Pit bulls in my coop!!

[HazelCMAS]

My condolences on your loss. Are they going to be compensating your for the birds their dogs killed?

Do you have a picture of this damage? Am real curious how they got thru it.

P.S. Std. Poodles Rule!

I do have pics and thank you for your condolences. I will post the pics once I can stand to look at them. My husband took them to keep me from having to see the carnage. He wanted proof in case we had to go to court.

We love Std Poodles too! The one in my avatar is our newest. We just got him last Friday. We have had 4, Our last one died 2 summers ago from old age. Took this long for me to even think about another one without comparing. I am so sorry that I waited, but we are very happy to have our new guy. We have already made plans to get another one once this one is trained up and has good manners. His name is Jasper and he is 5 months old. He is going to be a beautiful silver when he grows up.
I am teaching him to be nice to the chickens.

He sits in the garage with me while I tend to the ones in the brooders, So far he just looks. even when I have the brooder open while cleaning etc.

 

[aart]

I do have pics and thank you for your condolences. I will post the pics once I can stand to look at them. My husband took them to keep me from having to see the carnage. He wanted proof in case we had to go to court.

We love Std Poodles too! The one in my avatar is our newest. We just got him last Friday. We have had 4, Our last one died 2 summers ago from old age. Took this long for me to even think about another one without comparing. I am so sorry that I waited, but we are very happy to have our new guy. We have already made plans to get another one once this one is trained up and has good manners. His name is Jasper and he is 5 months old. He is going to be a beautiful silver when he grows up.
I am teaching him to be nice to the chickens.

He sits in the garage with me while I tend to the ones in the brooders, So far he just looks. even when I have the brooder open while cleaning etc.

Post the pics when you're ready. More interested in the fencing damage rather than the carnage.

My std is a rescue, he was in bad shape when I got him at 6 months, multiple illnesses and totally unsocialized. Took a year or so for him to really look me in the eye and bond, he was so neglected, but he's great today at 6yo. That's part of his face in my avatar, I don't trim him like a poodle just same length all over but for face and some eyebrows.

 

[heronz]

I'm so sorry this happened! I can't even imagine how you feel. My thoughts are with you as you try to recover and start again.
In response to the above post, it is not fair for you to say "what would have happened had they met children" because their animal aggression has nothing to do with their people aggression. I personally raise and rehabilitate Pit Bulls, and while a couple of mine may not be the greatest with other animals sometimes, they are NEVER aggressive towards children. This does not make what happened to Hazels chickens okay by any means, but assuming these dogs woul dhave hurt children is the problem this breed has. Everyone assumes they are child killers, when they are far from it. Pit Bulls have actually been proven (by the American Temperment Society) to be one of the top 5 breeds to have with children and families. Before assuming something like this would have happened to a child had this dog encountered it, maybe you should do your research and know about the breed first. I agree these particular dogs SHOULD be put down because this is obviously a habit for them, but the breed itself is an amazing and misunderstood breed.

I did not say what I did because of the breed.It was because of the actions so don't assume that I hate any breed in particular.
We used to rescue pits ourselves years ago.
There are good and bad in any breed.
I will assume that dogs allowed to run and do harm as a danger because I don't know otherwise.
You don't know that they wouldn't have hurt somebodies children either.
No matter the breed if they come on my property to kill anything they will face resistance.

 

[missnu01]

Sorry about your loss!! If you don't want any worries with something going through your run fence then use woven wire for the new run. My coop/run is within a goat pen and it had to be built really STRONG. Woven Wire no-climb horse fence will keep any big predators out. No way can a dog go through this stuff! I have seen dogs go through electric fencing as if it wasn't even there.

Heck yeah, when we first moved we had a 100lb mastiff american bulldog mix that was pretty vicious with other animals. Didn't really know the scope of it til we oved and he darted past e the second day we lived here and made a beeline straight for the neighbors yard then ran right through their 4 strand electric goat fence snapping all the wires as he went...Dogs are no joke. Especially gamey types. They can withstand a lot of pain to catch what they are after. He brutalized their goat, and we found him a new home with lots of room, a fence, and an owner that was aware he could never ever have any other animals while he had that big guy. We also paid to get the goat all fixed up. Cost more than buying a new goat, but hey it was our fault and they wanted to save it. So everyone's happy. Our menace is gone, and the goat is doing well. He also chewed a hole through our solid cored bedroom door like it was made of cardboard. Sometimes there isn't a lot you can do to keep a certain animal out. If they want in they will get in, whether it is electrified or not. Or sturdy or not. Hard times. Hard times. People also worried that if he would take down a goat he would take down a child, but that is usually not the case. He knew the difference between human and animal. He was totally against other animals, but never met a person he didn't like. Unless it was a person that gave me the willies, then he was there to help out with a ridiculously scary growl. We have small kids though, so I have to worry about dogs eating children. Even after he took down the goat I knew I could still trust him with my family. I mean jeez I had to reach in his mouth and remove the goats neck to get him off of it.

