A tactic that I think just WORKED re: loose dogs ...

[Cygnet]

Okay,

Dog problems. Longstanding, persistent dog problems in my neighborhood. I've mentioned this before. We have a ton of dogs running in packs and everyone's having livestock killed.

I have brand new neighbors on the next street over from me with two pits and what they said was a chow/wolf/pit cross. They've already gotten loose three times -- my neighbor's shot at one (and winged him) and they came over this morning and were trying hard to get at my goats.

I nailed one with an air rifle from 100 yards (I'm kinda proud of that shot) then chased after them when it ran home yelping and figured out which house they ran to. And informed the young man in the yard (who I assumed was the owner) that if his dogs came after my goats again, I'd use a twelve gauge the next time.

He was apologetic (unusual) but just casually commented the dogs keep getting out and he didn't know what to do. I suggest (probably rather tartly) a better fence, a rope, or getting rid of them.

Grumbldy grumble grumble. I went home, thought about it, then went and got my VERY grim and gruesome photos of what big dogs can do to goats. I have some pretty gory pictures I took a few months ago -- goats with their throats torn out and that sort of thing.

And I went back and very politely and calmly explained I wanted to show them WHY I am very unhappy about big dogs running loose. And then handed them the folder of photographs. And explained that after that happened to me, I have simply no tolerance for loose dogs -- particularly loose dogs that were TRYING to get my goats in broad daylight.

Wanna see some jaws drop ...

Oh, it turns out the "man" I spoke to was the son, who's a teenager. (I would have taken him for mid 20's.)

His mother was very, very, very apologetic and they swear they'll keep the dogs tied up or get rid of them. I think that visual evidence of what dogs can do, in this case, made them seriously think about what they're playing with. She said she'd rescued all three dogs ... animal lover, I think.

The lady also made the comment, very quietly, "My dogs could do that to a kid, too, couldn't they?"

Then I brought her over to my place and showed her my goats so she could SEE the animals I'm trying to protect.

Maybe, in this case, she'll take it seriously and keep them home.

[Ninn]

Wow. I wish more people would take that kind of thing seriously. There is a german shephard mix running loose here in town that came after my dog on our back porch the other day. Animal control can't seem to catch it, so it must live nearby. Needless to say, my grandson does not play in that little yard.

[Dodgegal79]

I think that is a great way to educate people. A lot of people are visual learners. Hope it keeps your goats safe.

[quietstar]

The action you took seemed very well thought out and totally cool. Betcha' it works too, but occasional contacts wouldn't hurt to keep their interest in "safe" goats...Glen

[Goat Servant]

Terrific PR work Cygnet!

[luv2farm]

we've tried the nice approach.....you know........."Sir, your dogs were in my fence chasing my sheep. I'd appreciate it if you'd keep them put up. We simply can't lose any more lifestock to dogs".

Reply: "How do you know they were my dogs"

"Because I just seen them in the fence"

Reply: "My dogs don't go that far, they must have been someone else's that looked like mine"

After 3 months of this serenio, we went to this approach:
"I hate to bother you again.....but your dogs were chasing my sheep again, and I just want you to know........If I as much as see them on my property, I'm gonna kill 'em. I assume they are here to chase and kill my sheep. I hate that it has come to this, but but I gotta protect my sheep." Then, hung the phone up!!

This type of phone call seems to get action when nothing else does. Plus....get out in the back yard about 2 times a week and fire off a few shots!!

Memo: We have lost 13 sheep to dogs this year

[diamondtim]

Just a thought, but if you had those pictures uploaded to a host site and had a link to them, others on the forum could use them with problem dog owners, without having to go through the loss of livestock first. They could reference that this happened to a friend of theirs.

[Tricky Grama]

Great Cygnet! Well thought out & looks like it will be effective. Hope you never lose another animal.

Patty

[Buttermilk]

Sss Works.

[MushCreek]

If you see dogs chasing your livestock that you know belong to a certain owner, I would take pictures of the dog(s) and send them to the owner. It's hard to argue with photographic evidence. That's if you want to try being nice about it.

[Beeman]

Shoot the dogs and be done with it for a while. Then they'll get more dogs and you'll repeat the process. The dogs suffer for the owners stupidity. If your pictures work I
'll be surprised, a friend of mine brought the carcass with him when he went to the dog's owners. They felt bad for a while. My favorite is when they say it can't be their dog. my reply then is
that I can' be shooting their dog if their dog doesn't do it.

Put the 12ga away and use a rifle. Chances are you're not going to get a good close shot and you'll just wing or wound the dog, not fair to the dog.

