poor dogs. Thats their instinct.. THEY dont know any better. How did they get in your coop anyway?
"Instinct" or not, those dogs were where they didn't belong! Their owner didn't care enough to keep them contained. OP stated that the dogs had been running loose before this. They had no tags. They were in the process of killing OP's chickens. "Poor dogs" my foot. It doesn't sound like the shepherd suffered at all. A shot to the neck and he was gone - probably never felt a thing. If he did, it was only for a few seconds. The other dog was taken to the pound, so he's still alive. OP's wife did what needed to be done. Not a pleasant task, and I applaud her for having what it takes to do it. (Personally, my DH is my hit man. I haven't ever been in a position to have to kill a domestic animal myself, and he's usually around so if something needs to go, I order the hit and he takes care of it.)
FC, you have every reason to be proud of your wife for being able to take care of the dogs when it needed to be done. Especially using a gun she's never used before. Good for her!
You did what you had to! Don't feel sorry about it- today it's a chicken, tommorow it's another dog and the day after it could be a child.
And for everyone going 'it's so bad to shoot the puppies!'- these are DANGEROUS DOGS. Our neighbour took the 'warn the owners' approach every time their little dog got attacked by another neighbours dog. The message never got through, and the little dog ended up getting gutted by the attacking dogs. Needless to say, they've told everyone that they'll shoot any dog they see attacking their chickens on sight, and with good reason.
When a dogs learned about a place for free food or for something to fight, they won't go once and then not visit again-they'll keep coming back.
Quote:
Hi Ladysfield , yes Sheriff did tell me there was a problem with rabies here, he said it was on the news but I missed that, I have only been out here now 2 and 1/2 years. I have seen a lot of animals dumped here from dogs to cats I live on a dead end road
they seem to think its easier to dump here for some reason. When he was done speaking to the man next door he asked me if I had records proving my dog was vaccinated thankfully I still had her papers on hand.
The man next door got a ticket for having 4 dogs without rabies shots and 20 cats no rabies shots.....
I don't know how much he will have to pay for that but I imagine that many animals is a hefty fine.
Animal control wont come out here either if you have a problem with a dog sheriff has to come out and deal with it.
It doesn't make sense to me I own an American bulldog she is kept away from the chickens but she can see them we have not been able to train
her not to want the chickens cause to her like a cat she thinks they are squeeky toys , she has been with us since we moved here to the country
and she has never been off our property other than to get vaccinated.
There is no way my dog can get to the back she is tied down tight on a logging chain with actual locks on either side of her chain, we gave her 20 ft to run in but the chain can slide down a metal frame giving her an extra 8 feet left or right plus the 20 ft chain.
He also got a ticket for having a choker chain on his dogs neck instead of a proper collar.... its against the law to use choker chains to tie your dogs out.
Maybe he will see its cheaper to leave me alone after all this.
Willieboy , you bet this guy is a sick puppy for sure I have seen him standing in his drive way and go off with no one there.
dainerra wrote:
tell them you want to file a report. If they say "no" then call the state police office and talk to them. Tell them you requested your local SO to come out and write a report but they refused.
Will they come immediately, no. But an officer can still stop by to take a report and then you can get a copy of it a few days later.
ETA: tell them you need a report for insurance purposes smile Same idea behind getting a police report when you hit a deer. The cops aren't going to DO anything, but the insurance agent is still going to need to see some proof.
It takes 5 mins. Again, complain up the chain of command until you are heard. Lots of people working the office aren't going to want to drive out to your place but tuff crap
Dainerra , Thats what I am doing documenting everything now. Our county has a law in place that protects free ranging live stock so he will be in a lot of trouble in the future if this happens again.
I sort of ran into the same situation. My neighbor's dogs always break down their fence and come right over to my chickens.
They have a pitbull puppy, a yellow lab, and two Chihuahuas. After the third time taking the dogs back home, and 6 dead chickens, I told them if I see them digging back into my run, I will drop any of the dogs in there.
They then called the cops on me for threatening to kill their dogs. Sheriff came over, I then explained the multiple occurrences, and I now have permission to shoot them. Which I don't really want to do because besides the chicken problems. They are good dogs. But I will do what I have to do.
I better post before it's closed. Some people just don't get it, dogs would not be able do that if they were not on other peoples land.
Please give your wife a big hug from me and tell her I said good job. Let her go cry it out because she sounds like she needs to do that and she will feel better. It may take a couple of weeks but let her cry.
My chickens free range every day and they will continue to do so. Any neighbors dog that comes on my land will get a warring shot first if they don't leave the second shot they are dead. I keep my dogs on my land and I think other people should also.
I've been in her boat, the regret passes.
Pet and predator is a fine line. But mine is clearly defined with a fence around my property. When your pet crosses it, it then becomes my predator problem to deal with.
Good way to handle the "problem", and good choice of weaponary also.
Sorry for the losses, but glad to hear that is one less problem you will have to deal with.
I told my wife what you folks said, and she seemed pleased. She's doing okay. She didn't sleep good the first night. I was at an Army conference last week when this happened. Two older neighbors were helping dig a hole. They were glad when the pound took the body.
I'm free range half the chickens. We still have no idea how the little dog got to the side with the juvenile chickens. Everyone that is not happy- think of all the compassion those dogs had while mutilating my chickens. Nature is cruel; just the way it is. You realize it when you see a dog catch a screaming rabbit, or when an alligator eats a duck.
I'm going to put up a fence for some added home security, and protection from critters. This will get expensive, when throwing in a property survey too.
Tut, tut, it's either two dogs or twenty chickens, that's what I say. We had to shoot a big husky-like dog awhile ago because it tried to take a bite of our baby goat and was really interested in the chickens. It got away, but not without us shooting it at least once. Its owner showed up a couple days later and wondered why we shot it. We told him what happened, and he told us that his dog was just too sweet to do something like that. Bah! Once a carnivore, always one. Not that I enjoy going around and blowing the brains out of domestic animals: when we shot the husky I felt sick inside because I was thinking it probably had an owner who loved it. But, one dog life is not worth losing the lives of twenty chickens.
Quite a noble deed, your lady did. Not something most ladies would do, I think.