Dog Problems...Any tips on keeping them away?

[McChooky]

If you can't keep a dog from coming on your property and killing at will nothing is safe.

 

[Double J Farms]

My closest neighbor is a couple of miles away. So any stray dogs get "rehomed"

 

[McChooky]

I built a fence out of pallets & scrap wood for $20 bucks. Peace of mind is priceless!

 

[AGeese]

I can't recall, but did anyone mention, other dogs?

 

[McChooky]

When my Basset sees dogs that don't belong here he barks and alerts me until I run it off or it leaves. He won't quit alerting until he gets my attention. Short legged dogs and small dogs have to be protected themselves.

 

[Kgroves57]

Heyo. I was outside the other day, and a neighbors cute blue heeler dog came over. She's not a bad dog, and I was hoping to sort-of be friends with it, but then it started bothering my chickens... so pretty much never mind on that. (Chickens first, thank you.) She was running around the coops, jumping up on them (they are mostly low, moveable runs), just really scaring the birds for sport. I couldn't get her to leave, and eventually resorted to running to keep myself between her and the chickens. It didn't work great (I have four coops to protect, after all).... Eventually I noticed my little bantam Ahsyolka, and her coopmate were bleeding from hitting themselves on the side of the coop. That made me pretty mad! I have had way too many past experiences with dogs hurting my chickens, and my nerves in that area are pretty delicate now. I finally chased the dog off (or maybe it just got bored, who knows). Afterwards, inspection of my hens revealed the one bird to (thankfully) just have a little blood where the beak meets the top of her head. The poor bantam's comb, however, was nearly severed from slamming into the wire! I didn't think I had the supplies, time or experience to try and save it (it was pretty ugly, bloody), so I wrapped her in a towel, took an alcohol- cleaned exacto-knife, and cut it the rest of the way, using flour to stop the bleeding. Poor bird! I am worried it will get infected, or she will start bleeding again. I am going to put some triple antibiotic (no painkillers, don't worry) on it today. I would have done that yesterday, but it was still so fresh I was afraid daubing stuff on it would make her bleed again (it was kinda hard to get it to stop). She's such a little bird; it couldn't be good for her to lose so much. She looks like a different breed without her little comb! I will try to post a picture of her later when I have the chance.

Obviously, I do not want this happening again. We are going to try and find out the dog's owner (we're not sure who's it is, because almost everyone lets their dogs roam around here), and let them know she's bothering our birds. In the meantime, if it comes back, how do I communicate with this dog that my chickens are absolutely off limits? preferably without hurting it? There's not much I can see to do to reinforce the coops, so for now I'm going to have to go with keeping the dog away, I think. I've managed to get another neighbor's sweet dog to leave them be, but she only really chased them once, and was a people dog; this new dog next to completely ignores me. (She didn't even turn an ear when I slapped her with a stick. I guess it didn't hurt...) I'm not one to really try and hurt animals, but this, I feel, is going to make me snap if it happens again. (Chickens be my weakness.) *sigh* and to think I had just started warming up to dogs again.

Thanks in advance!

Officer that took out report said if dogs were killing my chickens on my property to shoot and bury them then just forget about it.

 

[addctd2plnts]

Get a Marine Airhorn. They are WONDERFUL and will stop any dog and send them running. We use them for emergencies is there's a pack fight, in case I'm home alone. A micro touch on that airhorn and every dog completely forgets what it was doing and heads the other way. After they've heard it 1-2 times, they won't be back. They are marvelous if you walk, run, or go to dog parks too. I'm not sure why every dog park doesn't have them in boxes for emergencies, situated around the dog park. Plus, if the neighbor owns the dog nearby, they will likely hear it and it will make them look outside. But you will then have to not be friendly towards the dog in the future, or you are sending it a mixed message. See: https://smile.amazon.com/SeaSense-5...refix=sea+sense+marine+airhorn,aps,136&sr=8-6

 

[sandburRanch]

Get a Marine Airhorn. They are WONDERFUL and will stop any dog and send them running. I'm not sure why every dog park doesn't have them in boxes for emergencies, situated around the dog park.

If we know anything at all about human behavior they would need replacing weekly or sooner .

 

[alexanye]

Did you talk to the neighbors about containing their dog? This isn't your problem, it is the dog owners problem.

 

[McChooky]

If we know anything at all about human behavior they would need replacing weekly or sooner .

I wouldn't care if they stole them all. They're annoying.