German Shepherd Shot - Page 2

It is law here as well.  Cool heads should also prevail if long-term relationship with neighbors is to prosper.  One of my neighbors is the shooting up sort.  He does not generate much sympathy for his losses and he does not have the social stature in public that would promote others to promote protection of his livestock.

If neighbors not known as individuals and no interest in having such a relationship, then continue down this path.  Being neighborly was at one time a characteristic attributed to rural populations.  What is playing out here is the cold intolerant mess that is a symptom of a society where members react without consideration of consequences.  Loss is more than just a few chickens and a dog, it is also social graces.

You know what they say about "Good fences...."   It's true.

Was a time when being neighborly meant you took care of your animals and made sure they were not a nuisance to your neighbors.  And if they got loose and caused trouble you would expect the issue to be resolved for you.

Being neighborly does not mean I need to tolerate my neighbors dog using my front yard as his own personal potty and the backyard as a snack shop.

I see so many posts like this, and while sad, I understand peeps protecting their flocks to be sure.  I do have a question - I've alwasy wondered about - would it scare a dog off that's in the middle of attacking a chicken if you shot over its head?  Please don't misunderstand - I'm not trying to say that's what should have been done here, I've honestly always wondered about that.

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depends on the dog.  Some dogs are afraid of gun shots, others aren't.    My GSD, for example, is trained to be calm and ignore gun shots as are many hunting dogs.

centrarchid, I think what you are describing depends on the neighborhood.   Here, shooting the dog is the "normal" and accepted practice.  No one looks down on anyone who shoots first, instead they think I"M strange because I always try to give a warning before shooting someone's dogs.
Call the cops because your neighbor shot your dog and the cops will tell you "sucks to be you.  roaming dogs are allowed to be shot"

The very same dog that is presently being the problem has the potential for preventing a problem.  In the more rural setting I grew up in, the only confined dogs were in heat or very specific in their use for hunting or were the little household mop dogs that even a fox could eat.  Many hunting dogs also roamed a bit.  Almost every one had chickens in their yard, cattle (sometimes hogs) in pastures and their roaming dogs were not allowed to harm them.  The same dogs when contacting flocks of neighbors did not pose a threat to those birds or other livestock either.  Those free-ranging dogs kept the foxes, coyotes and racoons from taking nearly as many birds as we "enjoy" loosing or relating to others about today.

The varments and dogs have become more of an issue now that we confine virtually all and have lost common sense about how to deal with them other than when they are confined and operating according to some very narrow description used for all these different breeds.  I may be nostalgic but do recognize that many keeping poultry these days do so without proper investment in the protection of their stock.  A properly constructed coop will not only confine birds but keep varmints including dogs out.  If birds free ranging or in run, then measures (i.e. livestock guarding animals) should be in place to control losses to varmints and dogs.

Otherwise you are just baiting in predators to be killed when you can in that relatively rare instance be there to act.  When you are not, the bait (chicken) is killed.

*Although some ways are not considered ideal to some, it serves the purpose of removing the offending predator. If you have an idea or a helpful comment, please do reply. If it is a sarcastic comment about the disposal or capture of a predator, please keep your thoughts to yourself. We are not here to judge one another on methods or ways and means.

It's not that the dogs are confined now.   After all, if the dogs were confined, they wouldn't be in the neighbor's yard attacking chickens.   

Then, any dog that wasn't able to ignore livestock (either his own or the neighbor's) didn't last long.   It was shot pretty quickly.   I don't think that the presence of dogs really cuts down on the predators.  There are just more predators now because there is less hunting.   Even deer are a huge over-population here.   I have neighbors feeding the cute little raccoons, buying 100lbs of corn a month to feed the deer, etc etc   

I'm basing my theory on "then" with rural WV and what I was taught by my great-grandfather who was born in 1892.   So, I can go back pretty far with how it was then.  It's 100% a training/management issue that lies with the owner's of the dogs.    They have 2 easy options:   make sure their dog is reliable with livestock and doesn't create issues with the neighbors OR manage their dogs and keep them at home.

Oh how awful, for the dog, for the chickens, for your wife, and for you!
If only people would just take care of the animals properly things like this would not happen
I hope your wife is doing ok?