The cheap walmart paintballs are harder to bust. No need to freeze paintballs the walmart paintballs sting pretty good and mark the target. Yes I have been hit by those. I would not want to get in the situation to be hit by one twice maybe the dog won't either.
I live in a very small town, somewhat rural and even we have a leash law here. I have spoke to the animal control person about my stray dog concerns, now that I have chickens. she told me that chickens are considered livestock and all rules apply concerning protecting ones livestock, [ie] deadly force, I stressed I LIKE most domestic animals, but that I LOVE my chickens. I would go thru all the non-violent methods first, of course, but would do what is necessary to protect them. Good Luck
Katy-I am so sorry that I sounded so grumpy!!! I had a major migraine yesterday and I was just in a bad mood already about my poor chicken. I completeely understand about you dealing with wondering dogs. I am sorry that that's a problem for you. I would not dump a dog and you made a good point about it.
Justusnak-thta's exactly what I told my dh!!!! We already have an old paintball gun! I think we might do it this weekend.
Update-the dog was in our yard again yesterday. My Dh went out with his bb gun to unload onhim when the owner walked up being real upset. My dh and him *exchanged a few words* and we are still at a stand still. The owner refuses to own up to his dog ALWAYS being inour back yard and my DH is ready to kill them both! I think we are going to go buy some paintballs!
You're fine Karri....I didn't mean to offend you either. You never said you were going to dump the dog, it was just that to too many people re-home and dump are one in the same. I used to get migraines all the time...until I got older
and now I very rarely have them, but I remember how bad they made me feel. Is there animal control that you could report the dog to? The growling at my child in my own yard, would send me over the edge.
Yes the migraine was bad. It lasted all day and I had to go to a Christmas party with my kids where they yelled and played for 3 hours:-( But all is fine now, thank GOD!
WE do have animal control but we live in a small town, the guy is a jerk, and we are technically breaking the law with our chickens and don't want to stir anything up. I am thinking that after last night though my DH will deal with this dog by the end of this weekend!
Sorry about your chicken Karri and can sympathize on the migraine. Like Katy, my migraines were stopped some time ago, cured by my hysterectomy I believe.
The thing is, I know about small town living and all, but this dog has growled at a child. If that happens again (the growling at the child, not the chickens I mean), don't call animal control; call the police (one of the few times I would advocate involving police in a neighborhood problem). That's a life threatening situation. If the owner is coming on your property w/o invitation, that's trespassing as well. Unless the cops are real jerks, and that type exists, they are going to be concerned about your child's safety, not how many chickens you have.
Katy, we too have problems with people "rehoming" their dogs by dumping em on us out here in the country. The subhumans I hate the worse are the ones that dump em, but leave the collar on. If the animal is lucky and can sustain themselves on food, they slowly die anyhow from choking on their collar. I had my ex put a dumped dog down for that very reason. And me, the pacifist. and that's all I will say on that subject.
Ok here is my point on this whole predator/pest situation. It is a wll known fact(and I am judging this on the basis of what I read here) that the family pet and stray dogs are the number one cause of chicken fatalities. It is not the dogs fault but the owner. What person has never had a dog growled at them. I might be mistaken but if I were to be repeatly hit by a bb gun I be mighty grumpy too. It is to bad that many of good dogs are ruined by irresponsible owners. I am not saying you are in the wrong. When a dog leaves their property and maims or kills your birds the owner should be responsible. This dog might of been a good pet given the right home, one preferbly away from livestock.