Keeping dogs out

I am very frustrated and sad this morning. I have WONDERFUL neighbors who are very good friends of mine. However, their dog has killed at least a dozen of my birds at various times over the past year. I spent money and time reinforcing my fence. That kept him out for several months. Now this dog has taken to making holes in my fence. Every time I plug a hole, he makes a new one. My chickens are having to live in jail for their own safety right now.

The neighbors are apologetic, I know they feel bad, and they're trying to keep the dog up. He keeps getting out and breaking into my property. What can I do to keep him out? I've already taken welded wire cattle panels and driven them into the ground and wired them to the bottom of the chain link. I'm considering hot wire, but we've got 5 acres and lots of trees. It would be nothing for a branch or something to fall on the wire and ground it out.

There's got to be something I can put around the base of the fence to deter this dog.

Only thing I can think of is to run an electric wire around the bottom of the fence, or maybe just the portion the dog favors?. Not nice, but a good zap or two might make him think twice. :/.

Quote: I've got 40 acres with lots of trees, and 12 acres of pasture with literally MILES of electric wire.

It's not too common for limbs to short out a GOOD fence, and with only 5 acres it's not hard to check it every day or so

Its the cheapest and most effective solution to your problem, short of just shooting the dog

Bear Foot Farm said:

I've got 40 acres with lots of trees, and 12 acres of pasture with literally MILES of electric wire.

It's not too common for limbs to short out a GOOD fence, and with only 5 acres it's not hard to check it every day or so

Its the cheapest and most effective solution to your problem, short of just shooting the dog

Click to expand...

14 acres here, check the little charged light twice a day.
maybe once a month or even less do i have a fault. besides when that dog hits that fence one time it will be a long time before he tries it again.

Wonderful neighbors don't let their pets kill over a dozen of your livestock over a period of time.That is not a good neighbor.They should be keeping the dog inside their home,and letting it out on a leash in hand.Anything short of that is unacceptable. I would no fret,beg,worry,and spend my limited cash on trying to control a neighbors dog. I would make the problem disappear one way or another.Roamers disappear all the time.

Good neighbors don't let this sort of thing go on.

Not good neighbors at all. I would be having a nice chat with them and make them understand that the chickens are just important to me as their dog. Then I believe I would let them know if it happens again they will have to pay to replace them (legally there should be laws to protect your livestock). If that does not work, the dog would mysteriously disappear. Dogs who escape their owners tend to come up missing a lot.

I also have miles of electric fence. Rarely does it ground out. There is a device that you can hang on the fence called Fence Alert. If the fence power goes out,a light on the unit starts blinking - visible from a distance. I check it every few weeks by unplugging the fence or unclipping it to make sure its working. I would recommend a strong fencer, to give the dog a powerful jolt.

I agree with everyone. These are not good neighbors. It is great that they are sorry but they need to do something to stop the dog from getting out. If it is an inside dog, it needs to go out supervised, on a leash. If it is outside, it needs a secure pen or a tether.

We rent here, when my landlord found out that we were going to range our birds, he said okay, we are going to get rid of 2 of our dogs. The 2 of their dogs that have killed their birds. The dogs would occasionally roam and come over here and he didn't want my birds to be killed. They were found dogs and they never planned on keeping them (frankly I think I gave an excuse he could use with the family). A few weeks ago, I found 2 dogs in the pasture after they killed a few of my chickens, found out who owned them, talked to them, he is keeping them chained. These are examples of good neighbors.

I do think that you should probably invest in an electric fence. If this dog can get in, so can other things.

Talk to your neighbor, find out what your rights are from local law enforcement, and tell the neighbor that things need to change. Any reasonable person would understand that they need to contain their dog. I would doubt that you are the only property that the dog is getting into.

Hot-wire needs to be hot only enough to teach dog that it gets zapped when trying to get though fence. Having it go down periodically will not make useless against one dog.

I disagree solidly with comments they are not good neighbors based on your comments. Dog is behaving badly and that can be rectified with some work involving training. If neighbors not willing to help, then I would re-evaluate relationship. Even a proven chicken killer can be broken of habit but fencing will still help with other dogs.

They're very close friends of mine, they've got the dog chained for now. I'm going to start working on the hot fence. I've got a solar charger for the horses that charges 10 miles of fence. I'm going to tie into that. We'll see if that works. I'm going to run it around the entire perimeter at the bottom.