Trapped a Neighbor's Dog on My Deck....Got an Earful

[speckledhen]

Don't worry. There are plans for the dog if he breeches the perimeter fence. We never allow them out of their pens when we are gone from the property. Hopefully, he won't get into his head to start digging, though there are dig barriers all around every pen.

 

[zazouse]

It's messed up when ya gotta be worried about them dogs even when your yard is fenced, you need a big dog.

 

[speckledhen]

I have an elderly pointer/lab who stays mostly in the house. She is over 14 years old with cataracts and kidney disease so no match for that much younger male, though she would bark if she saw him. We have no plans to get another dog when she passes away because we really cannot afford to keep another dog on our fixed income. If we ever do decide we must have another dog, it will be a livestock guardian type that lives outside to watch over the flocks, but I honestly can't see us being able to pay for food and vet bills for another.

And you're right, it is messed up.

 

[Capvin]

I live in an area that is mostly wooded with one neighbor that is across the road from my driveway. Like yours, my drive is very long. The neighbors are wonderful people who have two young children and a bulldog. Whe we first moved here the bulldog would get loose quite often and he would run over here while the kids chased him. This was before we got chickens and I did not mind at all. When we got chickens I told them that I would be pretty certain that if their dog came over while my chickens were out, even though I am always outside with them, the dog would probably do some damage before I could intervene. I told them just as a fact, that if the dog got loose and came over here and the chickens were out there was a good chance that I would shoot it. Unlike you, I do not have any portion of my property fenced other then the run area for the chickens. Like I said, they are really wonderful people and they promptly built a secure fence in their backyard for their dog and it has never been an issue. I always give them a dozen eggs each week and their children like to come over to visit with the chickens, but because they have respect for my property they have never, even once, given me any cause to be concerned about their dog.

 

[speckledhen]

You're lucky on that count, Don. The elderly neighbor directly across from my driveway has a Boston Terrier that she swears would never hurt a chicken. She's delusional on so many levels, especially that one, since the one time it made it down my driveway when the well repair guy was here, the dog ran right for my pens, terrorizing my birds. She put up a chainlink fence, too, but didn't keep the dog in it.

Haven't seen the dog lately because her daughter, who lives down the street, apparently keeps it at her house most of the time. The old woman never should have gotten that high energy dog in the first place.

I found out from a different neighbor tonight that the owner of the dog nor his son are home and someone else was supposed to be watching out for the dog. They're doing a lousy job. You'd think someone, somewhere, somehow would be able to contain that one canine.

First thing we did when we bought this place was hire a local guy to put up a wooden fence off the back of the house to contain our two dogs. Then, in a few years, when we got chickens, we put up good pens. Later, one section at a time, we started perimeter fencing 2 of the over 5 acres to contain the chickens when they free ranged and keep out roaming dogs and capped it off with a gate across the driveway. Within the last year, both the closest neighbords have put up chainlink fencing to keep their dogs away from our chickens. After all that fencing, we still have to deal with this.

 

[Capvin]

Your tag line says it and everyone on this site knows that dogs are the number one predator of chickens. Goog dogs or bad dogs, it just does not make any difference. They will run up to a chicken and grab it ike a toy and kill it unintentionally in one second. I have no desire to shoot anyone's pet, but my wife and I really like these chickens and I will not stand by and watch a dog kill one or more of them. That fact is well understood by my neighbor and they agree with it. I like my property the way it is; a bit rough and natural with wooded area in the front and I have no intention of building a fence and driveway gate because some other person can not show reasonable responsibility and show respect for another neighbors property. It seems to me that you have attempted to do much to secure your chickens from outside dangers. Probably more then I would have.

 

[yeshuaisiam]

To the OP.

The three S's.

1) Shoot
2) Shovel
3) Shut up

We had a neighbor's pit bull JUMP over a 7ft high dog kennel in a single bound that we had our hens in. IT ripped apart the wooden coop. Then it had chewed through the metal on the fence! All of our children were crying for their lost pets. The neighbors could care less. In fact they had the audacity to start always walking the dog right in front of our home on a dead end street.

Came back several months later, and kill all of our chickens again.

Now the kennel is Ft. Knox, barbed wire, thick metal on top.... reinforced and booby trapped coop (nails coming down on the small entrance that the chickens are smart enough to duck under. I also have a loaded shotgun (in a safe place) that I can access within 20 seconds. I will shoot the dog next time.

