with a neighbors dog. She would jump my fence, terrorize my animals and eventually kill some. She would always run and jump back over the second she heard my door open..I calmly walked over and spoke to my neighbors. The wife was sort of understanding. The husband, typical ignorant (Insert bad word) basically he was thinking. well, if my birds weren't loose.. the dog wouldn't have a reason to jump the fence. Basically, he was putting the blame on me. I stated.. My yard is NOT the only yard she jumps into.. I stated that I had seen her many times down the road, in other people trash and even as far as on the main road. He said, well, it's a free country blah, blah.
I looked pleading at the wife and said Please.. keep your dog inside the yard... and I left. I spent good money buying a stockade fence for that side only and that darn dog would go out her front gate, down my canal and in through my front fence.. One day, months later, I'd had enough.. I started giving her doggie cookies and made friends with her. I lured her into my truck. Drove her 2 counties away and turned her in to the SPCA and dropped her in the overnight anonymous kennels. With a note saying she was NOT good around small animals. I felt SO bad. It wasn't the dogs fault the owners were jerks. As far as I know, They never even asked any body if they'd seen their dog, they never got another one and we moved a few years later..Our new neighbors had pitbulls that once chased me INTO my house.. UP my stairs!! I loaded some 12g shells with rocksalt and shot both of them at different times.. They never came back to my house after that, but they still roam the neighbor hood. Here in So. Fl.. Pitbulls are notorious for getting out and ganging up on people and animals.. Heavy latino communities have very macho dogs and most treat them very badly at worst and indifferently at best. I keep an old double barrelled mule eared shot gun by both doors and one at the barn.. I'm learning to steel myself against predators, wild or domestic.. It still hurts like crazy to kill something, but you have to protect your own!
Terrorists usually TELL people what they intend to do. Keep it to yourself.. Never admit to anything and don't volunteer information..

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I think it really depends on your relationship with your neighbor. My one neighbors dog has gotten ahold of a chicken in my yard before and he was sort of apologetic. Well the following spring he thought it would be cute to get his kids some baby ducks. Well once those ducks got older he released them in a big pond that we share. Well my hunting dog (Vizsla) was out swimming after them trying to catch them. He jumped into the pond to grab my dogs collar and brought her out. I just stood their laughing my arse off inside but acting all concerned. When he got out I just said, "Guess it's not a good idea to let dogs run loose!" He's been totally cool every since the rolls were reversed.

However, I have another neighbor that doesn't really care and let's his dogs run loose. I have a stick next to the coop called the "Charlie Stick" so if he comes around everyone in the house is instructed to chase him off with the stick. I usually keep him at bay with a pellet gun.

BUT... I have the SSS rules. Anything four legged snooping around or harrassing my chickens will be buried out back. I spent 6 months training my hunting dog to not chase. If you don't want to do that then don't let them come near my property.

you are not free to "injure" the dog, that would be animal cruelty. you are however free to kill the animal cleanly and without suffering. depending on your local laws. If you must please kill it with one shot. dont let it suffer.
keep your camera handy if you can. pics or video will back you up should a not so brilliant AC try to charge you with anything if you do kill it. sad people think its your fault for having loose animals on your own property!!!!

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Have had to do that before. What really got me was we told the neighbor like 3 times, and they laughed! LAUGHED! We found one of our chickens dead on their porch. We had to shoot 1 of the neighbor's dogs because we caught it in the act killing one of our one roosters and attacking a few others. The main one is still on the loose but is a neighborhood nusance. We emptied rock salt into her and she still comes up sometimes. We aren't the only neighbors who have threatened this dog. She gets into garbage and until she was fixed was a puppy factory. Sometimes it has to be done. Shame when people won't take care of their dogs they supposedly love.