What is reasonable to ask? (neighbor’s dog)

[Hawaii Newbie 2020]

Do you have animal control over there? You can file a complaint to them about this dog. Also I hope you took pictures of the whole incident.

We do and I did.

 

[Hawaii Newbie 2020]

I hope, whichever way you decide, it works out in your favor.

Thank you

 

[Hawaii Newbie 2020]

I *think* the kennel was for her chickens, not the dog?

If she doesn’t at least pay for replacement value for all the chickens, I would take her to Small Claims.

Yes. Sorry, to be clearer yes the kernel was for the chickens. It worked out pretty well, too!

Small claims is definitely the plan. I can’t wrap my head around her not having to stare at least some of the cost of defending against her dog, though. That’s what I’m trying to figure out, whether to ask for that on top of the chickens. It truly feels like she should have to bear some of that given what she allowed to happen repeatedly. I can’t imagine been expected just to risk it again, and until that dog moved in our coop was fine.

 

[Hawaii Newbie 2020]

$400 is fair, but do you sell any of your eggs? If yes, how much lost $$ did you incur for getting new layers up to production speed and how much egg income was lost? We had our neighbor's Rottweiler kill our Rooster. Then he lied to me when I asked how everything was going. (I didn't know the Roo was dead yet). He was discussing the incident with my wife as I drove up from work. When I found out the truth, I was a little ticked off!! I stated that IF it has been a hen, It would have cost him $100 for the hen and then another $50 for lost egg production for a year. That would be per Hen. If he would disagree, then I would demand the dog be removed as a danger to my livestock. Fortunately for me, not for him, his Rottie passed away a couple months later (I swear I did NOT do it) so no more worries about his dogs.

I’m so sorry that happened. We have not sold our surplus but did barter with them. This is another thing I’m confused about though, whether the money for the hens, which I often see as around $50 lately, is meant to include the lost eggs. Because if I did just go out and buy eight $50 laying hens right now, after a short period of adjustment we’d be back in business. I could see asking for that short lapse of maybe a month, but we would pretty immediately have eggs again.

These are primarily pets and we have an attachment to the lost hens, so we are choosing to raise their next generation instead. But to the legal system none of that matters and it’s just a matter of paying us back for basically loss of farm production. Which again, for $400 I could do, and there would be no further disruption in egg production.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Here you would be awarded the replacement cost of the birds you lost and the cost of the damage done.
That means the cost of the run that was destroyed. You can't get the upgraded replacement run/kennel price.

 

[Hawaii Newbie 2020]

I do agree that asking for $400 seems more than fair. She should be responsible for keeping her dog under control. If the problem persists I would call animal control. We have had problems with a dog a while back. It is probably a good thing I haven't seen it since or it wouldn't be a dog anymore.

I did call Animal Control. The problem with waiting to see if the problem persisted was that we would basically be setting up our chickens to die in order to find out. I can’t see doing that any more than I can imagine putting an other pet in harm’s way. That’s why I feel like she should have to help make sure it can’t happen again, and I don’t think I should reasonably be expected to rely on judgment on her end to do so. I looked her up in the court records and she’s got quite a history of bad judgment. This cemented to me that I was right to expect more to come.

 

[Hawaii Newbie 2020]

Here you would be awarded the replacement cost of the birds you lost and the cost of the damage done.
That means the cost of the run that was destroyed. You can't get the upgraded replacement run/kennel price.

That’s good to know. The run wasn’t really destroyed, though, other than it was proven not up to protecting from a loose dog with nothing but time on its hands. I could have repaired it enough to keep chickens in, but not her dog out.

 

[David61]

I would want the cost of the birds, damage to my run. The cost of an eletric wire for my coop and run or get rid of the dog.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I’m so sorry about your dog and having to fight for the money. We had a dog once and it was attacked by the neighbor’s dog and they were so mortified and sorry, just said please tell us what the bill is. They paid right away and gave us a nice card. That’s how it should be. I hope your dog is ok now.

Thank you! My dog's been a little neurotic and snappish with our other dogs. I think he's just paranoid now if another dog gets close to him without him noticing. Hoping it doesn't come down to medicating him for anxiety but I'm not above doing that, especially if it keeps the whole pack safe.

I should have been clearer, the enclosure is for our chickens. One of those dog kennels you can stand up in was the cheapest thing I could get for the chickens in the time we had at our disposal that would be dog proof. I feel like the neighbour’s repeated failed to contain her dog, the fact it lives so close and knows we have chickens, and the fact that it is so hell bent on killing chickens left me no choice if I want to be sure not to have to say bye to a bunch of pets and break this kind of news to my kid again, and I sure do not. I was hoping the repeat nature of the attacks we are aware of would warrant this reimbursement.

Thanks for clarifying, I did misunderstand. You certainly can try to ask for extra damages, if it ends up in court. If nothing else this neighbor really needs to learn that this isn't something they can wave off.

 

[Bertram]

I did call Animal Control. The problem with waiting to see if the problem persisted was that we would basically be setting up our chickens to die in order to find out. I can’t see doing that any more than I can imagine putting an other pet in harm’s way. That’s why I feel like she should have to help make sure it can’t happen again, and I don’t think I should reasonably be expected to rely on judgment on her end to do so. I looked her up in the court records and she’s got quite a history of bad judgment. This cemented to me that I was right to expect more to come.

I didn't mean it like that. Sorry I wasn't clearer. If after you have your chicken run and the dog gets in again then I would call animal control. Or just get the shotgun.
"I thought it was a wolf, really!"