Just so there is no retaliation, I will drag it out into the pasture and bury it. Then I will hush.

 

[speckledhen]

Don, the livestock fencing goes through the woods and is pretty much invisible. You'd have to know it was there to really know it was there, if you know what I mean. That's why, just after the incident that started this thread happened, when we found an 8' section of fencing cut from one of the trees and intentionally peeled back to allow animals in (or my own dog out), we were certain that it was the kid's doing. When I first saw it, I thought a deer had crashed into it, then realized it wasn't bent at all, but was cut in a straight line with wirecutters and peeled back neatly.

Just after the confrontation with the neighbor's son, there was a loud, raucous party next door while the father was on the road for his job- young men were racing up and down the main road in the development in ATVs and jeeps, playing loud music, yelling, etc; a couple of days afterward, when I was walking along the front section of the property with my elderly dog on the side nearest that neighbor, I found the vandalism of our perimeter fence. No one could even see it going through the trees and brush, but that neighbor knew it was there. We can't prove it so never made the accusation, just fixed the fence. I had the thought that maybe the kid thought he would make it easy for our dog to get out and onto his property so he could do something to her. What he didn't know was that she rarely roamed that area by herself, being rather frail. We kept her within the backyard picket fence, when she was out at all. Now, we periodically walk the fence line, even more often that we used to, just to be sure it's intact.

yeshuaisiam, that is the plan, though if they hear the shot and realize the dog is missing, I'm sure they'll come running up to my place so will probably find out what happened. I'm done with the warnings for this particular animal. We don't want to shoot it, but my chickens are my priority. I've done my due diligence to keep my animals on my property and on a very low fixed income at that. It's not impossible-you have to just DO IT. We did. They can. If they don't, well, they won't have a dog to worry about anymore. I'm really sorry you had to deal with that. Some people just are clueless.

 

[yeshuaisiam]

Don, the livestock fencing goes through the woods and is pretty much invisible. You'd have to know it was there to really know it was there, if you know what I mean. That's why, just after the incident that started this thread happened, when we found an 8' section of fencing cut from one of the trees and intentionally peeled back to allow animals in (or my own dog out), we were certain that it was the kid's doing. When I first saw it, I thought a deer had crashed into it, then realized it wasn't bent at all, but was cut in a straight line with wirecutters and peeled back neatly.

Just after the confrontation with the neighbor's son, there was a loud, raucous party next door while the father was on the road for his job- young men were racing up and down the main road in the development in ATVs and jeeps, playing loud music, yelling, etc; a couple of days afterward, when I was walking along the front section of the property with my elderly dog on the side nearest that neighbor, I found the vandalism of our perimeter fence. No one could even see it going through the trees and brush, but that neighbor knew it was there. We can't prove it so never made the accusation, just fixed the fence. I had the thought that maybe the kid thought he would make it easy for our dog to get out and onto his property so he could do something to her. What he didn't know was that she rarely roamed that area by herself, being rather frail. We kept her within the backyard picket fence, when she was out at all. Now, we periodically walk the fence line, even more often that we used to, just to be sure it's intact.

yeshuaisiam, that is the plan, though if they hear the shot and realize the dog is missing, I'm sure they'll come running up to my place so will probably find out what happened. I'm done with the warnings for this particular animal. We don't want to shoot it, but my chickens are my priority. I've done my due diligence to keep my animals on my property and on a very low fixed income at that. It's not impossible-you have to just DO IT. We did. They can. If they don't, well, they won't have a dog to worry about anymore.

We are currently building a huge pen for some milk goats. We are terrified of that pit bull. So much that the top wire will be barbed, with an electrified wire behind that. As much as I love our chickens, to kill a full in milk goat would be a horrible tragedy in comparison (not to mention each well bred goat with papers is $350 to $500). The pit bull does not seem aggressive towards people thank goodness. We are even going to install some wireless cameras on the goat pen to keep watch. As much as I love animals, I would not hesitate if that dog was going to kill our livestock. I just wish people could take more responsibility for their animals and keep them behind a good kennel. Tractor supply sells THICK cage kennels for $325 that can keep a dog (including a roof cover).

 

[speckledhen]

Anyone who allows a large, strong dog like a pit or a rottie to run loose should expect it to be shot. Good grief, there are people who are deathly afraid of dogs! It makes me crazy when other people have no compassion for those with dog phobias. If I saw a big strong dog like that running toward me on my property, it wouldn't have to be going after my chickens to be dropped in its tracks.