[Madame]

An excellent way to handle the situation. Sounds like the lady is totally convinced. Good for you for handling it effectively and diplomatically.

[Pony]

Originally Posted by Madame

An excellent way to handle the situation. Sounds like the lady is totally convinced. Good for you for handling it effectively and diplomatically.

Ditto! Ya done good!

[sunshinytraci]

I generally havent had too much of a problem with other people's dogs until about a month and a half ago when a distant neighbor's dogs suddenly found their way up my 1/2 mile driveway and discovered my chickens. The guy has that Invisible Fence but that is no longer holding his dogs. He's a nice guy and when his dogs run off he always calls me and lets me know that they escaped but what a pain the backside for me to have to run out and guard against his dogs, especially at 10 pm! I don't know what to do. I hate to shoot his dogs, although the guy told me to "just shoot them if they get into your chickens again." Animal control's answer too.

Hello people! I don't want to shoot dogs! If he feels that way about them, why doesn't he find them a good home with a real fence? If a person can't control their dogs, don't dump the responsiblity on the neighbor lady to have to put the dogs out of everyone's misery. The owner should bear that responsibility.

[farmergirl]

Originally Posted by sunshinytraci

I generally havent had too much of a problem with other people's dogs until about a month and a half ago when a distant neighbor's dogs suddenly found their way up my 1/2 mile driveway and discovered my chickens. The guy has that Invisible Fence but that is no longer holding his dogs. He's a nice guy and when his dogs run off he always calls me and lets me know that they escaped but what a pain the backside for me to have to run out and guard against his dogs, especially at 10 pm! I don't know what to do. I hate to shoot his dogs, although the guy told me to "just shoot them if they get into your chickens again." Animal control's answer too.

Hello people! I don't want to shoot dogs! If he feels that way about them, why doesn't he find them a good home with a real fence? If a person can't control their dogs, don't dump the responsiblity on the neighbor lady to have to put the dogs out of everyone's misery. The owner should bear that responsibility.

I agree with you. I have known of dogs shot and killed by their owners upon the owner being told that they had chased/ and or killed neighboring livestock.

[DaniR1968]

Originally Posted by sunshinytraci

I generally havent had too much of a problem with other people's dogs until about a month and a half ago when a distant neighbor's dogs suddenly found their way up my 1/2 mile driveway and discovered my chickens. The guy has that Invisible Fence but that is no longer holding his dogs. He's a nice guy and when his dogs run off he always calls me and lets me know that they escaped but what a pain the backside for me to have to run out and guard against his dogs, especially at 10 pm! I don't know what to do. I hate to shoot his dogs, although the guy told me to "just shoot them if they get into your chickens again." Animal control's answer too.

Hello people! I don't want to shoot dogs! If he feels that way about them, why doesn't he find them a good home with a real fence? If a person can't control their dogs, don't dump the responsiblity on the neighbor lady to have to put the dogs out of everyone's misery. The owner should bear that responsibility.

I think there was someone else on here or another board that had someone tell her the same thing. Her/His reply was something along the lines of, "I love animals and hate the idea of killing them. I will if I have to, but they are your dogs and your responisibility. You shouldn't put other people in that position." Something like that. She/He said it worked.

[copperpennykids]

We had a neighbor tell us that the dog coming over couldn't be theirs as their dogs are trained to stay home. Plus, they didn't have any dogs with a purple collar. I said "Fine. Then I know they are not your dogs and don't belong to anyone else around here, so won't worry about it when I shoot them." They called back about 5 minutes later and said that "Misery" had a purple collar and they would make sure she stayed home.

Of course that was pre-Pyrenees and now we never have stray dogs and have yet to lose a goat or chicken to dogs or coyotes or mountain lions. My dogs don't mind being up at 10PM guarding things, so y'all might want to think about getting one.

Otherwise, yep, SSS at this point.

camille

[onthespot]

How about handing the nice neighbor your rifle and say "here, you shoot him"

[Cygnet]

I could certainly set up a web site -- actually, I could do more than just photos of the dead goats. That sounds like a good project; some "shock" photos, some links to various state statutes, and some methods for deterring dogs with good photos and diagrams of things like electric fences and homemade dog traps.

(I do web development professionally. *grin*)

I'm up to my eyeballs in something else at the moment, but will do that near future.

[Lilandra]

paint ball guns work well for ID'ing the dog(s) who are in your yard. shoot them, then follow them home, gun in hand, and say that the next time you are going to use a real gun

hope your visit with the neighbor helped