Not to be rude BUT the idea of shooting a dog is wrong in my opinion...IF your chickens escaped and landed in my yard is it within my RIGHT to shoot to kill, and eat them for dinner? At the same time, people need to be responsible for ALL animals dogs, chickens, etc...
I am a newbie to raising chickens and I OWN A BULLY BREED DOG...I understand that my American Bulldog does have a high prey drive and I understand that anything that is roaming the yard --- squirrels, stray cats, etc. will be killed or an attempt to kill it. We even kept one cat in the heavy welded dog crate and she attempted to get to it too. She goes into what we call THE ZONE were she is determined to get to whatever she wants...NOTHING WILL STOP HER...Beating on her head, spanking her with a leash, screaming yelling...NOTHING helps...Although loud noises like the car alarm do get her attention enough for her to refocus on commands....
This is what makes these breeds loyal family pets due to their determination for protection of what they deem "theirs" and what makes poorly raised breeds a danger to society. People who own them must understand that these breeds are not a novelty...they need very very strict rigid dominant owners to take control of them. Even then some like Lulu whose has been properly socialized, has very little leeway in bad behavior and is very very good except for one bad habit. Her only bad trait is her prey drive and she will never grow out of it...Her breed was raised to be catch dogs for wild hogs, livestock and other varmit animals. She was breed to track, corner, and kill animals with tenacity. It is completely understandable for her to want to track and kill small animals...I ACCEPT IT BECAUSE SHE IS MINE & I LOVE HER...
This is also why my chickens have a huge area to roam in an enclosure....24ft X 16ft We only have 3 chickens right now so they have tons of space and yes the dog does try to chase them around....ONLY ONE SIDE is freely exposed to her. The other sides are fairly obstructed making it difficult for her to get too close...we used the heavy guage wired from
TSC 2x4 with 4x4 at the bottom the wire is stapled and u nailed to the wood with a 2x6 facia board to cover it....I have chicken wire on the ground of the coop covered by sand...to prevent any digging predators...so fair in 3 months we have not had any issues. The dogs are never allowed out without supervision. She is an inside dog as is my mothers lab/pit mix that lives on the other house on our property.
My point is if the dog is determined its like any other animal they will find the weakness and expose it...Do I anticipate chicken deaths by my dog...YES! Do I anticipate chicken deaths by other predators we have...YES! We live near a creek so there are raccoons, foxes, coyotes, hawks, and wild dogs...Have the wild dog pack come over and tried to get my chickens...YES!!! We do have animal control but when we call them they never come...
I shoot at the wild dogs with a pellet gun...they came once and have never been back...the pellet gun is less SEVERE than an actual gun. For the record the wild dogs are NOT BULLY BREEDS...they look like sheppard mixes...and catahoula mixes...my guess is that they are not "wild" dogs they belong to someone who lives nearby....you can hear them chasing prey is the woods across the road so I guess my chickens are an easy dinner...
For the record too the farmer who has the property behind us has cows...Lulu loves cows but is terrified of them. She is afraid of anything bigger than her...BUT we still fortified the 4 strand barbwire fence with a heavier guage wire to prevent her from chasing the calves....It was my responsibility to prevent my dog from killing his calves. She has never made any move or shown any sign she plans to chase calves BUT I want to prevent that from ever happening...IRRESPONSIBLE OWNERS ARE LIKE IRRESPONSIBLE PARENTS...They are ACCIDENTS waiting to happen!!! So my point is NOT every bully breed owner is irresponsible and does not care about chickens...I care about both...
