dog killed my chickens

[jewebb]

So my neighbor comes into my yard and says to me "why would you get those you know my dog is going to kill them. You know he kills everything." ( Mind you they have a pen for their dog). "My response I don't think we will have a problem YOUR DOG will behave and stay where he belongs." her response "Yes but you got something that we feed him he won't be able to stop himself." My response "you feed your dog raw/living chicken".
she turns and walks away. Fast forward about 4 weeks later their dog kills and eats my biggest chicken. Neighbors say nothing my children were so upset that I couldn't even say anything. A week later the dog runs in my yard and steals another one practically running my son over, of course my son chases the dog trying to save his favorite chicken. Didn't work the owners wouldn't even acknowledge it even though my son was yelling and removing the dead chicken from their front yard. Their stood their adult daughter with her little girl my son tried to protect the girls view as to not upset her. The mom says "It's ok she has seen this before."

2 days later my other son took it upon himself to approach the neighbor "Do you know your dog has killed 2 of our chickens?"
neighbor "Well that's your fault for getting chickens". So you know what I'm dealing with since then he has killed one more now the animal control is involved (I didn't do it) and the neighbor is becoming incredibly difficult calling the board of health on me at least 2 times, calling the police, calling my landlord and starting all sorts of problems with her. Forcing neighbors to pick sides and lying to make it happen (fortunately I have good relationships with the neighbors I like, that he can't change). All he had to do was take care of his dog and that is to much to ask. P.s. this is not the only problems with this dog in the neighborhood. He does kill everything he can with the owners applauding his behavior. We have no more bunnies, the deer, birds and the turkeys hide, the ground hog is dead, and not to mention the squirrels that we feed are almost gone to.
Just beside myself.

 

[LRH97]

Welcome to BYC. I'm sorry your first post is on these circumstances. I don't know what the legality is in your area for protecting livestock, but in my area, you have the right to do whatever is necessary to protect your property, which includes livestock. This does entail killing a dog that is after your birds. For me, a dog that goes after my birds doesn't return home. I'm not going to tell you to do this because of the consequences it may have in your area, (i.e. discharging a firearm in city limits) but it is something I strongly recommend looking into. At the very least, I would call the police and report a dangerous dog. Tell them it has killed some of your chickens and has ran your kid over trying to get at them. Also mention it runs loose regularly and you don't want it near your property again because you feel threatened by it. If "killing everything" is something your ignorant neighbor takes pride in, who's to say that dog won't grab a small child? My biggest suggestion to you: do whatever you can within your power to get that dog gone. Sounds to me like the entire neighborhood will benefit from it. As for the neighbor calling all the crap on you, if you've done nothing wrong, you don't have anything to worry about. Such a dog should not be allowed to run loose around a neighborhood, or in my opinion, be owned by such stupid people.

 

[nikkers390]

It sounds like a lot of drama. Did you ever hear of SSS? It may be an option.

 

[orpington13]

Those are some bad neighbors.

 

[orpington13]

Maybe you can get together with your neighbors and contact the police about that dog. There is strength in numbers.

 

[kajira]

I would shoot the dog the minute it step foot on my property. (I have in the past put down my OWN dog for going after livestock. I have a zero tolerance policy for dogs killing farm animals.)

Chickens however, are extremely tempting for loose dogs. We do our part to keep our chickens safe, and our dogs have been good and stayed out of the goat pen... but if they didn't. They'd be put down. To me, that's just a plain bad dog.... I would have no issues shooting a neighbors dog if they went after my cats, dogs, or other livestock.

 

[Shaunassy]

All of the suggetions are good. I would call animal control though and see what you can get done about getting the dog removed. If that doesnt work, you could also get some game cams or camera system so that if it happens again you have proof they let the dog wander unsupervised on private property and its trying to kill your chickens. If all else fails when i had a similar issue, animal control came out and told me that i had a right to protect my property and self should I feel endangered and shoot the dog. Just make sure if you call animal control you stress that you felt in danger, that the dog will do anything inculding mowing over your son to kill your chickens and that its aggressive. This should ensure that if you should you have to take matters into your own hands that they have record of you seeking other alternatives and after the neighbors where talked to they didnt care. Also tell them the truth about what your neighbors said when you got them and how they have acted when their dog killed your chickens.

 

[jacksun]

Had a neighbors dog kill ten of my chickens. picked them up went over to his girlfriends house and told him what his dog did. He said it wasn't my dog I described it and asked him where it was. no reply he had let it loose. I told him to keep it put up or it would be gone. He said he would kill every animal on my farm. Reported it to the sheriff his Quote the law states any animal that kills livestock is huntable. So shoot it next time and call me. Didn't have to worry long, he and his buddy went to shoot up some oxy one night didn't have water so took some out of a creek. Didn't know about the dead cow up stream. less than 24hrs later they were both dead.

 

[lazy gardener]

How is your property/area of town zoned regarding shooting a gun? I know some residential areas are in "no shoot" zones, while the houses directly across the street are in "ok to shoot" zones. After the first incident, I'd have involved ACO and filed a police report. The next time the animal showed up on my property, it would have been introduced to my shot gun. I am just now loosing the bruise on my arm from the last time I had to defend against a critter. If you are doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear from the police or public health officials.

 

[aart]

Granted it stinks when a neighbors dog kills your birds...
...and the neighbor should keep their dog confined according to local laws.
BUT
It's also your responsibility to keep your birds safe by keeping them within a secure fence.