Too close of a call last night...

[SpottedCrow]

I was in the computer room and Ernie was doing the dishes...He comes in and says the birds are making wierd noises...

So I go out and I see Buddy, the neighbour's GSP, pointing at the porch. Awww. crap!
I didn't see either bird. I saw a quick flash of brown going a different direction. Buddy made a quick getaway, thankfully.
I look under the porch and there's Penny pacing back and forth, because she's too afraid to remember how she got in there in the first place. I have to rip down part of the lattice to get her out. un
But where is Obelisk??

Ernie volunteers to check Pete, the next door neighbour's yard. I go back in the porch and look under the chair where they sleep, in the air conditioner box where she goes in the winter, in Penny's carrier. She's nowhere to be seen.

I finally look under the other chair and she's all twisted up, like she's trying to make herself the smallest she can be...
She wouldn't come out until I bribed her with some Tender Vittles. I checked them both over and Thank the Gods, the both of them were ok.

But if anything had happened, that dog would be stone cold dead! And I would've brought his carcass back home and tossed it on their lawn. This would've been the LAST TIME that dog ran loose.

 

[Ravenxxx]

Gosh what a hairly moment,
Glad they are all ok!!

 

[keljonma]

Glad to hear you had a happy ending!!

 

[mudhen]

Oh, I bet you didn't need all that extra adrenalin! I'm so glad the girls are alright!

 

[jmantoo1]

my next door neighbor told me i cound not shoot a coyete on my land i own 7 acres .i said i would any way if they touch my chickens

 

[MarkR]

SpottedCrow,

I'm really glad everyone turned out okay.

jmantoo1,

Yes, you can. Your neighbor, is good hearted, certainly, but misinformed. If it kills livestock, you are allowed by federal law, to dispose of the predator.

Some predators, like bears and raptors, are not included in this, but coyotes are on the list of those you can. Even in cases of predators that we are not allowed to dispose of, if the animal continues to come back, the Fish and Game people often grant one time kill permits to farmers and livestock owners (a friend of mine, a beekeeper, got one for a very persistant bear, but, in the end, thankfully chose not to use it). I have pretty mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I want to protect my animals. On the other, the predators are just doing what they do. I can hardly blame them. I just want them to do it somewhere else. Does that make me one of those "Not In My Back Yard" people? Maybe.

Coyotes are not on any endangered list, they are, in fact, multiply at amazing rates and spreading to areas of the country they haven't been in before. If you have questions call your local gamewarden. He/she will be happy to answer them, set your neighbor back on the straight and narrow, and may offer to take care of any predator problems you might have. His/her solution might be either to cull the animal or humanely trap and relocate the animal, depending on the situation (where you are, what kind of animal, are they returning regularly, etc.).

Mark

 

[beckt]

Glad you had a happy ending there. I know if it was me that dog would not have gone home. Poor Miss Money Penny. I bet she was scared half to death.

 

[Jillylam]

I'm so glad they were ok! That really burns me up (loose neighborhood pets). When I moved into my house there wasn't an inch of fencing. Well, knowing I'd eventually have dogs, I spent a lot of money to fence in about 2 acres of our property. So it is very frustrating to have neighbors whose cats (at least 3) and dogs (2 from 2 different neighbors) romp all over the place like it's theirs. Sorry, I didn't mean to go on a rant. It's just bad enough to have to worry about wild predators let alone people's pets too.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Thank you all.

Penny and Obelisk are fine. I got eggs from them the very next day.

I have permission from the Animal control officer to take him out if he's attacking my birds.
And I have talked to the owner's twice already.
There IS a leash law where I am, but they ignore it. There are a couple of other dogs that aren't tied up, but they never have bothered my birds, so I don't consider them the hazard that Buddy is.
Jake, a MinPin, chased Obelisk once and she ended up going over the fence and into the neigbhour's pool, but she was ok.
Maggie, a Shepherd Mix, walks up to the corner and back to her house.
Capone, a Pit Mix, just sits on his corner and watches people go by.

 

[daubernut]

In the space of a year we lost 12 hens to one of the neighbors two dogs. We spoke to the neighbor and the SPCA and other officials with no results several times. The final straw was when one morning one of the dogs turned on my husband when he was trying to protect the girls and the dogs were looking for breakfast. He shot that dog and when the other dog turned towards him he shot that one too. Neighbor did not show up until after five that night asking if we had seen his dogs. He got his dogs to bury and he splattered us all over the papers and TV. He showed pictures of his dogs as puppies for the ahhh factor even though they were each over 100 pounds at the time of the attacks and their death. We were not charged and were actually told we had shown extreme patience and should have shot them much sooner. A number of the other neighbors came to our defense and to thank us for getting rid of the dogs cause they had also complained and that the dogs had killed all the wildlife along the river where we live, as well as terrorize people when they were out for a walk or whatever. It still bothers my husband that he had to kill them but he would do it again. If a young child had gone up to one of those dogs when they had a kill, who knows what would happen to the child. Once they have the taste of blood, there is no turning back.
By the way, the neighbor who had owned the dogs had his home repossessed by the bank and was forced to move for nonpayment. The real victims in all this were the dogs as they were so neglected by the owner.