The neighbors' dog!

[12GAGirl]

I was fixing myself some lunch and looked out the kitchen window and saw a little dog sporting a harness circling around the chicken kingdom, I also need to say that this little joker came through our fence to get to the chicken kingdom since we have a fenced in yard. He wasn't digging into the run but he was checking out the envirnoment. My flock was not scared of him and was standing right beside the fence eyeing this character. I ran him out the yard and checked everything out. I am a dog owner too but I keep my two girls in the yard or on leash and I so wish my neighbors would be smart enough to keep their animals out of my yard! Now, I am worried that that runt dog will hurt my flock.

 

[dadof4]

Fire off a few bottle rockets at it and see if that works. I live in the country and tend to shoot strays (even the neighbors) with at least a .22. Even if I miss the sound is enough to keep them from coming back.

 

[midget_farms]

Don't Shoot the dog!

Catch him & take him to the neighbor. If he is little you shouldn't have any trouble. If you can't catch him set a live trap, or just call the neighbor to come get him.

I have 2 small boston terriers & free range my birds. The dogs love to mess with the chickens, but the chickens don't take any gruff from them. In fact most days its the chickens chasing the dogs!

My mothers dogs on the other hand will kill them if given the chance. She has yorkies.

Just tell the neighbor to keep the dog away & you should be fine.

If that doesn't work - trap the dog & call the pound.

 

[Dogfish]

Improve your fence, then escalate as needed. Fences are the responsibility of both parties.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

If this is the first offense and it hasn't done any harm, I would see if I could find out who owned the dog. Obviously the dog belongs to someone and it may be that it escaped. Even the best dog owners can't prevent every escape. I think that it is important to give people a chance to make amends or repair a situation before taking steps that cannot be taken back. I try to be a good neighbor and whenever I encounter a problem, whatever it is, I prefer to communicate with my neighbors before I do something drastic. Even if the nieghbors dog killed some of my birds, I would just report the incident and make the owners pay for the damages.

 

[NurseELB]

Thankfully my Doxie is afraid of chickens, but we have tried to keep her in our yard, to the extent we dug under the fence line and poured a concrete 'moat' to prevent her from digging out. She still somehow finds a way to go on her little excursions! I would be very sad if someone shot her because she was on their property. My neighbor brought her back one day and I traded her for a dozen eggs! That's a precious thing for us, we only had 2 hens. So I guess I'm saying sometimes accidents happen- I sure hope that's all it was and you don't have to deal with it again!

 

[dadof4]

I was only suggesting the fireworks portion of my post for sound effects. I should have been more clearer.

 

[tinychicky]

DON'T SHOOT THE DOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[babyblue]

its annoying to hear so many people rant dont shoot the dog. that others must change and improve their own property to prevent livestock deaths and tresspassing. if its a two way street, keep your animals on your own property then nobodys dog needs to be dealt with. for some people money is tight and those eggs and chickens might be a huge part of feeding our familys. making a fort knox yard is out of the budget for most people. even a smaller fort knox coop can keep preds out, but wont stop one from scaring the chicken to death. there fore protecting the familys food scource, for me, goes way above the desire to save the poor little puppy. personaly I would see it returned once, with the warning that it must be kept at home and if not its the pound or something else.

 

[NurseELB]

Quote:
I agree. If my dog were to do damage on one of her escapes, I would expect to make it right, and then some! MY dog, MY responsibility. I'd demand the same from others if the situation were reversed. I just personally don't advocate killing of any animal except for food.
(As a matter of fact, if it happened to me, Their dog would probably find the pound in the next county over as a third strike!

)