Across-the-street dogs

[Dogfish]

Electric fence and a paintball gun. Our neigors came over to share a bottle of wine last night, and their dogs came along, which is fine, and as we headed over to teh run for a tour, one, and then the other of their dogs, hit the electric fence. The neigbor said, "Good thing you have that." We also agreed upon the use of the paintball gun to scare the dogs away.

 

[TeaKettleK]

Quote:
Yup.

Quote:
Yup.

7:45 this morning, same dog was back, walking the fence (where we found the 1 dead), sniffed around the coop, walked on out to our back field. My son came busting in yelling, "mom, the dog is back! THAT DOG IS BACK!!" Was never so glad I slept in and not yet opened the coop!! I tried to get a picture, but wasn't fast enough.

And. I was wrong. The dog I saw (and the one who was back this morning) is not the 14yo barely-walking dog... he's the younger of their 2.

We've got a 4ft chain-length fence enclosing part of the backyard. For now I've got the girls confined back there, though they only really come out of the coop if I'm outside with them. Poor girls want a rooster to keep watch for them. We're trying to decide how far we're willing to go with fencing before it's smarter for us to just tie it up and call animal control. Or something less gentle.

I feel like the fact that FIRST THING this morning the SAME DOG was back, that makes it pretty clear that they have no intent to control their dog. DH went and picked up an arsenal from his mom's house. We hadn't been keeping much beyond a .22 here, since we've got small kids, and that was enough for me to get rabbits and groundhogs in the garden. Chatted with a lovely lady at animal control... Keeping a close watch on the girls... I'm guessing it'll be a long time before we have another dozen-egg-day.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

I feel like the fact that FIRST THING this morning the SAME DOG was back, that makes it pretty clear that they have no intent to control their dog. DH went and picked up an arsenal from his mom's house. We hadn't been keeping much beyond a .22 here, since we've got small kids, and that was enough for me to get rabbits and groundhogs in the garden. Chatted with a lovely lady at animal control... Keeping a close watch on the girls... I'm guessing it'll be a long time before we have another dozen-egg-day.

Just one more thought....If you want to try something else other than killing.....get a paint ball gun. Paintball guns originally were used for ranchers to mark animals (cattle, sheep, etc). The painball hurts and after a few times may keep the dogs away. (I know they hurt as I used to play in paintball competitions with friends - they smart). But also when the paintball breaks it leaves a colored mark on the animal...this is only more proof to everyone who the problem animal is and who it belongs with. Take photos of the animal with the paint on them...keep records of all of this..it can be used for evidence, depending on how far this is going to go. Unfortunately, the dogs may only learn when they can and can't come over - meaning when you are home to shoot them and when you are not home. protect the girls as best you can. I hope the animal control lady was helpful. Other than paintball there is airsoft (good sting but doesn't leave proof), there are also Pellet guns (careful some pellet guns are powerful enough to kill) and a Red Rider BB gun (which I have and use on neighbor's dog if it get too close to yard, my own cats if they get to close to the tweety bird feeder, and have used on starlings that was harrassing momma squirrel in the tree - nonlethal).

I wish you good luck in this situation that you have found yourself in. I am so sorry...I have been through all of this. Mind you I am a dog lover and have had as many of 6 of my own, but owners who do not take care of their animals and their dog attacks my livestock, are destroyed. I give 1 warning and then shoot to kill. Dogs like this are trouble and hard to "unteach" this behavior....especially if the owner is not interested in doing anything. Unfortunately many people believe "oh, I live in the country my dog can run loose...he won't hurt anything".​

 

[junglebean]

We have a BB gun to "teach" our 3 german shepherd neighbors to not come over...that paintball gun is a great idea!

 

[homeinspectorman]

I had trouble with stray dogs killing my cattle. Was advised by the Government Trapper and the County Sheriff to post some signs stating that on such and such date traps and poison would be in use. Notified all of our neighbors of the dog problems and to please keep their dogs under control. The trapper did set traps as I continued to lose cattle (3500.00 worth). You wouldn’t believe how many dogs were caught in a five day span. Not one of our neighbors dogs were caught, and all thanked us for the warning.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

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Dogs are raomers and once they get in packs they are awful. We have also had dog chase cattle. The dog's owner gets 1 warming and then they are shot. We have a legal right to protect our livestock. You are right...sometimes it is not even the neighbor's dog....it is some dog down the street a couple of miles...but if he picks up buddies along the way, their mentality totally changes...they get a pack mentality. When I was a kid there was a pack by where we lived that were chasing down deer and hamstringing them. They are not hungry...just for pleasure. maul the deer and then off to the next....it was a horrible, horrible experience as a child to witness...let alone as an adult.

 

[Mattemma]

A responsible neighbor will keep their animals under control.If that dog was back the very next day it shows the neighbors have no interest in keeping their dogs on their own property. I might tell them ONE MORE TIME that the dog was back in your yard and by the coop.If they do not keep the dog home now it is best to SSS,and when they inquire you never saw the dog.Loose dogs vanish and/or die all the time.

