off-leash dogs - ways to manage the neighbors?

[jggrossm]

Hi all -

We have four birds and we live on the South End of Burlington, VT, so - think urban, but free-standing houses w/ quarter acre lots. I recently heard about a neighbor who was out in her yard with her birds, she has a four foot fence, and a dog an owner walked up the alley and the dog (off-leash) bounded over her fence and attacked and killed at least one of the birds.

I've tried to educate our neighbors that even "good dogs" will attack chickens as it's their nature, and asked them to please keep dogs leashed near us. (It is also the law here.) But even just today I saw a big dog next door (it doesn't live there) bounding all around, off leash, with apparently no one even there. Our birds have an outdoor protected area, but there's no grass there anymore, so we like to let them out for a bit, but I'm terrified of these dogs. Has anyone found a good solution that keeps everyone happy?

Thanks,
Joanna

 

[ducks4you]

Protect your 4 birds or soon you'll have NO birds!

Would you free range ANY of them if you lived in Montana or Wyoming, and there was a wolf pack nearby? I think not.

Join forces with your bird-owning neighbor.
Talk and get to know the dog owners in close proximety and get to know the dog owners who chase loose dogs. It's better to talk it out with an embarrassed dog owner, than to fight it out with a stranger who is also a neighbor and is also a sloppy dog owner

Meanwhile, IF you have an incident, protect yourself!
Document every:
1) phone call
2) copy any correspondance
3) take pictures of the dogs on your property and around your birds

Take the offensive and call animal control--they don't always take care of the problem, but they will log any calls.

IN THE MEANTIME, Try to resolve any problems peaceably, because you DON'T want an angry dog-owning neighbor coming onto your property when you're away and poisoning your birds!

To those on the forum with the SSS solution, I would caution you that this works well ONLY if you live a distance from civilization and cities. Attorneys are not cheap--I live with a trial attorney, so I know. The public defenders are WWWAAAAYYYYY overworked, so the legal solution to a solution ain't cheap or free.

I hope this helps you.

 

[Buster52]

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Yes. Get a good dog. Best dog deterrent I have found.

 

[Buster52]

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Not to mention it indicates a lack of backbone.

 

[ChickensInTheNorthWoods]

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Not to mention it indicates a lack of backbone.

Please don't bash everyone who has done this - I live out in the woods and the fact that it was a dog I had never seen before I was not going to go out of my way to try to find an owner. If it had a collar on I would have contacted the owner - So please don't tell me I am spine-less - It took a lot of spine to take care of a dog that was attacking my flock!

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

All dogs are free roamers where I live. The only time you will ever see a dog tied/contained is if it is a trouble maker or hunting season. People around here gasp at the idea of containing dogs up....but I am wayyyyyyy out in the country..Dogs and chickens co-exist here peacefully for the most part. Every now and then a dog will kill some chickens.....Once every couple years.

I am not a fan of the SSS solution. I think it is cowardly not to try and inform someone that their animal has caused you damage. I would expect the same courtesy that I most definatly would give another dog owner. If you have to kill a dog for bothering you then that is find and dandy and you are within your rights but then you have a moral obligation IMO...but that is just me and where I am from people are more than willing to make it right.....Dogs without tags or collars will be more difficult. I would ask the nearest neighbors and if no answer then leave it be.

Good Luck -

 

[DiVon80]

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GOOD ADVICE!

 

[redhen]

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Really, you let your dogs roam free? You dont care if they go into other peoples yards? Then dont cry when your dog dosent come home...I dont have to find a dogs owner that LETS his dogs roam free...because they must not care too much about the dogs to let them roam free. I wouldnt waste my time/energy finding that idiot owner. IMO
Now..if the dogs get out on accident and its not a regular thing..and hte owners actually CARE where the dogs are...then i'd tell the owners..because the dogs got out on accident. Thats differant IMO

 

[citrusdreams]

Quote:
Yes. Get a good dog. Best dog deterrent I have found.

I agree!!!!!!!!!!!

Living in the city is hard. It's too congested and it makes it difficult to protect yourself without being a threat to another individual party. So I feel for you. You *may* not be able to adequately protect yourself, therefore, I wouldn't tolerate dogs at large ONE BIT.

I agree with Buster! Get a dog to watch over your chickens. If there are that many dogs running at large, I'd get two. They work better as a pair when protecting your home and property.

In addition, you should call Animal Control. If there is a leash law where you live, have it enforced. It sounds like it's a bigger problem than just one person doing it. You pay your taxes, have the laws and ordinances followed. And I would take pictures of the dogs when they're off leash and running at large.

I'm assuming your yard is completely enclosed? You can also consider covering your fences with lattice with something solid underneath it? If the dogs can't see your chickens they will be less interested in them. That could be another option.

I would also get a copy of the ordinances and KNOW YOUR LAWS. In other words, if you do have a dog that is hopping over your fence and into your property and killing your chickens, KNOW what you can and can't do about it and get a copy of it in writing. If you live in the city limits you may not be able to shoot a dog even on your own property, unless it's directly attacking you, because of proximity to other buildings/people. But I don't know where you live and you need to know those laws and ordinances. Depending on the size of the dogs, you can set traps for them as well and bring them to animal control.

And if you're allowed to SSS, I would definitely do so, *if* the dog jumped the fence and got into my yard. That's unacceptable to me. And I wouldn't bother telling anyone about it, it'll just open up a whole big can of worm-trouble that's just not worth it. Let them wonder what happened to their dog...maybe they won't let it wander the Earth next time they get a dog. I'm sure that you could easily find a lot of evidence on this site that you're taking a big risk by talking about it. Just let it go... Be safe and good luck

 

[Brindlebtch]

OK OK OK! Lets not get into a fight and get this thread locked!
The OP was asking for help and we should try to help her. We aren't here to bash each other or call each other cowards or debate the validity of SSS.

And Joanna, you can probably tell from how this thread is going that good solutions are few and far between.

Personally, I would keep my chickens in a protected area and give them grass clippings and whatnot. If everybody lets their dogs run loose you are going to have a real problelm getting everybody to do otherwise and it only takes one dog to clean you out of chickens.