My problem is that I want a dog that when people see it they never think about crossing into our yard, but I also want that dog to not want to kill everything that comes into the yard that isn't human...Tough line to tread. I need it to be bad ***, but not so bad *** that it is a menace should it get loose. I also need one that does more than look bad ***...I really need it to do a job, but only when I want it to...it's tough. One day, one day I'll have enough to actually buy a few already trained monsters.

 

[Hillschicks]

I hate pit bulls... Not because of pit bulls, but because everyone is so quick to point out that they arent bad... I had one, was an ok dog... But bottom line is there are 20 breeds that easily make better pets... Love em or hate em, they exist because dog fighters wanted a better fighting dog... Reguardless, pitbull or poodle, if its in my coop next to my dead chickens i will enjoy shooting it

 

[HazelCMAS]

I'll just post the coop damage, I promise...It's just that everything is on the same SD card and I haven't even looked at them yet because to get to the coop pics I'll have to see the rest too.

Our last SP was a rescue as well. Got him from the shelter in VA and they didnt' even know he was a SP he was so badly matted, but me and my daughter just happened to be there and he picked her. I tried to get a rescue this time and got on several waiting lists in the southeast region but after 6 months got too impatient, bit the bullet and bought one. I usually keep mine cut short except for tail and top knot. Way too time consuming to maintain otherwise. I was just telling Hubs this morning that Jasper needs to go to the beauty shop for a trim.

 

[heronz]

What really stinks is that the people who own the dogs are at fault-not the dogs who should not be at large to begin with.
People need to be responsible for the animals THEY chose to own.
If they don't want them any more they should let them go to somebody that does.

 

[missnu01]

I hate pit bulls... Not because of pit bulls, but because everyone is so quick to point out that they arent bad... I had one, was an ok dog... But bottom line is there are 20 breeds that easily make better pets... Love em or hate em, they exist because dog fighters wanted a better fighting dog... Reguardless, pitbull or poodle, if its in my coop next to my dead chickens i will enjoy shooting it

I really like pitbulls but I can totally agree with this...mainly because they make the worst guard dogs ever. They are people friendly and often times everything else unfriendly...which is what they were bred for...taking down animals, and other dogs...
A lot of pitbulls now are bred because people have a male and a female...No rhyme or reason to it and I think that makes them more prone to issues with their behavior. I still haven't come across one that is unfriendly to people though, which is why they won't really help me with what I want. I dont' like people. I don't like jehovah's witnesses on the doorstep, or nosy neighbors snooping around. I want people to know they can't come into my yard without a fight...
Luckily jake scared most everyone enough to not come back by and check if he is still around or not. Of course the immediate neighbors know he is gone, but the witnesses apparently didn't get the memo thank jehovah!

 

[missnu01]

What really stinks is that the people who own the dogs are at fault-not the dogs who should not be at large to begin with.
People need to be responsible for the animals THEY chose to own.
If they don't want them any more they should let them go to somebody that does.

Having been an irresponsible owner I can easily agree with this. He was a good dog, when wearing a muzzle or inside of a really tall fence...but we used to live away from everyone and everything even though we were in city limits, but out here in the country with more land, we are right near a lot of other people, so I had no idea that he would try to eat goats. We would have been fine where we previously lived, but out here we needed a fence and didn't have the money to put one up, so he had to go.

 

[Jennsbirds]

Love em or hate em, they exist because dog fighters wanted a better fighting dog...

Pits are a mix of terriers and bulldogs and not a specific breed, but several breeds, each with a separate history.

All pits, however, have a colorful and friendly history. They were recently used as 'nanny dogs' and used to baby sit and guard children. They are known for adopting other animals, including baby chickens (there are some very adorable videos of a pit bull mothering chicks on youtube). Several are known for saving people with strokes, heart attacks, or falling spells and many were used as soldiers and still are.

The problem with them is that they are extremely loyal and pick up bad habits form bad owners.

This isn't to say you should own one, but that they aren't merely fighting dogs and are easy to both train to be bad dogs or to be loving parents to kittens, poultry, goats, ferrets, and baby humans.

Also, the OP has my sympathy over the chickens. No owner of any dog, regardless of breed, should let a dog go into a neighbor's yard--let alone attack another animal that wasn't attacking it first--and do nothing about it.