Ummmm..... Yeah, I don't think that I would have bothered to return the dog to them. Just found a nice quite spot somewhere to bury the dog and been done with it.John you are a big softie. Love it.
Raz, Now that you are a country boy you will have to beef up your security considerably - sorry to say that run setup is not adequate to protect your birds. Fence holes too large, no security around the bottom, not covered (migrating hawks are on their way).
A local friend had a bad scare with her animals last week, a neighbor dog who had shown up on their property repeatedly finally got inside the fence. It killed several chickens, then went after the goats. Their doe was down on the ground with the dog at her throat when they ran out to the pen, and when the dog turned and growled at them they shot it point blank.
At first they though the doe was dead, but she apparently was just in shock. They got her in the barn and cleaned her up, but she was very shaky for several days even with antibiotics and pain meds. The wether had his ear torn up, but was otherwise unhurt.
The neighbors had to pay for a previous attack on another home farm after the dog killed chickens, turkeys and ducks. Even so, when my friends returned their (dead) dog to them they called the sheriff to file a complaint. After visiting my friend, they went back and gave them a list of dead animals, and told them they would be liable for financial losses.
However, they have a son who had a "hit list" of people at the school who he was considering murdering, and my friend (who is a teacher there) was on that list. Despite being one of the nicest people I know. So they do not want to pursue it, and I can't blame them. I did talk to the neighbor's father, who was indignant about the whole thing - until he found out about all the dead livestock, and the fact that they made no serious effort to keep the dog home. He is a good guy, and can hopefully explain to them why they are completely responsible for what happened.