A dog vs chicken question.

[GaNewChick]

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Bears repeating. Good night folks.

 

[GaNewChick]

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Geez Boyd...We don't know. That is all I am saying. If you don't want to speak with me anymore thats fine, I'll sulk to my corner!

I'm trying to turn a new leaf and be nicer

I'm already sulking girly!

Nite nite~

 

[domino7]

unequivocally

 

[morninggloryhatchery]

I would call the pound. Even though the pound may think it is a chicken and it doesnt matter it is still a living creature. Plus it was tresspassing

 

[saddina]

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Thank you dear, at 2 am, the spelling gets shakey. I sent the mods a suggestion for spell checker, alas....

 

[morninggloryhatchery]

Haha same here if it is to late for me half my words are all spelled wrong lol

 

[2boxers]

Back on topic...

My opinion would be that the dog owner should replace the bird. I think that is reasonable. Asking for damages beyond that is, it seems to me, just trying to stick it to the guy.

Having the dog labeled as a chicken killer? If it's a dog that normally lives in an urban environment or has no other contact with chickens or livestock ever, what's the point? Again, it sounds like revenge. What kind of dog was it?

I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[City Gardener]

When I was a kid we adopted a 9-year old overweight black lab who was the schlumpiest mellowest, most gentle and dopey dog. He lived with our chickens, our cats and three kids and was a sweetheart...

... Until the day he looked at our neighbor's show-quality siamese cat and ran over and grabbed her and shook her to death. I was nine at the time, and as the main eye witness had to describe it to our insurance company, so I know my family had to pay.

It's possible the dog was that kind of dog. I could see making that kind of mistake. If I didn't know about the dog's killing instinct I would have let kids walk that old black lab.... Although, not in a strange neighborhood with just a seven year old, unsupervised, but that's because by now I've been through enough pet tragedies that I don't take chances any more, even with sweet gentle dogs. But I could see my parents, who were very nice people but not too attentive, making that mistake.

I think they should pay for the chicken. I don't know about having to pay for more than that. Our insurance company paid for the cat, but not for all the attendant costs of replacing and raising a new cat. But I also think the OP should take pains to explain the emotional loss of a chicken. People don't know if they don't have chickens.

 

[Lucycollie]

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I'm ignoring all the part about the kids & restitution and just concentrate on this question. IMHO, there's not enough info (How old is the dog, how big, what breed?) to say if this is a dangerous dog but I highly doubt it. Even some of the nicest dogs, when in a strange place, without its owners, and confronted by something wildly exciting might behave the same way.

I train my collies for obedience & agility competitions and I used to do herding as well and I can control them solely on voice commands. So they are very obedient to me but that's because I have a relationship with them and have spent time training them, however, this level of obedience does not transfer whole hog to other people. If cared for by a stranger, while my dogs will be polite and reasonably obedient, that stranger will not get the same level of obedience. I can call my dogs chasing on the heels of a rabbit and they will spin around and run back to me but they would blithely ignore a stranger's command to do the same.

And if a strange adult doesn't have much authority over my collies, a strange kid has even less. A lot of the neighbor kids love to give my collies commands to sit, down, etc. My collies love kids and humor them for the most part but don't see the kids as having any sort of authority over them. When walking in the neighborhood, some of the kids dearly love join me to walk my dogs. I think kids - especially the real little ones - get a huge kick out of "being in control" of a dog on leash. I let them walk Lucy because at age 7 she's a sensible, polite dog. Even though Lucy is steady & quiet, however, it doesn't take much for a kid to lose the leash (Lucy stops to sniff the grass or the kid was distracted by conversation). It's OK though, partly because Lucy knows kids and will stop & wait for the kid to pick up the leash (I swear sometimes I see her roll her eyes ;-)) and for the most part because the real control is through the invisible leash between Lucy & me.

And so, IMHO, by having a 4 year old holding the leash on a strange dog, without adult supervision, when the dog is seeing chickens for the first time was incredibly stupid and frankly was setting up the dog to fail.

I'm not sure what you mean by "tasted blood" - if you mean that by killing this chicken, the dog is transformed and will be more likely to bite people? In a word, no. Any dog with two brain cells to rub together can tell the difference between a chicken and a kid. My Lucy, the gentle collie mentioned above - who is also a certified therapy dog & loves kittens - is also quite an excellent mouser and once when she was young and very quick dispatched a squirrel.

 

[flakey chick]

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Ask for for $ to cover bird and damages to fence/run (if any). That's it $wise.