Neighbor's Dogs attack - your opinion??

[hoping4better]

Quote:
I would NEVER intentionally injure an animal and leave it that way. I stated what I did becuase:
"§ 44-17-203. Killing or injuring dogs; defenses

In an action for damages against a person for killing or injuring a dog, satisfactory proof that the dog had been or was killing or worrying livestock constitutes a good defense to such action."

I in general believe in the sanctity of life, including my neighbor's dog(s). However, I believe it a little more for my own animals

This means an animal or person should be as free as possible to live as happy a life as possible including livestock.

 

[RedReiner]

Quote:
I would NEVER intentionally injure an animal and leave it that way. I stated what I did becuase:
"§ 44-17-203. Killing or injuring dogs; defenses

In an action for damages against a person for killing or injuring a dog, satisfactory proof that the dog had been or was killing or worrying livestock constitutes a good defense to such action."

I in general believe in the sanctity of life, including my neighbor's dog(s). However, I believe it a little more for my own animals

This means an animal or person should be as free as possible to live as happy a life as possible including livestock.

I was pretty sure you would not want to just injure it...but just in case...there are some who think its ok to spray them in the face with wasp spray and such and it just makes me wonder about people...
I would protect my animals too! I have neighbors who let their dogs roam... country or not they do not belong on someone elses property. some people will never get it!

 

[noodleroo]

If dogs are allowed to roam and end up running in a pack, they will revert to pack behavour. It is very dangerous for small animals and small children. I'm going to post a link to a local news story that shows a home security camera that caught a pack of dogs attacking their pregnant cat. It is very disturbing so please, don't watch it if you think it will upset you. I'm posting it because I think it is important to understand that unrestrained dogs can be deadly. To me, there is no question of what to do...
http://www.kristv.com/news/stray-dogs-slaughter-cat/

 

[Cetawin]

You must handle it in the way you see fit but as for me...I do not BS around....I knock on your door tell you to keep your dog(s) at home because the next time it is on mine near my coop or harassing me, I will drop it if it does not back off when I yell at it.

My property, my animals and I keep them together....please do the same with yours.

I do not believe in SSS and I believe in giving the dog owner the courtesy of letting the owner(s) know what their dog is up too and what the result will be if it should happen again. I shot 2 neighborhood dogs after warning the owners TWICE to keep them home....one was trying to break into my coop and the other charged me after chasing my little dog.

You know your rights, let them know those rights as well. Then do what you must because your birds depend on you to provide them a safe place.

Good luck.

 

[GallusGal]

We have never had an issue with neighborhood dogs (which are plentiful) harming our rabbits or chickens because we keep them securely contained. However, we did have a neighborhood dog who would raid our trash, and while putting a "cage" around the trash worked beautifully, the dog kept coming back and would get our three guard dogs riled and barking at unholy hours of the morning. My tenant was threatening to shoot it, but I pointed out that it wasn't constituting a threat to any livestock... so he tasered it! It was a huge dog so the worst he got was a heck of a nasty shock, and he hasn't come by again.

Re: the pregnant cat story though... it's been demonstrated by behaviorists time and time again that many dogs and indeed entire dog breeds can have tremendous prey drive and aggression towards small animals and show none of the same proclivities towards humans. Heck, we selectively bred them for hundreds of years for that trait! My dogs are positively savage when it comes to rodents, birds, feral cats, etc. yet they'll let a baby grab and yank their tail without so much as a wayward glance. It would still be foolish of course to leave any young child unattended with any dog; not only can their behavior and sounds come off as that of a prey animal, but children often interact inappropriately with dogs which can lead to an attack.

Still, in the case of this story - and not to be heartless - but the reason that cat is dead is because it was left unprotected. There's no particularly good reason to have an unspayed cat roaming around outdoors completely uncontained, and there's certainly no good reason to have a pregnant cat in that situation. Point blank, this is the inherent risk of improperly containing your domesticated animal: they get sick, they get hurt, they get killed. And until the media starts showing footage of the "savage attacks" cats launch on our wildlife (some of which are surely pregnant) and some pets (poultry, rabbits, koi) I can't say that demonizing stray dogs is very even handed.

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Quote:
I agree with this paragraph entirely. The dogs should not have been attacking the cat, but if the cat had been contained it wouldn't have been killed. The owners of the dogs were WRONG. But so was the cat owner. JMO

 

[MandyH]

Back before I had SOOO much trouble with the neighbors dogs, I made the mistake of talking to them about keeping their dogs contained. That ended up being my first mistake because the neighbor all but cussed me for accusing their dog of doing such things. SO I called the sheriff's office to see what I could do and they said shoot it and just go on about your business, don't threaten them, don't tell them or anything just act like it didn't happen. So 8 years later I still just dispatch them and put them at the back of the woods for the coyotes to clean up for me. Nobody is the wiser.

 

[halo]

The very first part of your post says that you dont have them fenced, and have been free roaming on your unfenced property for several weeks. Unfortunately, they will eventually be killed if you don't protect them. If not by those dogs, than other dogs, or coyotes or foxes or hawks or something. You will be fighting a lot of battles and losing a lot of chickens if you don't protect them better on your own property.

 

[ODS-n-ENS FARM]

Quote:
I agree with this but I would casually inform them of any leash laws / dog at large laws that exist in your area. I would not mention the legal right to kill the dog and if it comes to that I would sss. (Legal right or not who needs to be harassed about it .)

 

[dkvart1]

25 years ago we rented a farm house on about 80 acres. The landlord gave us a couple of pups, who never left the property, until one day when they were about 8 months old, one of them went sightseeing and got into a world of trouble. She went 1/2 mile up the road and found the neighbors rabbit hutches, she killed several and attacked several more. Of course the owner went down the road looking for the owner and eventually arrived at our house. After hearing what transpired I assured him as soon as my husband came home from work he would come up to his place and pay for the damages and we would have the dog put down.

Meanwhile the girls and I wandered around our property tyring to find the dog. I met my husband in the drive an hour later and he headed straight over to the mans house, stopping only to pick up the neighbor across the street. They arrived and Thunder was there, lurking along the tree line. They quickly captured her and put her in the car and the took care of the damages with the owner of the rabbits.

When he returned home, not knowing what had transpired, I told him I would call the vet the next day and take her in to be put down. He said Mike (our neighbor) had taken care of that for us. It broke our hearts, but living in an area where other's had livestock and knowing that once a dog gets the taste for blood... there was no other choice.

In town I would never have let the dog run free, but out in the country I honestly didn't think about it as they never wandered far and never thought anything like that would happen (ahh young and naive city folk). It was a painful lesson to learn. My error caused not only our family pain at losing the dog, but to the owner of the rabbits as well. Since then I've taken every precaution to insure my dogs are contained.