Roaming Dogs Caught on Game Camera Several Times

[speckledhen]

I live in a pretty 'odd' area. I'm literally across the road from a state park with a large lake, and then to my south is country but to my east and north is city. I am technically inside City Limits but I could throw a baseball into the county. Because my house and acreage sits inside city limits I have to get a Farm Permit. No big deal - it's $50, and a gentleman from the Animal Control comes out a once a year to make sure my birds are healthy and taken care of. This neighbor though, is 5 or 6 houses to my north, and based on the lack of control she has over her kids, it's no wonder she has trouble with her dog. She does have a chain link fence, but that dog can jump it in a heartbeat. It looks like a lab in the body with the markings of a shepherd. Anyhow, because of what her dog did to our coop, if there is another incident with that particular dog it will be destroyed. After she was ticketed on the two counts, she protested it in court. She lost. Anyhow, some how I became the bad guy because of all of it. *sigh*. In any event, I wished I would have had a trail cam BEFORE the dog attack, because we had seen her dog on my property at least 5-10 other times but never managed to get a picture of it. Had I had proof, then her dog would have been destroyed or re-homed PRIOR to the dog attack. After your super clear pics from your trail cam, I've been googling reviews on that brand. We only have motion detectors back there, but Bass Pro is 5 minutes away from us, and while they don't carry the Predator Cam brand, they do carry Moultrie and another brand called Spypoint.
Thankfully here in Iowa we have similar laws that protect the homeowner allowing the homeowner to shoot any dog killing/harassing on someone else's property.

The Stealth Cam was about $128 when I got it a couple of years ago. It has several settings: 1 photo, a 3 photo burst, 10 second video and custom. The 3 photo is 8 MP, while the 1 photo is 10 MP. I forget the time between photos on it, though. It's pretty good, overall. You can't preview the pics on the camera, though. It takes lithium AA batteries and they last about a year or so before they need to be changed. That is with 24 hour usage, all year long.


ETA: oh, and a belated welcome to BYC!

 

[Braxton Brigade]

The fence in the background and the dog (plus my 2 other dogs) are the measures I take to keep my birds safe whilst they free-range, and honestly even that isn't enough sometimes. Though we have never lost a bird to a predator I still am always concerned about the leash less dogs in my area. I have seen a German Short-Haired Pointer and a Maltese that eye my chickens through the fence, there is is absolutely no way I wouldn't take "action" against both of them if they breached the fence.

Honestly I can't stand irresponsible dog owners, maybe it is because I spend time and money to keep my animals safe (including my dogs). It frustrates me that someone else can offset all my efforts by allowing their untrained, aggressive and intact (they are never neutered in my experience) dog to run loose... especially in a pack! I know very well my dog in this picture can and will jump our 5 foot fence, so what do I do? Put him in a 6 foot fence! Why is that logic not shared by most dog owners, do they realize that dogs are predators?

 

[RPClark]

RP Clark - I noticed you are new and from Iowa! Where are you from? I'm in CB.

Hi! 10 miles east of CB.

 

[speckledhen]

The fence in the background and the dog (plus my 2 other dogs) are the measures I take to keep my birds safe whilst they free-range, and honestly even that isn't enough sometimes. Though we have never lost a bird to a predator I still am always concerned about the leash less dogs in my area. I have seen a German Short-Haired Pointer and a Maltese that eye my chickens through the fence, there is is absolutely no way I wouldn't take "action" against both of them if they breached the fence.

Honestly I can't stand irresponsible dog owners, maybe it is because I spend time and money to keep my animals safe (including my dogs). It frustrates me that someone else can offset all my efforts by allowing their untrained, aggressive and intact (they are never neutered in my experience) dog to run loose... especially in a pack! I know very well my dog in this picture can and will jump our 5 foot fence, so what do I do? Put him in a 6 foot fence! Why is that logic not shared by most dog owners, do they realize that dogs are predators?

Logic? Surely, you jest! People just simply do not care about others is why. I mind my own business, "mind my mountain", as I often say, and I try not to foist myself and my business on other people. Now, someone will say I have roosters who crow and make noise others can hear. I have roosters because I want a self-sustaining flock, which is part of the homesteading life, and you must have a rooster for that which I am allowed here in my rural, mountain area. EVERYONE around me who has chickens, pretty much, has roosters, with few exceptions; we hear them all around us every day and mine answer them back and forth at varying distances from us. So, that's about all anyone hears from us, other than maybe my voice carrying down the mountain occasionally when I'm calling them back from free ranging. Mostly, sound carries up the mountain to us, though.

A new neighbor, who apparently bought a cabin two properties down from us about a year ago, one day drove up here to our gate to introduce himself to my husband, who was out there waiting on someone else to show up. He told DH he has three hens and hears my roosters (how he knows he's hearing mine, well, there's really no way since there is a guy with multiple roosters just below me plus across the main road and all over and around us). I had a brief thought that maybe these dogs I have not seen before recently actually belong to him since he's a recent arrival and so are they, as far as I know. I sure hope not. We all know people who move to the country and think they can now let their dogs run free, as if domestic dogs need to run like wild canines. I guess if we have to "disappear" them, or someone else does, and he comes looking for his dogs or puts out a flyer, I'll know.

