Roaming Dogs Caught on Game Camera Several Times

[Teila]

Hey speckledhen I too am sorry that both you and your hubby are going through this … something you obviously do not need.

As I said earlier, I am also right on your side with taking the measures you are to ensure the safety of your flock and Finn etc.

Due to the limitations you have, I wonder if it is worth taking the time for a drive around to your closest neighbours? This will give you the opportunity to suss out if the dogs happen to be on their property being their dogs or if not, if they have seen them also and/or know where the come from. If no luck on that score, you will have at least alerted your neighbours to their presence and you never know, you may be lucky enough to enlist their help in fixing the problem for good.

Your neighbours could be having the same problem you are and as you know, a problem shared is a problem halved. Also, if animal control are required, the more harassed witnesses, the better.

 

[speckledhen]

Hey speckledhen I too am sorry that both you and your hubby are going through this … something you obviously do not need.

As I said earlier, I am also right on your side with taking the measures you are to ensure the safety of your flock and Finn etc.

Due to the limitations you have, I wonder if it is worth taking the time for a drive around to your closest neighbours? This will give you the opportunity to suss out if the dogs happen to be on their property being their dogs or if not, if they have seen them also and/or know where the come from. If no luck on that score, you will have at least alerted your neighbours to their presence and you never know, you may be lucky enough to enlist their help in fixing the problem for good.

Your neighbours could be having the same problem you are and as you know, a problem shared is a problem halved. Also, if animal control are required, the more harassed witnesses, the better.

Well, I might be able to call one of them, a lady who buys extra eggs from me when I have them (which I haven't in many months). The others, I honestly don't know. Your suggestion might be good for most folks, Teila, and I appreciate it, but I try to avoid contact with my neighbors for the most part. Most are elderly city folks who decided to live in their vacation home year-round. Some just come periodically. Some are pretty flaky, to tell the truth. There is the one guy who bought a small cabin down the road and has three hens of his own. I have no idea if he has dogs or not, but he's been here the least amount of time and since I've only begun seeing these dogs recently, maybe they came with him, another city person who thinks the country is place where dogs must revert to their wild selves.

I caught a big dog on camera a year ago, just checked to see if it was maybe the same dog. Nope, different dog entirely. So, these seem to be recent. Someone suggested they'd been dumped, but they appear to be in good condition, not dirty at all, so I sort of doubt it. In any case, I'll do what I can to make my fence better somehow and if need be, SSS, though the "shovel" part is only more work. Might have to "relocate" the dog after his birth certificate is revoked. With the predators we have around here, it won't be there for long.

 

[GabrielBane]

Hmmmm, my agriculture professor and I were discussing your problem since she has local dogs attempt to get her Emus constantly, before she SSS, she pretty much drove to her neighbors mailboxes, and left everyone in a certain vicinity, a kind, but strongly worded letter, complete with statute and law information included so they knew she had legal high-ground, so to speak. She simply let dog owners know that she wasn't going to sacrifice from her stock to cater to irresponsibility. Let's just say, after the letters went out, she said she saw a 80% decrease in roaming pooches. (Tho, she did have to dispatch one. :/ )

 

[Teila]

speckledhen I hear ya and understand. I confess that I would probably not do that myself either but it was a thought if you did get along with the neighbours.

I do like GabrielBane’s suggestion of a letter drop. You could even make it anonymous if you wish.

GabrielBane Wow, there are dogs willing to take on an Emu? Those are some brave dogs

 

[speckledhen]

Hmmmm, my agriculture professor and I were discussing your problem since she has local dogs attempt to get her Emus constantly, before she SSS, she pretty much drove to her neighbors mailboxes, and left everyone in a certain vicinity, a kind, but strongly worded letter, complete with statute and law information included so they knew she had legal high-ground, so to speak. She simply let dog owners know that she wasn't going to sacrifice from her stock to cater to irresponsibility. Let's just say, after the letters went out, she said she saw a 80% decrease in roaming pooches. (Tho, she did have to dispatch one. :/ )

Great minds, at least on one count-I already fired up the printer to print out the statute, several copies, in case I need it. I'll have to think about putting it on the boxes; it would have to go on everyone whose dog situation I'm not sure of. I'm truthfully not even sure I know who lives here full time, other than the nutty woman who we severed all communication with-flakes, remember I said? I really never talk to any of them except to wave at the lady across my driveway when I see her out.

I know the dogs don't belong to the old woman across my driveway. She has only a fat little Boston Bull Terrier, one Golden Comet hen and, thanks to mooching relatives, a gray cat, none of which cause me any trouble (though I did catch the dog coming down my driveway a few times when the gate had to be open). And, I'm fairly sure they don't belong to the guy below me whose roof I showed in the photo, though whoever is staying there may be the owner. He's a truck driver and takes his own dog with him when he travels now. I doubt they belong to the guy at the base of this mountain, either. There are folks who are not really in this neighborhood whose houses I can see if I walk around our land, but I'm not even sure how to get to their places.

speckledhen I hear ya and understand. I confess that I would probably not do that myself either but it was a thought if you did get along with the neighbours.

I do like GabrielBane’s suggestion of a letter drop. You could even make it anonymous if you wish.

GabrielBane Wow, there are dogs willing to take on an Emu? Those are some brave dogs

Gosh, I agree about the emus! Stupid dogs, aren't they?

@GabrielBane I appreciate the nice note on the ovation, thank you.

