Captured a Vicious Predator in Our Perimeter Fence Today (Pics)

[speckledhen]

This predator made it into the perimeter somehow, either squeezed through the 4" opening in the livestock fencing, which is part of the perimeter on the back side (some of it is welded wire), or was dumped over the fence by some unsavory character who should be horse-whipped, not sure which. I personally walked the perimeter of the 2 acre enclosure once we had the predator contained to see if someone had cut the fence as someone did a while back or there was a slide-under area and the entire thing is still secure.

Saw it behind the garden and ran to shut the broody pen door we had opened a few minutes earlier for my blue Orp hen to come out to do her usual eat-drink-poop for the day, then yelled for my DH. When I realized that the dog running behind the garden near the bantam coop was a mere puppy, I think a purebred blue tick coonhound by breed, I called it, it wagged its tail and came to me, groveling. Called Animal Control, who surprisingly answered the phone and then actually SHOWED UP, if you can believe it!

I made no attempt to call any neighbors or ask around because, frankly, I'm sick of doing their job of watching out for their dogs for them. Haven't a clue who the pup belongs to, but if they want it, they'll have to pay to get it back now, if they even care and didn't just dump it on us. Good thing it was a puppy, guessing maybe no more than 12 weeks old. An adult may not have made it to animal control. It had a flea collar, but no ID tag or actual dog collar on it. Very sweet female.

 

[kathyinmo]

Poor lost puppy! Glad she didn't cause any losses for ya!

 

[TeamChaos]

Aw, what a cutie- I'm so glad she turned out to be a nice girl! I had a real wake up call a few weeks back when a stray dog happened into the barn yard and was having a fun time chasing my chickens- I hadn't considered just how exposed all my critters are to dogs!

 

[jazzy519]

That was good timing with you being there at that moment. Saved your birds. People should care for their pets and keep them up.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

I am glad you didn't lose anything either. What a sweet looking pup.

 

[zazouse]

Shes beautiful i woulda kept her but then i have lots of room for dogs here.
looks like a blue tick beagle

 

[speckledhen]

I noticed her legs are short, but not sure if she was a beagle or just a coonhound pup-bluetick, to be sure, though. I shudder to think what would have happened if my Dusty had already been out of her nest and met up with the dog. Either she could have been "played" to death or hurt the puppy or my blue Orp rooster may have hurt himself hurling himself at the fence trying to get to his hen.

I have an almost 15 year old Pointer/Yellow Lab girl who is not long for this world, but we have decided not to get another dog when she passes on. If she had been out running inside the perimeter fence, she may have hurt the puppy herself. We love hounds and she sure is a pretty little thing, but this could have ended badly for my chickens or the dog and thankfully, it didn't.


ETA: She hadn't been running that long. Her body was not dirty. We pulled one tick off of her. Her ears were a bit dirty inside and with some dried blood like maybe she'd been scratching fleas,but didn't really notice any fleas on her at the time.

 

[Cetawin]

Oh Lordy Cyn...I could not have let her go...she is absolutely precious. She would be in "chicken training" right now had I found her. I am so glad she was not hurt or any of the birds.

 

[speckledhen]

She was actually quite a calm little girl while she was here, and I agree, quite beautiful. If we were in the market for another dog, she would have been welcome here, provided she could have been trained to be around the chickens. We put the disposable leash on her from the humane society that we still had in the car from the last dog we rescued out on the road, a well-groomed and obviously trained Pomeranian.



ETA: AC couldn't follow directions and went down the long driveway to the down-the-hill neighbor, a neighbor whose dog has precipitated one of maybe three threads I've ever started on P&P. They went to the door and I guess were told that was not the person who called. May have been a good thing they went to the wrong house, and that house in particular--now, that neighbor knows for sure we will call AC.

 

[War Chicken]

You can sometimes feel the microchip, if present, between the shoulder blades.