 

[Braxton Brigade]

Logic? Surely, you jest! People just simply do not care about others is why. I mind my own business, "mind my mountain", as I often say, and I try not to foist myself and my business on other people. Now, someone will say I have roosters who crow and make noise others can hear. I have roosters because I want a self-sustaining flock, which is part of the homesteading life, and you must have a rooster for that which I am allowed here in my rural, mountain area. EVERYONE around me who has chickens, pretty much, has roosters, with few exceptions; we hear them all around us every day and mine answer them back and forth at varying distances from us. So, that's about all anyone hears from us, other than maybe my voice carrying down the mountain occasionally when I'm calling them back from free ranging. Mostly, sound carries up the mountain to us, though.

A new neighbor, who apparently bought a cabin two properties down from us about a year ago, one day drove up here to our gate to introduce himself to my husband, who was out there waiting on someone else to show up. He told DH he has three hens and hears my roosters (how he knows he's hearing mine, well, there's really no way since there is a guy with multiple roosters just below me plus across the main road and all over and around us). I had a brief thought that maybe these dogs I have not seen before recently actually belong to him since he's a recent arrival and so are they, as far as I know. I sure hope not. We all know people who move to the country and think they can now let their dogs run free, as if domestic dogs need to run like wild canines. I guess if we have to "disappear" them, or someone else does, and he comes looking for his dogs or puts out a flyer, I'll know.

I too live in a rural area, unfortunately you're right. People move here and just let everything start to wander. We've even had to deal with peoples loose horses, goats, donkeys, cows and pigs.

I have seen your Plymouths, those beauties are absolutely worth protecting.

 

[speckledhen]

I too live in a rural area, unfortunately you're right. People move here and just let everything start to wander. We've even had to deal with peoples loose horses, goats, donkeys, cows and pigs.

I have seen your Plymouths, those beauties are absolutely worth protecting.

Thank you. The Stukel line Rocks are valuable, and so sweet, especially the original hens, though they are approaching 6 years old now. The rare color variety Brahmas, Partridge and Blue Partridge, are also quite difficult to replace, but when you raise them up to 18 weeks old, as they are today, and have your breeding group set, almost laying, you definitely just don't want to start over again.

We were just out there watching two does and two fawns graze the pasture. The Brahmas and the young Barred Rock groups were watching them in fascination. The does saw us but since we made no sudden moves and they are pretty much used to us milling around, they didn't run. We were on high alert, watching for the dogs to come running along, but thankfully, they didn't, and it was a peaceful scene. We've already had the whitetail population take a hit in our area due to an unusually large coyote pack killing fawns so dogs running them into the ground is not something I want to see.

 

[speckledhen]

On the way back from town, I saw a black and white dog of similar size to the one in my pasture, but when we got closer, it was a boxer who had recently nursed puppies. Same size and color, different type. That was on the side of the road running loose. Even closer to home, lmost across the street from my land and down the mountain from us, a loose gray and white pit bull was rolling in the spot we had left a tabby cat's body that was killed in the road. We moved his body off the road to the side where it stayed for quite some time but had been removed. This dog had a collar, but was right on the roadside and could easily walk up the mountain to my property. So, roaming/loose dogs are a blight on this county. I will absolutely not take a shadow of a chance with a loose pit, Rottie or any large dog whatsoever. I realize small dogs bite, too, but a big dog can knock you off your feet. These people will never learn.

 

[ManawaGirl]

Do what you have to do to protect your animals. This coming from an animal lover, too!

 

[speckledhen]

Do what you have to do to protect your animals. This coming from an animal lover, too!

You know I will. I love my chickens beyond any dog on this planet. And I adore dogs. The problem is the owner, as everyone says, but unfortunately, you just can't shoot the owner, no matter how much you might be tempted, LOL.

We have chicken rustlers around this area, have heard reports of folks having chickens stolen from their coops, sometimes the thief obviously knew which ones were the most valuable. Human predators are usually there to steal, not slaughter on the spot like dogs, unless there's some revenge aspect. My best friend has had birds stolen on at least three occasions, once strangers took the best Silkies she had, left the rest. Next time, they took young bird through one of those exterior nestboxes in winter, probably local kids. She never found them. The next one was a Dark Brahma pullet and she knows who did it- the guy had been driving up and down the street (dead end, nobody-had-business-there type of country road). After a long, drawn out sheriff's investigation where the guy's brother got arrested when they found his pot farm, the poor pullet was brought back during the night and dumped into the pen where she was killed by a raccoon before morning, having nowhere to hide. So, yeah, I'm not putting up with dogs or humans messing with my chickens.

See my shirt?

 

[ManawaGirl]

OMG - Love it!