...why sometimes it is necessary to shoot dogs. One of my neighbor's dogs has killed something like 7 of my chickens over the past year. That dog no longer comes on my property because my black lab hates him and tears into him every time he comes over. Win or lose, he now respects her boundaries. The other dog is a different story. It's a sweet, big, chocolate lab that loves to come over and harass my birds. My lab has decided she likes him (one reason we picked up a Great Pyr pup... she's apt to be, indeed, trained to be, less tolerant) and lets him visit all he wants. So far, it hasn't killed any of my birds that I know of, but I have found it necessary to run him off about three mornings a week before I go to work. So, I'm running some electric fencing to keep out predators in general, these dogs in particular. It isn't done yet, though, and so the dog is still able to get over my side farther west on the property. Well, I hear my wife yelling her head off before she heads out to work and I find her trying to haul this big dog out of the turkey pasture. She heads off to work and as I'm trying to get the thing out of that yard, it runs at the electric fence and gets zapped. That of course makes it panic, thinking I'm the one who delivered the pain and it runs back into the fence again. And again. Then runs down the fence a ways and back into it again, only this time gets stuck between the permanent fence and the electric fence. My, but it put up a fuss about that. The neighbor lady comes running outside like I was beating her dog (which actually tells me she could hear the whole thing the entire time, from the time my wife yelled for my help on). I'm trying to pull the thing out away from the fence. "Would you please come get your dog??? He keeps running back into the fence!" As I haul his big rear out of the turkey pasture and into my long drive. When she gets over there, she takes his collar and starts leading him home. No thank you, no sorry for him being on your property, not even a good morning. Acted like she was mad at me for abusing her dog. Tonight, I pay a long overdue visit with her and her husband. I will first apologize for hurting their dog, then politely explain why I'm running the fence where I am running it first (because of their dogs) and to ask them to please keep their dog locked up for the next week or so while I finish running the electric. In my back pocket will be a copy of the Oklahoma statute that allows me to shoot a dog if it is killing or harassing my livestock, just in case they get cheeky. All that to say, I now understand how one can be driven to shoot dogs. I will never shoot this one, because I kinda like it (although I did derive some pleasure from seeing it stuck behind that electric fencing, considering all the mornings I have had to hassle with getting it out of my yard before going to work). If it was the other one, the Rottweiler, and I caught it chasing my birds, I'm not sure I would be quite so lenient. So, apologies to all for being so harsh in my usually unstated criticisms. I now understand how one can be pushed to the brink. I still think some are a bit trigger happy, and will never agree with or understand SSS, but I at least understand the first S.
I think the last two letters of SS stem from irresponsible dog owners who are more than happy to let their dogs run free, especially knowing that they may be harassing or killing livestock. A number of them will be quite happy to sue you and otherwise make your life a big hassle, and that's without PETA and other animal rights advocates getting involved. Sometimes it's just better to avoid the expense and the insanity and stop the killing of your animals right then. If these people really cared about the dog, it wouldn't be out killing and harassing other people's animals, especially if some of those animals are other people's livelihood. Not to mention the danger of those animals biting a human; they can't know what situation the dog will get into. These people will often also refuse to get rid of the dog. You can shoot it but try doing anything else besides calling Animal Control and you could be in for a BIG hassle. I hat to say it because I'd like to somehow make the owners, not the dog, deal with the problem, but sometimes it's just best to SSS.
Now ya know. Besides, some country folk here are crazy. Shoot my dog I'll shoot you... well I said they were crazy right? Thats the last two S's... Unless they know that you are even crazier than they are.... which compounds the problems if the law gets involved... It's a viscous cycle. Thats why a lot of us are jaded and quick to point out lead poisoning is final.
ooof! Tough position. I feel for you. You are on the right track though. I would tell them how bad you will feel when you have to kill their dog. It will make them pay attention. Good luck.
I didn't even stop at the house when I went home, just straight to the neighbors. I started out apologetic for hurting their dog with my fence, and about it panicking and all that. The husband said it serves the dang thing right for being over there, claimed they didn't even know he had been going over there and apologized for it, and was very cooperative about the rest. Yes, they will keep him in until I have a chance to finish my fence and to let him know if I need help or anything. Now, I know for a fact they knew he was over there several times because the wife saw me running him off, but I let all that slide. I figure it was his way of saving face and an acknowledgment of them being in the wrong. Could be they talked to someone about it today who set them straight about my rights. Overall, I'm very pleased about the meeting. It went exactly as I had hoped. And I didn't even have to pull out that statute, although at one point during our conversation I pulled it out of my back pocket and transferred it to my shirt pocket, and he looked at the folded paper as I did that.
We had a neighbor's dog that figured out how to get inside our fence. My husband went down to the house where he's seen the dog and talked to the woman that answered the door. He described the dog and the issue with our chickens and asked "is that your dog". She said "No, we don't have a dog" He said "Well, I noticed there's a dog house in your back yard." She said "Oh, well the dog you described is a neighborhood stray. We take care of him -- if he bothers your chickens, just be mean to him. He'll get the idea". My husband said "you have no idea how mean I can be. If you care for your dog, keep him in your yard." And he meant it.
