My neighbor’s dog is tearing my coop apart.

[wolfram]

My neighbors are awesome people with a lab. We’ve been friends since I moved in but recently their dog broke into my coop and killed 4 of my chickens. Now it’s become an arms race between me and Gizmo. The first break in was just her digging under the coop. then I buried fencing and she ripped a huge hole in it the next night. My neighbors fixed all the holes in their fence and put gravel around the base of their fence. Didn’t work. They put a fall trap over the fence, nope. I fixed the hole in the underground fencing and put wood around the base of the coop to make it harder to dig and nope. They have locked her in their barn and she tore up their door and got out. I even moved the coop to a concrete base I had ready for a shed and she tore the door off of my coop. Most of the time we catcher her before she gets in and they have paid for all of my chickens and for the extra fencing and wood. Gizmo is a great dog (except for this) but their little girl is autistic and them getting rid of the dog is not an option. (And not something that I would make them do because that can cause serious issues for their little girl) at this point I only have 3 birds left and I’m out of ideas. What else can I do to keep Gizmo the wood devouring dog out of my coop? at this point my chickens are going to be living in a sheet metal coop.

 

[RWD]

Run a good stout hot wire around the coop.

 

[Katieboosmama]

It sounds like you have a good relationship with your neighbors. Have y'all discussed invisible fencing? or maybe put an electric fence around your coop?

 

[wolfram]

i"ve never done an electric fence before How do they work? is that something i can buy at a farming store? I will have to talk to them, i worry about their little girl coming over to my yard and getting zapped, but if we can be sure that she is not in any danger than i will give it a shot. she tends to wander and sometimes she comes over to visit.
We have tried the invisible fencing, Gizmo runs straight threw it, it zaps her but it stops once shes out of range which is only about 20 feet from the invisible fence line. she is a smart dog.

 

[wolfram]

they are great people, they are trying everything they can to help me out but changing things around a child with Autism is tricky. Were are trying to work it out so that it impacts her as little as possible.

 

[wolfram]

Some times my geese go around the chicken coop, will an electric fence hurt my Chinese white geese?

 

[lil5firecracker]

Look into getting an electric fence from petsafe. They make one that is a shock collar for the dog. There isnt any wire. They just get shocked if they get too far away from the base which is a box in the house. 1/2 acre range.

 

[wolfram]

Thats the one that she runs through. she runs as fast as she can out of range of the box. she doesn't care that it zaps her.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I agree, electric fence, get it at the farm store, don't need a big one, that dog will learn pretty quick, keep it low, couple of strands, plug in, invite dog over, get ready to cringe at the yelping, it will work, other option get a shock collar for the dog. Dog isn't going to stop any other way. Geese will learn to stay away from the fence. I have been shocked many times by electric fence, not pleasant but won't kill you.

 

[enola]

The zap will not cause permanent damage to the dog, the geese or the child. They will learn very quickly to stay away from the wire.