dog killed my chickens

[bobbi-j]

[/quote]
My point was that it depends on where you live what you can/should do.

Here as long as as the chickens were on her property as she stated they were in her yard. Then she would be perfectly within her rights to shoot the dog.
Aggressive dogs should be contained appropriately or destroyed in my opinion. and here they would be breaking several laws by letting that dog run free.

Maybe I am just bitter because I have had several dogs come at me on my own property or come at my dogs and I'm just sick of people not having their dogs under any sort of control at all. Keep in mind I have 3 dogs so it's not like I'm a dog hater...[/quote]

Oh, I'm not against shooting a dog that comes onto one's property and kills chickens. But when you know that the dog has already killed one of your chickens and the owners are irresponsible, then you need to decide what is more important - your right to free range your chickens, or doing what you can to keep your chickens alive. There is a difference, in my opinion than the "oops my dog got out, I am so sorry" neighbor dog and one you know has the potential to be a repeat offender.

And again not everyone lives where it's "perfectly legal" to shoot an offending dog. OP maas not a stated whether or not they're in a residential area. And... not everyone owns or is comfortable with firearms. (I know - that one's kind of hard for me to grasp, too. )

 

[Shaunassy]

Jewebb,
Everyone has great points and all things suggested could be used depending on where you live. However in my opinion the first thing you should do is alert animal control just to make them aware and have record of everything that went down. Make sure you tell them the attitude of the owners when you tried to talk to them, how the dog attacked the chickens right infront of your son knocking him over, and how its coming onto your property unsupervised killing your chickens and you feel unsafe. You mentioned you have good relationships with your neighbor, see if any of them are willing to testify to this dogs unrulyness as well to make your case stronger. if you can afford fencing in your yard or creating a run to keep them in is also a good idea and if you can afford it get a tree cam or camera system on your property in order to catch the dog on video to show the dog is running loose and coming unwanted on your property. But make sure you def have one on the run because even fencing is no garuntee. My 3 acres is fenced in entirely and inside that my hens are in a 200x200foot run that is enclosed on the top with tons of string to prevent prdetors from flying in and dogs still killed half my flock. My camera caught the dogs jumping the almost 5 foot fence around my property and digging under the run fence the same height and killing alot of my hens. Lucky my neighbor heard the noise and camer over scaring the dogs away before they killed all my hens. I live in a pretty rural like neighborhood where everyone has property but are stil close and we have foxes, deer, bunnies, snakes and hawks galore and in the almost two years ive had chickens amd let them free range daily from 3pm to when it gets dark and ive never lost a chicken to anything but someones dog. Having the dogs on video really helped bc it was solid proof and when animal control came they were able to identify the dogs and deal with both the owners (who also wernt nice in my situation) and the dog. However before they figured out who the owner was they had told me if i feel the dogs are agressive and i feel threatened that its my right to shoot them/it.

 

[Athena2344]

I have also had issues with our neighbors dogs getting loose and killing cats, then one day a friend of mine gave me a bantam golden laced rooster, and 3black sex link chicks, had them in a 4'×4'×2' pen, wood and fence lid, tarp and another two pieces of plywood on top. Took them out everyday to forage and had my rooster on a long leash, and I would have him sit in my lap and hand feed him muscadine, a wild grape. Had them for maybe five days, people three dogs got loose and tore into the pen when I was at school. I was crying and screaming, I called the cops, and they said we could take a picture anytime we see one of their dogs loose, they would come out and give them a citation. We'v only seen them out one other time, and if we catch them in the yard, we have permission to shoot them...

 

[Athena2344]

Shoot the dog if your able to, anyone complains, say you feared for your life and your animals.

 

[bantamrooster]

I think youve only got three options.
Secure your chickens.
Rehome your remaining chickens.
Continue to do nothing until youre out of chickens.

I hate to even write the last two as options. Its hard to read that youve had three different attacts and havent taking any steps to prevent them. Not even to talk to the dogs owner.
If you dont want to eliminate the predator you will have to eliminate the opportunity.
Ive never used hot wire so i dont know the expense in it or how well it would work against a prey driven dog. I know mine would figure out to jump it or go under it pretty quickly.
Whether you secure your yard or a run for them it probably wont be cheap. A dog can rip through any cheap wire. Even hardware cloth if its a decent size dog.
Youre gonna have to weigh the expense of protecting them against their worth to your family.
Animal control imo is about worthless. All your chickens will be dead before anything gets done. Animal control has been different everywhere ive lived but ive never seen them remove a dog unless it has bitten someone. Most cases if youre lucky they may drag the owner to court and fine them. In your situation that will do nothing to stop the attacts.
Whatever you decide good luck. But do something.

 

[Athena2344]

I actually used to be good friends with the neighbors until they started ignoring me. Nowadays if they see me try to chase their dog out of our yard, they holler at me from across the street and call me a bit**. We have tried everything but the bantam rooster was the last straw. Every situation is diffrent, if you believe you are in the right do whatever u can to prove it, and whatever u can to protect you and yours. My neighbors don't take care of any of their animals, their dogs have been chained up all their lives starved, and the females are forced to have litter after litter, only to see almost all of their puppies die. We'v tried call animal control for animal abuse, and they do nothing. Once it becomes serious enough that u have to take matters into it own hands, your neighbors can't complain because you've given them and law enforcement warning, if push comes to shove do what you have to do. And we haven't seen their dogs loose again after the two citations.

 

[0wen]

I'd shoot the dog & sue the neighbor (for the livestock & potential defamation)..

 

[orpington13]

I'd shoot the dog & sue the neighbor (for the livestock & potential defamation)..

 

[PatriciafromCO]

has the OP ever returned to say how the property is set up?

First and best security is a proper fence. We have wild life predators bears mountain lions, tons of coyotes, that come out of the ravine from mountains walk down our fence line hit all the small livestock of the neighbors a few miles away and then come right past us back to the mountain.. Understand the SSS way of thinking... am not against it, i have the LGD's that will not tolerate other dogs on the property to take them out. But not having any trouble for my free ranging livestock and birds since the solid fencing is working.

 

[aart]

has the OP ever returned to say how the property is set up?

Doesn't look like it........it was their first and only post 1 1/2 weeks ago, not unusual.