dog attack

[henryhoe]

Just left the house for 10 minutes came back heard all my girls yelling, next thing i seen was my 21 week light sussex running round the corner and a neighbours dog chasing it, the dog jumped on it and held her to the ground so i grabbed the dog and trailed it off, my son kept the dog back while i got her back behind her fence, she seems ok but missing a few feathers!! she is walking about as norm with the other girls, do you think she will be ok, will it put girls off laying?? (they have not started to lay yet)

 

[chicmom]

I had that exact thing happen, and my hen was fine. I hope you let the dog's owner know what happened, maybe show him the feathers that his dog yanked out of your hen......I'll bet they'll be fine and will begin laying as normal.

 

[jjthink]

Just examine her very closely to make sure there is not a puncture wound. And watch her behavior very closely the next few days to make sure she is eating, pooping etc. like normal. Any departures from that, let us know.
Rescue Remedy - drop or two in her water - may help with the stress of this situation, as might a bit of electrolytes (e.g. spritz Gatorade on watermelon and let her have a picnic).
THE DOG WILL BE BACK so find the owners if you can.
JJ

 

[henryhoe]

The 9 year old son came out and got the dog, parents not at home, told the son it attacked my chickens so they will not know if they were killed or not!! They are funny sort of people, will be interesting to see if they come over to see what happened!!

 

[bobbi-j]

It might not be a bad idea to either call, or go visit (in a non-confrontational way, of course) when the parents are home to let them know what happened. Nine year olds don't always remember to pass messages along. I'd just casually say, "I don't know if your son mentioned it or not, but your dog was over today and attacked one of my chickens. I think she'll be OK, but just wanted to let you know." Could be the dog got out accidentally. It happens. If the dog were to continue to keep coming over, however, I'd take a totally different approach.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i hope your chicken will be okay. Maybe give her a once over with your hands and do keep an eye on her, like jjthink said. What state are you in? Nine years is awfully young to be left alone. Most children just don't have the knowledge and emotional maturity to handle emergencies at that age.

 

[henryhoe]

Checked her over seems to be ok, eating and drinking as normal, thank goodness!! Thankyou for help and advice, its good to know i can come to this site and people understand how i feel

 

[Mattemma]

Glad she is OK.Let the neighbor know they need to secure the dog.Any animal caught harming livestock CAN be killed.No need to tell them that as a threat,but they should be aware that anyone with livestock could shoot their dog.Would be a bummer for the 9yo kid!

 

[bgates1970]

It really depends on your relationship with your neighbors. Be careful because you don't want to have a ticked off neighbor for the next 20 years because they loved the dog so much.

I have had a similar issue with my neighbor which ended in some uncomfortable moments/comments.

My preferred methods in order:

1) Tell the neighbor and see the response. If they apologize I would accept it as just an accident.
2) Catch the dog... Spray paint a bullseye on the side of it or attach a note to it saying "I got lost in the neighbors yard".
3) Catch the dog... call Animal Control. See how much they love their dog when they have to pay $50-100 to get it out of the pound.
4) Get a pellet gun. I had a neighbor years ago whose dog every morning like clockwork strolled over to my house and took a crap right outside my door. Got him with the pellet gun a few times and he never came back.

5) Only as a last resort... SSS! I personally would never shoot a dog but some people get to a breaking point and have no other options. If this was a house cat then this list would be in reverse order.

 

[P-Funk]

b, I tried the first 4. Animal control showed up and the dog was never seen again. Forget the neighbor.