Good neighbors, bad dog

RyanTN · #1 02/08/13, 10:40 AM

Please induldge me while i share a quick story. I'm so blessed to have neighbors who "get it"! I woke up this morning to my dogs barking at something outside. When I looked out the window and saw one of my Blue Slate hens running across the yard. I went to the corner of the house and saw a boxer dog in my breeding pen. I ran in and got a gun and by the time I got the safe open the dog was running off my property with a hen in it's mouth. Since I won't shoot a dog off my property, I followed her a mile to my neighbor's house. I knocked on the door and my friends wife ans sister answered. I told them that dog has just killed my turkeys. She apologized profusely and asked how much the damage was. I told her there were $600 worth of birds in the flock and she offered to get her checkbook right then. I said that between their money and frienship, I'd rather have their friendship, she said I could have both in this instance. we decided to wait until her husband got home from work as some may have scattered, it was to early to tell. The wife said she'd call the vet as soon as they open to put the dog down so her husband wouldn't have to shoot him when he got home.
I left fleeing satisfied, and one by one birds have been coming out of the woods. So far six of the twelve have returned including one of my prized toms.
I'm trying to decide if I want to offer my neighbors one of my spare kennels so they can try to find another home for the offender instead of putting her down.
Thanks for listening! Ryan

primal1 · #2 02/08/13, 10:49 AM

Sorry about your turkeys! The dog was doing a dog thing and he was left to run free, I don't see this as the dogs fault at all.. i'd lend them the kennel or even tell them to fence the dog in. I don't get their rush to kill the dog at all.
Hope more turkeys have come back!

HOTW · #3 02/08/13, 11:01 AM

Boxers are notorious escape artists! We had one that was impossible to keep in a pen! We solved the digging out only to have him climb the chain link fence! Put a top on it he destroyed th egate!

Offer them time to rehome her but make sure they keep her locled up til then!

fishhead · #4 02/08/13, 11:09 AM

You can buy a shock collar that triggers at a specified distance from the base. No need to kill the dog.

7thswan · #5 02/08/13, 11:10 AM

Noway would I expect they kill the dog. The dog issue can be fixed just like her payment for your birds. Everything dosen't have to end in death.

where I want to · #6 02/08/13, 12:26 PM

Dog just needs to be a city dog.

Jennifer L. · #7 02/08/13, 12:37 PM

If the first words out of her mouth is "kill the dog", they certainly must not be dog people. It's nice she's ready to compensate you, of course, but I really hate seeing people treat dogs like they are just a piece of furniture "oh, it's a problem piece, we'll just get rid of it." The dog simply needs to be trained, or kenneled when they aren't watching it outdoors.

haley1 · #8 02/08/13, 12:40 PM

so how prtective is the coop? does it allow foxes in? they are both preditors. should coop be better to not let them in?

bassmaster17327 · #9 02/08/13, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by haley1

so how prtective is the coop? does it allow foxes in? they are both preditors. should coop be better to not let them in?

The land owner should not have to try ad build a coop to keep a dog out, it is the dog owners responsability to keep the dog contained to their property.

Why was the gun in the safe? If you could not get to it in time to stop a dog attack outside how will you get to it in time if someone is breaking into your house?

CarolT · #10 02/08/13, 12:53 PM

In the south, livestock can mean the difference between making ends meet and depending on government programs. If a family considers the dog part of the family, it is taught manners. If it is another animal with a purpose (guarding the house, etc), and it doesn't serve that purpose, it needs to go. At our local shelter, an animal that was known to harass livestock was put down as soon as it was surrendered. There is no tolerance for an animal that can wipe out someone's livelihood.

I would offer the pen, if it was a first offense, since you couldn't take care of it immediately and the dog made it home. Especially since it sounds like it might have been the husband's pet rather than hers.

Dogs usually kill and drop, if you don;t see bodies, I bet most will show back up. Good luck!

RyanTN · #11 02/08/13, 01:11 PM

All great replies, thank you! I went back down and talked to the ladies again, offering the kennels. They are worried that once "they taste blood, they'll always come back". They agreed to wait until the husband gets home. I guess one of their kids took it in from an animal clinic she worked at. When she went off to college, she left the dog for them. It does sound like she needs training, as she had some bad manners (food aggressive and knocking people down). I've delt with both over the years.
As for my pens, most all of my pens are kennels that I bought at an auction. They used to hold military police working dogs, so they are SUPER heavy duty. My breeding pen is another matter. It has six feet high walls, chicken wire, and a poultry netting roof. It looks like the dog bit the chicken wire and pulled it back to get in, ripping the staples (heavy duty air ones) from the fence boards. Once in it looks like he forced the bottom of the access door away from the frame. The door was still latched, but "bent out" at the bottom. I am running a hot wire around the breeding pen until I can get a chain link one put up.
I rotate the kennel's location a few times a year, so I haven't yet invested in a dog proof perimeter fence for several acres. In five years, I haven't had a real predator problem with usually a hundred birds around. I'll have an occasional loss here and there. I use live traps when needed and so far have trapped possum, minks, a coon, and a couple of skunks. I've never seen a fox or coyote near my place (within 20 miles).
My dogs are trained to my property, and obidient. They are supervised and have never harass livestock. They sleep indoors, and generally want to be where we are.
The guns are locked up as I have four kids and am a retired MP, myself. The Doors are locked at night, and figure the dogs would give me an advance notice if I need one. The kids are trained to respect firearms, and not to play- but they are kids!
So far I've found four bodies, waiting on the last two MIA.
It is what it is, I suppose.

Danaus29 · #12 02/08/13, 01:26 PM

I'm sorry about your birds but glad the dog owners are willing to do the right thing. Too bad more dog owners aren't that responsible.

Yvonne's hubby · #13 02/08/13, 03:10 PM

We have a number of dogs in our neighborhood that run loose, mine included, although I do bring mine in at night. We never have any problems out of any of them. We did finally have to give up on chickens though, not because of dogs, the durn coons, possums and hawks made it impossible for us to keep them safe.

Mulegirl · #14 02/09/13, 10:41 PM

It's nice to see a good story about neighbors with dogs, rather than another bad one, though hopefully they can get the dog re-homed somewhere in the suburbs with a family that will give it the structure and discipline it very clearly needs. Putting it down immediately seems like a less than ideal solution.

Sorry about your birds, though . . . that really stinks. It's not nice to have the need for a more secure coop proved like this.