If you call AC or mark the dog with paint your neighbor relations will turn sour.Even just complaining about the free roam may make them resentful.Not a big deal as long as the neighbors are not actively hositle and doing you or your property harm.

I feel bad for the dog as it is the neighbors fault,but your hens depend on you to protect them.

 

[MiniBeesKnees]

I have a fence but it is to keep my dogs in. Four dogs, two Pugs and a Chihuahua, and a four month old Boston-Rat Terrier mix in training to be more of a 'farm' dog than the others are. My land is small and completely fenced...80 x 100 feet...but it is surrounded by thousands of acres of woods with few neighbors. I let my chickens roam in those woods, but the dogs are never allowed off the property. The chickens have a coop and roost in it at night. If one comes up missing and ended up in someone's pot for Sunday dinner, then it is my fault for letting them roam.

No fence will keep a determined big dog out. OK, maybe a fence like prisons use, but all fencing is expensive. It is not my responsibility to build a fence to keep other folks' dogs off my property. Large stray dogs will kill both my chickens, and my little dogs, and I'm an old lady...who is to say they won't attack me. Fortunately I've never seen anything but one stray dog and it was obviously a purebred mid-sized pet dog who had escaped from a nearby neighbor's where it belonged to guests. When shooed away, it ran for home like a streak.

After the big snake issue...another thread and story...I started carrying my .38 loaded with snakeshot around with me in the yard...it is always carried when I'm out of it. (legally, with a permit) It is not my job to train the folks that live around me how to manage their animals...including their dogs. As far as I'm concerned everyone should know that dogs that roam are not allowed. I've got sense enough not to shoot some pet that has escaped. I love dogs, I'll catch it if possible and make it my job to return it to it's owner. Unless it is threatening what is me or mine in which case I'll shoot it. My ammunition will not kill a big dog...and probably not a smaller one, but it will slow them down while I reload with ammunition that will. I don't want to shoot anything but I will if I have to. I've lived here a year and a half now without any stray dog issues so I'm lucky.

When I was a preschooler the family had a big black dog named Lincoln. My dad had been a MO farmer prior to joining the Navy submarine service to fight in WW2. Lincoln was never tied and roamed our 13 acres. Unfortunately he went onto a neighbor's property and got into their chickens. They told my dad...who took him out back somewhere and destroyed him. That was the first time I ever saw my dad cry and it made a big impression. Sixty years later I sill remember it like it was yesterday. The lesson that one is responsible for the actions of one's animals as well as their welfare was driven home.

It would be nice if we all had responsible neighbors who controlled their dogs but how far away from you can you expect that to be? If I live next door to someone who has a female in season...male dogs are going to come from miles around me. Should everyone neuter their dog? Probably, but I can't make them. I can afford to fence my little piece of the world, but some who live around me have hundreds of acres they own...most of it if it is fenced at all...is fenced by barbed wire which keeps no dogs in.

I can't control, and can hardly influence all the folks who have dogs that live within 'dog distance' of me. Although I live in a rural/farming area I cannot expect every single dog owner to be as responsible as my dad was. There are three kinds of stray dogs, those that are outside my property, and those on it, and those trying to get in. The last two groups get no second chances...the first group just gets watched. If they are going after my chickens in the woods then that is my problem. That's not my property. If I want to protect my chickens, then I better keep them on my own land.

 

[TeaKettleK]

This issue is with across-the-street neighbors. Our right-next-door neighbors have an invisible fence. We went and talked with them before we got the chickens. ...more to open the lines of communication than anything else. They've been great. Their dog hardly barks, much less hunts the chickens... And I'd hope if they were annoyed or felt like our chicks were harming something of theirs, they'd come tell us. I took both neighbors a dozen eggs a couple of weeks ago...

I'm trying to see from their perspective, how we're the bad guys here. They offered to buy us chickens and feed, after we made it clear we think their dog did it even if we didn't catch him in the act. I was hoping they would see that we're not money-seeking or trouble-makers when we said, "No, thanks, just please keep the dog off our land..."

 

[arch_cpj]

The trick to using an electric fence to keep out dogs is as follows rule #1 DO NOT use the ticking type get a lower powered weed burner its energized all the time... #2 use 2 or 3 good 6 foot or 8 ft ground rods #3 wires must be 6 inches apart or closer. #4 U must initially tie pie tins or 6x6 foil squares to the fence to get the dog sniffin around coat em in PB or meat spread etc #5 mark the fence with survy ribbons tied to it the dog will run through it if they cant see it the trick is to get the dog to stop and find the fence... Once they do your never going to have that dog back and a weed chopper teaches a good lesson... FYI ad far as paintball gun a good idea also they do make pepper balls dont know if you can get em but they are painballs with pepper powder in em and it will stop a bear let alone a dog!!!!!!!!