Mercy Killing

[EggSighted4Life]

I had my neighbors dogs kill my rooster yesterday. He was so injured he crawled up onto the step of our ride along mower and died. Sick and heartbroken I filed a police report and they cited the owners and it's a misdemeanor here in Utah. He protected my hens who lay eggs in the barn. We need strict laws that fine the owners when their dogs come onto your property and kill your animals. We have a 100 ft driveway and 5 acres. These dogs are nuisance animals. The Sheriff said to call anytime they are loose off their property, our next door neighbor. Our rooster was an integral part of our flock. He was raised from a chick with ten hens and another rooster.They are four this year and he will be missed.

It's too late to call the sheriff once your bird is dead. I mean I get the point of reporting it the first time. But I am talking about a second time. That dog will be back and I suggest you arm yourself or you'll be burying more of your flock.

Are you kidding me, we can't even get law enforcement out when there is an active burglary taking place and they are gonna come right now to protect your flock, I don't think so! Took them 5 hours to show up after my place was burglarized and ransacked in broad daylight at 10 am.

Laws are made for those who abide by them... not those who don't care unfortunately. Maybe your neighbor will learn their lesson from the misdemeanor which still does carry a fine... or maybe not.

I am sorry for your loss. Definitely sad to see good roosters go.

 

[horsewoman54]

Thanks, sad to see you had problems with your law enforcement. The bad thing, they are Sheriffs as we don't have animal control.

 

[elenas farm]

You need to get rid of the dog. Will happen again. After years of trying different dogs and breeds finally I got 2 good ones. The male is black lab/Pitt and the girl is black lab/German Shepherd. The girl give me some trouble with my Muscovy ducks but only with the black ones . She killed me one last year by playing with her but there was no blood on the duck, otherwise she won't be here anymore. Now I keep my ducks separated where she can not go into their yard.

 

[elenas farm]

Get rid of him , he tasted blood, will do it again when you are not home. Dogs are smart they learn to full you.

 

[horsewoman54]

It would be easy but it wasn't my dog. The three dogs that live next door did it. We are all on five acres and they don't contain their animals.
So I had to have them cited with a misdemeanor to start and have security cameras installed so if they come back the penalty will be worse. Right now they are only fined.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Get rid of him , he tasted blood, will do it again when you are not home. Dogs are smart they learn to full you.

Hi, welcome to BYC!

It's not true that an animal who taste blood becomes blood thirsty.

Dogs are also smart and learn to be obedient to you.

Most dogs ARE good dogs, Some just aren't fowl friendly.

@horsewoman54
You are taking the steps you need to, I know that. But is it against the law where you are to protect your livestock while being attacked on your property? Or are you against doing that if it means the neighbors have to learn the hard way when they get one of their predatory animals delivered up dead on their door step?

I guess I didn't see if you caught them in the act or not.

Aside from that, I think there is still cause for civil justice... like small claims, though that would be more about proving a point probably. And possibly also a waste of your time unless they were able to come up some sort of injunction like having to build their own fence or something. Justice rarely is just.

But also even if the Sheriff is the form of animal control, surely they are required to pick up dogs at large and make the owners come to retrieve them. I don't know a single county without an animal pound/shelter. Which usually includes them being registered every year there after and now those stupid irresponsible pet owners will at least have to make sure their dogs are rabies vaccinated and be paying their dog tax like the rest of us to help pay for our city/county official to be chasing their law breaking animals around!

 

[horsewoman54]

We have laws that the dogs have to be contained on your property. These people don't spay or neuter their animals. I have a rescued pit bull and she doesn't bother my chickens or ducks. She goes out every afternoon with me to feed my horses and I put my chickens and ducks in about 4:00pm in a locked coop with a fenced enclosed yard that locks. These dogs wander the neighborhood constantly. The hard thing, these people go to my church so I get judged for not just returning the dogs to their home. I have people pull in my driveway asking me if these animals are ours. The owners just let them roam again the very next day. Friday, the day they killed my Rooster, I had chased them off twice in the morning. Shot them twice with a high powered bb gun. When I heard some commotion outside, it was a snowy cool day, I yelled from my deck, which is about 80 ft from my house, for them to go home. I didn't even have shoes on that afternoon. There were two poodle/Bernese Mtn. Dog mixes and the dad who is a Bernese. They let him breed their poodles. Well my husband got home an hour later and offered to help me feed and we went out and couldn't find Raptor, the rooster. We saw feathers all through the walkway of my horse barn. I thought something had gotten one of my Silver Wyandottes but they were all in the coop, but I didn't see Raptor. We looked around and he had crawled onto our riding lawn mower to the step under a tarp trying to get away and they had chewed his legs, and all the feathers were ripped off his mid section to his rear, all raw and chewed. He died protecting his flock from these idiots. That's when I called the Sheriff. It's a misdemeanor here and the good news, the judge hates people who don't take care of their dogs and lets them off leashes, city or country. We are on 5 acre lots here in Utah. I don't care who is mad at me at church, these people are idiots and abuse their neighbors. My flock is scared now and the girls quit laying and hide in shrubs. The Sheriff told me to get cameras and if I even see those dogs loose on the public streets, he will pick them up. He said he's responded on calls about these same dogs but none that said they killed anything. So I feel completely validated in my decision to prosecute and will do it again if those dogs set foot on my property.