 

[GabrielBane]

Ah, that makes complete sense, it does seem pretty counter productive to just drive around until you find mail boxes. LOL. Do you guys have a town community board where you could post it? ( I think I read you had posted something along these lines somewhere online, but I don't recall completely) I know it'd seem hostile, but it truly is only a matter of time before the dogs hurt themselves, someone else, or the wildlife.


I thought she was kidding about the dogs, I was *certain* they were Coyotes for SURE, but sure enough, a group of loose dogs are willing to try and take anything on, it seems. (Though to give the Emus credit, she did mention juveniles were the ones getting harassed AND none had been killed yet, just roughed up, hah.)

 

[speckledhen]

Ah, that makes complete sense, it does seem pretty counter productive to just drive around until you find mail boxes. LOL. Do you guys have a town community board where you could post it? ( I think I read you had posted something along these lines somewhere online, but I don't recall completely) I know it'd seem hostile, but it truly is only a matter of time before the dogs hurt themselves, someone else, or the wildlife.


I thought she was kidding about the dogs, I was *certain* they were Coyotes for SURE, but sure enough, a group of loose dogs are willing to try and take anything on, it seems. (Though to give the Emus credit, she did mention juveniles were the ones getting harassed AND none had been killed yet, just roughed up, hah.)

There are a few local online yard sale groups on Facebook, but the last time I tried that, all I got were abusive comments. They felt I had a responsibility to find the dogs' owners, to catch the dogs, etc, etc, etc, that I was "a nut with a gun", etc, etc. It wasn't worth the abuse so I took it down. Actually, I deactivated my acct since FB pretty much creeps me out anyway, LOL. My husband has his and is a member of a couple of the yard sale groups, but not sure he wants to get the reaction I got when I tried to warn the owner(s).

Dogs are different when they "pack up". Their behavior changes and they'll do things that they've never done alone. But emus? Even juveniles are pretty big. I've seen them, wow. Even I'm intimidated by an emu!

 

[speckledhen]

This is what I printed, the two sections that apply to our situation.


Quote: They are most definitely constituting a nuisance, are not restrained and are chasing animals. And they've now damaged my property (fence). So, I'll have to think what to do with these flyers now. They've really changed the wording of the law since the first time I looked it up years ago. It used to say something about all dogs must be under the control of their owners at all times, though this pretty much says the same thing. A dog owner cannot prevent his dog from doing anything if the dog is not fenced or leashed and he doesn't even know where the dog is.


ETA: Wanted to clarify after a comment by someone about a fenced pasture-the pasture lot is not fenced. My main property that contains our house, the gardens, and all the outbuildings, including the big barn, is fenced with a driveway gate that is closed at all times unless expecting a delivery. We do plan to fence the pasture lot as well, but it hasn't been feasible just yet. The dogs have been hanging around the pasture lot but looking into the fenced area intently for some time and it was only yesterday that we caught them inside the perimeter fence. They may have been inside before, but we've never actually seen them inside until yesterday. We've only had dogs get inside the perimeter on four or five occasions over the past ten plus years. On two of those, the driveway gate was open out of necessity. Once, a beagle puppy squeezed through the 4" section of livestock fencing and we called A/C to get her (sort of wish we'd kept her, but we had an old dog at that time).

 

[MistyMountain]

Cyn, I absolutely hate that you have to deal with this! Dogs are by far the worst predators. Running a couple strands of electric fence my help out a lot. The biggest hassle will be the expense and keeping low lines clear. After all you have done, it is a shame that you have to go to such extent to protect your chickens and yourselves. I've said it before, I am not a fan of dogs running in packs.

We use a 25 mile range solar fencer here. I got it from amazon and have nothing but good stuff to say about it. It juices up fencing all over the property. I had seen 1 and 2 mile range fencers, but for less than $100 more, I wanted to be sure we could electrify anything and everything we wanted to. Keeps the horse and steer in check, no problem.

As far as gates--- you could run a single strand above the gate with a handle and loop (can be just a loop of electric wire). Pic here shows polywire. Not a big fan of it, but again, it keeps the horse and steer in check. It's temporary for us, as we are putting in 5 strand high tensile with 3 strands electrified. Another option is to get coated wire and run it underground under the fence.

 

[speckledhen]

Thanks, Michelle. Asking folks for estimates for the bush hogging that entire side of the property today. Hopefully, someone will want to make some quick cash for a couple of hours work. And maybe, depending on how that goes, maybe we can get a lead on someone to do other work for us, as money allows. If we can see a way to do the hotwire, may go that route. No sign of the dogs, but I haven't checked the camera yet. They'd be insane to come back so soon. But, you never know. They get to chasing deer and they won't stop at my property line, I'm betting.



ETA: No dogs on game camera last night, no sign of them today. I caught this on game cam so this is what I'm betting is drawing them onto my property so much, trailing deer. So far, they've only come in the early morning as far as I know, much the same as the deer. I went back to where the black dog was when DH shot and found no blood trail, the distance too great to really penetrate the skin, more likely. He probably was just stung pretty good. How long it will take them to come back, we'll see. I walked the rest of the fence line and did find where the black dog got out. There is a low spot on the front, opposite corner from where the fence was pulled down and it did appear that the black dog belly-slid under at that point, from the smashed vegetation. So, he slid out and his companion overshot it and couldn't find his way out other than to climb over the fence. We have someone coming to give an estimate for clearing a 20' x 400' swath next to the fence on that side and when that's done, I'll remedy that weak area. The rest of the fence is intact, just around the driveway gate on either side, it needs to be a 5' fence and it isn't. Need 100' to fix that and more, taller u-posts.