I'm with Geena. One of my dogs has caught, killed and eaten 1 squirrel and 1 pigeon. She got the "taste of blood". Remarkably, she has been trained to leave, and now will sit happily watching the pigeons, and my ducks too, without trying to get them. I'm not saying it would be safe to throw her into a field of chickens, but she hasn't lost all sense just because she tasted the blood of past prey.
Now, when a predatory animal goes into catch and kill mode, much like in fight mode, its extremely hard to snap them out of it. So in some situations, shooting may well be the only way to stop that dog. But unless the dog is actively attacking? No way. There are better options.
And that was my point. The situations I was in, and my friend's situation, the dog was in active attack mode. My friend's dog was attacking his goat, and the older LGD he has attacked the pup that was attacking the goat, doing what SHE was trained to do... protecting the livestock. My friend ended up having to put the pup down, because she injured the pup so badly that it was the only humane thing to do, and that's when my friend realized that he didn't see the pup's personality in his eyes anymore... he saw the feral instincts, the 'wild' dog in those eyes. The dog had gone completely over to his native instincts and was no longer domesticated. It apparently had been coming for a while, but my friend didn't connect the behavior of the other animals reacting to the change, until after this incident that happened in front of him. After the pup was dispatched, everyone but the older LGD calmed down. Now, the older LGD is going to have to be re-homed to her former farm, because she had been moved to my friend's new farm, and she had more territory to cover, different animals, etc. She was having a hard time adjusting to the new environment, and this younger pup was bullying her, too, while undergoing that adjustment period. She has become very aggressive when it comes to her food due to the pup bullying her for it, and the free-range chickens that came from her previous home (my friend started that previous farm, and his dad took it over, so she's going back to his dad's farm) that had previously been enclosed in their own coop/run, are now free-ranging, were trying to get to her food, and she didn't like it. She spends more time chasing them off than eating. She's losing weight, stressing. So the best thing is to return her to what she is comfortable with, her friends that are also goats, a less stressful environment that she is familiar with.
My situation was the dog that had taken my turkey FROM its enclosure, carried it up to the local bar on the opposite corner of the block from my house, and killed it in front of the patrons that were outside on the patio. One of the employees reported that my turkey ATTACKED the dog, and that's why I shot the dog. I did nothing of the sort, but that was the report he gave to the sheriff investigating the firearm discharge and dog shooting. Apparently, there was another dog that WAS shot at the same time this dog chewed her way into my turkey pen, on the other side of town (my township is only a few blocks square), but I had nothing to do with that incident. I had no idea that my turkey was missing, until I went outside to check on everyone, and noticed feathers and one less turkey, the other two cowering, in shock. I didn't know what had gotten into the pen until the sheriff showed up on my doorstep that night. Now, I'm talking to my next-door neighbor the next day, and this dog showed up again, in the alley between the bar and my house, where my bird pens are located between the house and the alley. She sees me and my neighbor on my back porch, and she's standing there in the alley, barking and getting agitated because she wants to go into the turkey pen again, and get another bird, and humans are standing there, blocking her access point. She KNOWS what is going to happen if she tries to get to the pen door. I got photos of her standing there in the alley, and gave them to the sheriff's deputy who was investigating my previous day's incidents, and he knew who she belonged to. He went to the owner of the dog, informed them of what had happened, and gave him my bill for $300 for the turkey his dog had killed. That's how much it would have cost me to replace the turkey she killed, if I had had to buy it from someone else who had raised it, and processed it, in time for Thanksgiving dinner, which is what I had intended to do with my turkey. It was a heritage, pasture-raised turkey, which was what my turkey was. So, really, don't think I was being exorbitant. That's what it would have cost in feed costs, etc., over the 9 months I raised those turkeys, let alone the processing, etc. I never got reimbursed for the turkey but the dog and her owner vacated the township immediately, so I've not had to deal with another predator on my bird pens since then, and that was two years ago. Good enough for me. I just know what my rights are, and that's what is incumbent upon livestock AND dog owners. Up until 19 months ago, I was also a dog owner, so I know both sides of the conundrum. I just know that I trained my dog well, and when he ignored the birds when I wasn't there, I would praise him up afterward, because I had no casualties, but rarely was he allowed to be around them, unattended, unless I was just not aware that there were birds out and about in the yard, escaped from their run when I let him out to do his business. If they were out and I knew about it, we would team up and get them BACK in their run, for their own protection. I'm not a stupid animal owner like Geena is trying to make me out to be.
