fixin to get ugly w/ neighbors... advise please

As comfortablynumb put it "its the owners , not the dogs who need pain". Personally I am a big fan of SSS. Any dog I catch tryin to eat my animals is bound for a dirtnap. In your case with the amount of money lost already I would say invest in a little motion sensitive cam as others have suggested. Get pictures, then dirtnap the little devil spawns. Sounds like the type of neighbor you have will only understand the value of your live stock once you hit them in the pocket book. People like that, with no respect or understanding are so very irritating
As for not having the money to buy a cam... well... Buy one at walmart then take it back when your finished

Why do you need an LGD if you have the Great Danes?

So what did you think of comfortablynumb's suggestion about the wallyworld camera? I also agree with the poster who talked about the level of civil action proof needed, you may have more than you think, especially if other neighbors have had problems with these dogs.

Write down all the facts and have someone you consider to be a reasonable, unbiased person look at it with an eye toward the question of; Is it more likely than not that THESE particular dogs caused your loss?

At any rate it sounds like you do need to improve your perimeter fencing to keep out future problems.

because Great danes would kill the chickens/turkeys if I let em ! lol

Thats why they are in their own pen.

Great Danes are great dogs!!
BAD LGD's tho lol

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Dana

The Homesteading Housewife Website
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I had no idea I could get one in the $50 dollar range. gonna look into that.

antifreeze is out. wont do that even to an animal I hate. My other neighbor asked me to put out antifreeze months ago to get rid of them...... But I agree... they are doing what dogs do... the owners need the antifreeze.

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Dana

The Homesteading Housewife Website
Craving Comfort (recipes)
Stuff Grandma Made
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Until you can get your proof on film, save those small dog prints in a plaster casing.

Advise ALL the neighbors that some type of vermin has killed $XXX worth of your livestock and that you are taking measure to trap the VERMIN and that they should be aware that all pets should be contained. When you trap the dogs in a steel trap call the neighbor to come and collect his animals. This way you have transferred the responsibility back to the owner and you have documented the dollar value of the loss.

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Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

Kill the varmits by any means necessary. I took my neighbor to court, won a small judgement. I could only get paid for the ones that were killed the day I caught the mutts in the act. Had called the police 19 times on the idiot owner, who said it wasn't his dogs doing the killing. Caught one dog and was holding it on leash with the cops there with the idiot owner came back down the road. Gave the stupid dog back to it's stupid owner. Wish like all heck that I had let exDH break the dog's neck (he was there at the time), but I didn't want to punish the stupid dog for having a stupid owner. I went from 26 chickens to 2! I am rebuilding a Fort Knox coop and scratch yard and will get chickens again. But first, I'm going to TSC and getting some fly killer. Oh and forgot to mention that I went form 6 goats to 0 and the idiot owner killed my GSD on my property to get her off his chicken/goat killing hound!

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Sometimes the last minute is the best one.

You can cure any dog from chasing chickens by putting an electronic collar on the dog (do it one dog at a time and don't let other dogs see) and tie out a chicken by the leg. Let the dog see the chicken and try to eat the chicken. Hit the remote control button the INSTANT the dog bites down on the chicken. The dog will think the chicken is a super mean chicken and leave it alone and after that, test the dog with the collar on and off around chickens. Some dogs need a reminder once in a while espically if they're bird dogs. That's how we train dogs to avoid rattlesnakes, etc.

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Ted H

You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.
-Davy Crockett

Recently I stayed awake for nearly a week, and eventually shot a coon that was terrorizing my birds. Here in KY there is a statute that says it is perfectly legal to kill a neighbors free roaming dog if it bothers (not necc. kills, but bothers) livestock. AND you can claim damages in $s. Of course if you kill the dog while it is causing harm, there's no dispute it was their dog.
Now, I am a dog lover myself. But I would not let that go on. My neighbors know in advance that their dogs will be shot if they bother any of my animals.
A humane trap would maybe work, it would at least let the neighbors know it is their dog indeed. Personally nothing sends a message like a big vet bill

Hey.

You either whine about it or do something. Nightvision binocs/goggle/ocular and .308 Winchester with gen 3 nightvision scope. Sit and wait. One shot, one kill. Send predators to meet their maker. Throw a dead turkey by their body parts for your photos...

RF

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It's not good enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required. - Winston Churchill

Of course the hick version of this (which my former neighbor did) is to beat the dog with the chicken it just killed. It is supposed to work.

Cindyc.

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Mom to 5 cool kids and wife to 1 great guy. Life is good!

Very good idea, esp if you throw in "lord I hope it ain't no ones dog, then I would have to take them to court" Kill'm with kindness approach.

If the hotdog dogs can get into your pens, a rat can too, or a raccoon or skunk.

I don't think your cows are stupid to run from the weener dogs. Those dogs will hamstring the cows.

Lay chicken wire under the poultry fence. It should lay a few inches inside the pen, but mostly outside of the pen. Grass will grow through the chicken wire and it will end up invisible. The dogs will not be able to dig through it. They've been bred to go to ground, so keep 3/4 of the chicken wire on the outside. I don't think they will be able to figure out how far back they have to go to get to diggable ground.

As for chasing the cows, next time you catch them, go there all happy. Jolly them and try to get them to play with you, frisbee or something. Toss treats. Toss treats into crate. Close crate. Leave them in crate in the pasture while you call DNR. Photos would be helpful.

Maybe leave out the kindness part.

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"Seek first to undersand, not to be understood"
http://richheritagefarm.blogspot.com/

HEHE yeah Just tryin to offer a civil approach. Personally I like the sss/dirtnap approach. Am not much on repeating myself to people that obviously don't care to listen.

You need to varmint proof your pens. It may be that you can get some money out of the neighbors for what these dogs do, but if the pens aren't secure it will happen again with coyotes, foxes, etc, taking the birds. Then you'll be out good money again with no recourse at all.

Jennifer

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-Northern NYS

This aint SSS this is kill and sue!.But it being so hard to prove is the reason SSS is so popular! ZHope you got picsof them litte paw prints you metion that might be enough to sue and win on if you have those AND killem in your pen you should win a suit!

Get yourself a livestock guard dog, like a Pyr. Worth their weight in gold.

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Jim Steele
Sweetpea Farms
"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Robert Gates

Do u have a video camera with night vision? I used one to find out what was getting in my feed at night. You will have to go out and change the tape every 6 hrs(I always went about 10 min before the tape was supposed to be up, just in case). You may have to go through a lot of tape to get your proof.

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