 

[LadyVictorian]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

It's not true that an animal who taste blood becomes blood thirsty.

Dogs are also smart and learn to be obedient to you.

Most dogs ARE good dogs, Some just aren't fowl friendly.

I would have agreed with this until we adopted a dog who was a cat killer. The rescue said once they start killing cats they won't stop and no training will make them safe. Having trained my dogs well all my life I said she could be corrected. After months of working with her we found conventional training would not work as all she could do was think about killing the cats. We went to the shock collar feeling this was our last option. It was turned on the highest volt as that was how dangerous she was.The cats were mostly smart and stuck to the basement which was fenced off so she couldn't get down there. The cat unfortunately came upstairs and my mom not only hit the button to shock her but HELD IT DOWN. The dog didn't care, she might as well not had a shock collar on at all because she chased the cat, ripped down the gate, and almost killed it. We gave the dog back to the rescue and the dog was eventually put down after she ripped off her leash and killed her foster family's neighbors cat while on a walk. I think in SOME cases when the animal didn't intend to kill the chicken/cat/other animal they can be retrained because they didn't go out of their way to originally kill the animal but if they did go after something meaning to kill it rather than hurt it in rough play then the animal can't be corrected. It now associates that animal with food and a prey item and it just can't be undone. I foolishly thought it could and my cat almost lost it's life over it. I learned that day the stories of dogs getting blood lust once they have killed an animal was very true and no, it can't be reversed no matter how many trainers you go to or what training you put into it or methods you used. Everyone we tried failed and in the end the dog killed again and was put down for it.

 

[bobbi-j]

I would have agreed with this until we adopted a dog who was a cat killer. The rescue said once they start killing cats they won't stop and no training will make them safe. Having trained my dogs well all my life I said she could be corrected. After months of working with her we found conventional training would not work as all she could do was think about killing the cats. We went to the shock collar feeling this was our last option. It was turned on the highest volt as that was how dangerous she was.The cats were mostly smart and stuck to the basement which was fenced off so she couldn't get down there. The cat unfortunately came upstairs and my mom not only hit the button to shock her but HELD IT DOWN. The dog didn't care, she might as well not had a shock collar on at all because she chased the cat, ripped down the gate, and almost killed it. We gave the dog back to the rescue and the dog was eventually put down after she ripped off her leash and killed her foster family's neighbors cat while on a walk. I think in SOME cases when the animal didn't intend to kill the chicken/cat/other animal they can be retrained because they didn't go out of their way to originally kill the animal but if they did go after something meaning to kill it rather than hurt it in rough play then the animal can't be corrected. It now associates that animal with food and a prey item and it just can't be undone. I foolishly thought it could and my cat almost lost it's life over it. I learned that day the stories of dogs getting blood lust once they have killed an animal was very true and no, it can't be reversed no matter how many trainers you go to or what training you put into it or methods you used. Everyone we tried failed and in the end the dog killed again and was put down for it.

You are using ONE dog as an example. This is not an "all or none" thing. SOME dogs can be taught not to kill chickens (often, the first kill is because the dog has not been trained, maybe never seen a chicken before, and suddenly here is a self-propelled squeaky toy, and the dog can be corrected), SOME dogs cannot. A lot depends on the dog's personality and the owner's commitment to training. There are many people on the forum who have had dogs that have killed chickens and been able to break the habit.

 

[horsewoman54]

I know people who have had dogs like that and I am afraid now for my flock as they are free range during the day from 7:30am until 5:00 pm. Sometimes they put themselves away. Our property is secure all the way around the 5 acres with 4 inch square wire fence and panels except our front driveway where our neighbors dogs come in. I am lucky my rescued pit bull stays away from the chickens, but then again she practically raised them as we bought them from Murray McMurray Hatchery at a day old. She's known them all her life so maybe that is the difference.