Neighbor dog killing my chickens!

[kemclaughlin]

If the dog has killed the chickens and he does not care, I would avoid trying to deal with him and just call animal control. A fine or the threat of the dog being taken away might be enough to fix the problem. If my dog killed someone's chicken, I would be horrified, even if that person was not attached emotionally to the chicken. That being said, when I was growing up, we had dogs that we could NOT keep contained. We tried everything. Eventually we had to have one put down because she was ill and we sent the other one to a dog rescue that takes animals and relocates them to a place where animal control cannot get them. They still tried to find her to put her down. It was awful. Our dogs were not vicious, just out of control. There was poor training, not enough exercise, hunting instincts that they rarely got to work out, and no human pack leader. They liked to catch cats in the neighborhood. I don't blame our neighbors for being upset. I do blame animal control for making it personal.

 

[JoePa]

It seems like there are 3 basic approaches - first - go over and talk to the guy and tell him what happened and that you will need to do whatever is necessary to protect your chickens - you don't want it to happen again - that he owes you money for the dead chickens - tell him you like to be a nice neighbor but he needs to understand that loose dogs are a no-no - second - you don't say anything and catch the dog and take it to Animal Control or the dog pound whatever you have around where you live - third - don't say anything and catch the dog and eliminate it - I'd say the first would be the best if it worked - then the second and finally the third - there is one other method which I have mentioned in the past - but people jumped all over me for suggesting it - and that is to use poison - now I know that this method is used by game commissions and ranchers .etc - but again I'm not advocating that you use it but it is an option - good or bad - you decide - some people suggested shooting it with a bb gun or I would use a pellet gun - this would take a lot of time so I don't know if that's the way to go -

 

[Kudzu]

Excuse me if I am repeating, have not read all the post, but as soon as he hollered he owed me a chicken I would have hollered back, we will be even as soon as I kill your dog.

 

[TedJan92_in_Idaho]

First call the sheriffs office and report it and let them call animal control. They then will have a record that you reported it. Tell them them that you have to much money invested to allow it to go on. Then if it happens again and you are where you can shoot it, do it. Plain and simple.

 

[ninabl]

Post removed
BYC doesn't condone illegal acts.

 

[LeafZoo]

Edited because anything I have to say about requesting that people not torture animals to death with things like glass and poison isn't going to change a person's mind who would do that in the first place.

 

[juliawitt]

Good posts all. Unfortunately, once a dog learns to kill chickens, everyone has a problem. I would report to animal control, I would attempt once to talk to him and then the doggie would disappear. I know sounds cruel but I have too much vested in my chickens. I had a friend with the exact same problem. Her employeer was her neighbor with the dog. The dog overtime wiped out her entire flock. She talked and talked. She reported and reported. Eventually, they were forced to shoot the dog. Better she had shot him after the first time. If reporting once and talking once don't work, I agree with the previous post. Shoot doggie and never tell a soul.....

 

[7L Farm]

Quote:
Agree!!! I wouldn't give them a second chance but that's just me. Dogs aren't anymore important than a chicken. I don't have any neighbors yet but when they show up I'm gonna tell them your dog gets on my property & it probably won't make it home. And yes I'm a redneck.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I think most everyone has lost sight of the fact that the OP and her husband are BEST FRIENDS with the new neighbor's brother & sister-in-law. A large part of the question was how to not impact the friendship while solving the problem. Many of the posts do not take that concern into account. OF COURSE they want the dog controlled. What they also want is to NOT DESTROY A FRIENDSHIP.

Baiting meat with broken glass is just plain sick. And is probably illegal, as I cannont think of anyone who would not consider it cruel.

Talking with the friends and explaining how upset and angry you are is one thing to do--specifically tell them what you stated in your original post. You also need to talk to the new neighbor and tell them the same. Give them the chance to learn. You can always go the next step and escalate, but If you START with escallation, backtracking when you learn that the new neighbor was ignorant, not selfish, and would have been more than willing to change his setup and provide sufficient control of his dog, it will be next to impossible to repair the relationships.

 

[crosbygroup]

Quote:
You said in your first post '"The first time he yelled across the street, "hey I here i owe you a chicken!?" This time he has said nothing." Have you gone over and spoken with him? It seems like
in his own way he is acknowledging the problem. Go and talk to him. Let him know what chickens cost to raise and how much you love your pets. $20.00 seems like a reasonable price for a 10 week old
pullet. I'd let him know he owes you $40.00 so far. If the dog kills again charge him another $20.00 and repeat. He will soon get tired of paying $20.00 for farm fresh dog food/chew toys and he will solve
the dogs bad behavior.