Dog Problems

[lovealatte]

I have a one-year-old Alaskan Husky. She's usually on an invisable fence at my mother-in-laws house or a 50 foot tie at our house but one morning when I was rushing and figured I'd let her pee quick before I leave....well, let's just say she spent a few hours outside.

Two days later, a police officer comes to us saying our dog made it to a near by chicken coop and killed 6 of her chickens. After some research (because I was so shocked she would do that!!) I found out that it's totally natural for dogs to go primal like that.

The officer told us if we could work it out then he (or the court) doesn't have to get involved. We agreed to pay for the chickens (still can't believe she did that!). I have some knowledge on costs and everything... I have a couple of friends that have coops of their own, too, and I'm even planning on getting some chickens when we aren't renting anymore.

At first the officer told us it'd probably be $20-30...that's that. All done. Later he called us letting us know the owner wants $20 PER chicken now. My mouth dropped open...and so did my friends' when I consulted with them about the fee they wanted.

These chickens are free range, BTW. And my dog was out for 3 hours. The odds are NOT in my favor...

So... After some back and forth...She told me they went ahead and already ordered more chickens. I told her to please give me a receipt and I will gladly cover it. She then went and mentioned the cost of feed...and how much fresh eggs cost... and I reminded her that I am only obligated to pay for the chickens that my dog killed... then told me $100 will do it otherwise she'll see me in court. And I reminded her I'll pay...just give me a receipt. I'm sure if she does take me to court...the judge will want to see a receipt, too.

BTW, there aren't any ordinances here on domestic animals and dogs. Only unrestrained dogs. I realize my dog went on her property...but her chickens are free range.

How should I handle the situation, you think? Continue with wanting a receipt? Just make a deal... give her the $100.

This is so frustrating. I am very sorry my dog killed her chickens! I just don't want to be taken advantage of.

 

[Mini Meat]

Pay $100.00. Pay the $100.00. Pay the $100.00. She is being very generous with you. She could make this into a big stink, shoot your dog, sue you, even if she looses it will not be worth it.

Pay the $100.00 and count your blessings. No question.

If it had been me... you would still be wondering what had become of your dog.

The three S's are no joke... shoot, shovel and shut up.

 

[rainbowhatchery]

Sorry but I dont think thats fair unless they accept the offer. Most people have specific breeds and to just take random birds may not be what they want. Dont take this as being rude at all but I have dealt with this as a police officer and as a livestock owner who had chickens killed which led me 10 years ago to get my Kangal dogs for livestock protection but its 110% your responsibility to make it right. I understand the limited money and hopefully they will work with you but have guard dogs like I do its our responsibility as a dog owner to make sure without a doubt our dogs are secure and can not and do not get out. If the person wants $20 a hen I would say go down as soon as you can and just give her $20 a hen, its a very very fair price and your responsible for her loss even thought it was clearly not intentional. My neighbors terrier killed about 20 of my birds 10 years ago that I drove hours to get that specific bird so its not always about just replacing a bird. That led to me talking to them but their dog kept coming over then calling animal control and their dog kept coming over. Finally I got turkish kangal dogs and after they grew up needless to say the neighbors terrier came over one last time. Im not sure what state your in but here in Michigan we can shoot stray dogs on our property if we have livestock and they are messing with them and thats the case in most states. Please dont take this has mean or rude Im just trying to be forward and you should pay the $20 its only fair.

 

[aart]

No..... It's up to her to decide where the replacement hens come from and to pick them out herself if she chooses......
......she's probably ticked off because you are trying to wheel and deal instead of just paying up and moving on.

 

[sdm111]

You should be very grateful your dog is still alive. If It were me it wouldn't be and that's perfectly legal where I'm at. It don't matter what she does with the money that's none of your business.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I've put myself in her shoes, yeah. It's not like I'm not being sympathetic. But these are random older chickens that were given to her...She couldn't even tell me the breed or anything. I had offered to give her the money for younger laying hens that I found local to me and she refuses. The conversation we had today is leading me to believe she doesn't want to replace the chickens...she just wants extra money.

That does not matter - YOUR dog left YOUR property - it went to HER property and killed HER birds. YOU have no leg to stand on here. Pay the $100 and be grateful you still have a dog.

 

[nj2wv]

Laying hens cost more to buy than baby chicks. Then to even find any good ones for sale. $100 sounds fair. If she can't find hens then she has to buy chicks and start all over again and wait 6 months for fresh eggs.

 

[REDJN2]

$100 actually seems like an unbelievably cheap price to resolve a pretty major issue in my opinion. I thought you were going to say $100 a bird when I first started reading, which I would still feel very obligated to pay! If it was the other way around and her chickens somehow killed your dog would you be ok with them finding a random cheap dog price and offering that amount to replace yours? I doubt it! The value of a pet could be beyond monetary repayment.

$100 is getting of easy.

 

[centrarchid]

Pay the $100. I think it is fair and should go up if chicken owner has to fight for it. Feed, time and loss of eggs for some interval need to be taken into account.

Free-range only important in that chicken owner is more likely to go through this aggravation of having to get payment from someone like you. This assumes birds where on chicken owners property at the time they were attacked. It might also extend to having birds on a third parties property but I do not know how that might work without some sort of agreement between chicken owner and third party.


Your dog killed livestock / damaged property which overrides how birds where kept.

Chicken owner still needs to get head out of backside and make so other dogs in addition to yours do not have such an easy time killing birds.

 

[rainbowhatchery]

Sadly I agree. We own and breed LGD dogs primarily because of stray dog issues. Dogs with high prey drives like a husky can wipe out 50 birds in 20 minutes, I have seen it happen. They kill for fun, kill one then move on once its dead, its a game so your dog easily could have killed that many quickly. As for the price I think its a very very fair price. It cost more to replace older laying hens and you also have to figure in that most peopel consider their chickens pets so its not just about value. Just be lucky they were just backyard $20 chickens. We are a rare breed hatchery and I have birds that are worth $500 each, thus the reason we have 3 150lb turkish LGD dogs keeping them all safe lol.