Neighbor's dog came back for our ducks today! What to do?

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Just a general warning:



At least in many states, shooting a dog with intention to injure (bruise) would be considered animal cruelty.

While those same states will often permit you to kill the dog in defense of yourself, your livestock, and so forth.

So you might want to check the rules in your own state, before the dog shows up yet again and you have to decide what to do about it.

Very simple: In West Virginia stray dogs that attack livestock are fair game. I am allowed to protect my ducks on my property against all predators, except protected birds of prey.
I don't have a firearm (yet!) that would be able to kill the dog, so i have to use what is available to me and i assume a lead-free (!) pellet in the butt is less cruel than the hay-fork.

 

[MamaLynn23]

They’d have no case even if you shot it! I probably would have! That’s some BS... your property, your pets... you have the right to defend it. They sound like seriously negligent nightmare neighbors. I’m sorry you’re going through this, but seriously... shotgun time.

I agree. And even if you live in town it is totally lawful to shoot an aggressive dog as long as it is still on your property when you shot it. I would definitely document everything even past conversations with this neighbor about the dog. That way you also have that to hand over to police in justification of shooting it. However, I noticed that it is a breed of hunting dog and therefore might just be acting on instinct/training, and even if it is not the animal lover in me really likes the paintball gun idea someone else mentioned.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Most states have a law that if an animal is on your property damaging it/or your animals you can shoot it. (Just saying) I would give far warning then if it continues shoot.

Here you are still not allowed to just shoot an animal because it is on your property, but this dog has attacked my livestock (ducks) twice in the past as well as attacked me, so legally i am allowed to kill it without warning when it is on my or on public(!!!) land. That dog is now kind of »free as a bird«.
But I do not want to kill Max! - Yes, the dog's name is Max and all this mess is not his fault! He is just terribly misled.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I couldn't read this entire thread (I read about every 3rd post or so), so I may be redundant here. But I would so record that dog running around. If those neighbors try to involve the police and try to pin the blame on you, you'd have so much evidence that they can't control their dog.

Guess what: That FedEx driver who almost ran over Max had just delivered a package to me. I know him very well and he is a big fan of the duckies! He is always happy when he has to deliver a package to us and he can see the ducks. So should the dog-owners make a wrong move we both would cover our backs.
Btw. Isn't it punishable here in the U.S. when you are careless with your dog and it runs into the traffic? I Germany you are fully responsible for everything your dog (or cat, or...) causes in traffic and not having your dog on a leash in a street can get you a hefty fine.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I agree. And even if you live in town it is totally lawful to shoot an aggressive dog as long as it is still on your property when you shot it. I would definitely document everything even past conversations with this neighbor about the dog. That way you also have that to hand over to police in justification of shooting it. However, I noticed that it is a breed of hunting dog and therefore might just be acting on instinct/training, and even if it is not the animal lover in me really likes the paintball gun idea someone else mentioned.

Guess what: Shooting a dog is legal here! - Even if you use a weapon that is unable to kill a dog, you shot with the intend to kill it.
Hitting it with a shovel, for example, is legal when you kill the dog without suffering. (I assume that means a single blow to the head. )
A non lethal warning shot with a paintball gun is animal cruelty.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Guess what: That FedEx driver who almost ran over Max had just delivered a package to me. I know him very well and he is a big fan of the duckies! He is always happy when he has to deliver a package to us and he can see the ducks. So should the dog-owners make a wrong move we both would cover our backs.
Btw. Isn't it punishable here in the U.S. when you are careless with your dog and it runs into the traffic? I Germany you are fully responsible for everything your dog (or cat, or...) causes in traffic and not having your dog on a leash in a street can get you a hefty fine.

You'd have to check with your local authorities on that. Depends on where you live, if there are leash laws or whatnot.
Things like that are rarely enforced in rural places.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Guess what: That FedEx driver who almost ran over Max had just delivered a package to me. I know him very well and he is a big fan of the duckies! He is always happy when he has to deliver a package to us and he can see the ducks. So should the dog-owners make a wrong move we both would cover our backs.
Btw. Isn't it punishable here in the U.S. when you are careless with your dog and it runs into the traffic? I Germany you are fully responsible for everything your dog (or cat, or...) causes in traffic and not having your dog on a leash in a street can get you a hefty fine.

Seems fair to me! My mom's back fence was demolished by a drunk driver while she wasn't home. Her dog got out and bit a lady who was writing her bike. My mom got a citation from the sheriff and the lady on the bike sued. It was a terrible situation, but my mom had failed to properly contain her animal...

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Ugh! - I called animal control and ended up in a voice-mail. Described what had happened, left my contact data and asked for a call-back.
Called the non emergency line and they forwarded me to county animal services who declared themselves not responsible as the dog had not killed lifestock.
Called the sheriffs office and they recorded the case and told me an animal control officer would call me back.
That was an hour ago.
Not sure what to do about the injury, already have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow for something else, so she might be able to tell me what to do with it.
I rinsed the wound with 150 proof alcohol and applied some antibiotic ointment. It burns like hell…

Ok i know I'm jumping in here without fully reading the entire thread... but my friend just got his toe amputated after a friendly bite from his own dog (dog grabbed toy that was next to his foot). He "cleaned" it, just like you, but turns out he got that weird dog saliva bacteria, needed antibiotics, but didn't get them until 4 days later.. ended up in the hospital for 3 weeks w a tube of antibiotics going to his heart... during covid hell time, and toe successfully amputated. So this is serious, regardless of the dogs intention. Hope your doing OK by now.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

You'd have to check with your local authorities on that. Depends on where you live, if there are leash laws or whatnot.
Things like that are rarely enforced in rural places.

For sure there are no leash laws here in the area! It is very rural here, even though it is just 15 minutes to the town center.

 

[MamaLynn23]

Guess what: Shooting a dog is legal here! - Even if you use a weapon that is unable to kill a dog, you shot with the intend to kill it.
Hitting it with a shovel, for example, is legal when you kill the dog without suffering. (I assume that means a single blow to the head. )
A non lethal warning shot with a paintball gun is animal cruelty.

That’s really stupid. I don’t wouldn’t want to kill Max either, but you’d sure as hell get me fired up if you accused me of animal cruelty! What a mess.
My husband on the other hand wouldn’t think twice of shooting to kill, and for that reason is very careful about not letting our dogs get off our property since he is inclined to believe everyone in our neighborhood thinks the way he does.