Neighbors dogs chasing mare...advice please?

Even if you kill their dogs, which is your right, they will probably just get more dogs. Good, tight, secure fences make good neighbors.

Thanks for your good luck wishes. However, I am curious as to the "hair has been split" comment.

You said this..."It is the cold hard truth that you moved outside the city limits, so you left behind "animal control" to come and handle this situation for you. You have more freedom in the country but with it comes more responsibility. "

I just simply called you out on a post you made that you were wrong on. How is that splitting hairs?

What happens if you dd is on the horse and the neighbor dogs come. Spook the horse. Your daughter is thrown and is either hurt or killed. You need to act before the worst happens.

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I'm so done here.

One more possible step. Capture the dogs in your pasture and turn them over to animal control. Inform the neighbor where they are. Doesn't animal control require all their animals be fixed and charge the owners to get them back and for boarding fees?

If it happens after that, then shoot them.

....................Rather than shoot the dogs , I'd try and turn them over to the local dog pound or the spca along with the names of their owners ! Maybe the owners will pay a fee to retrieve their pets or they will simply leave them there to be adopted out , to more responsible owners . , fordy

might want to find a donkey (not a mini) as a companion for your mare. Many of them will go after dogs in their pastures. We have a pony that loathes dogs and our dogs won't go near his pasture or paddock. He will chase them and strike or kick them if he can.
I love dogs and would hate to have to shoot one, but if they were coming after my horses, I would have to. I've seen horses run into fences and the wounds they sustain. Not pretty at all. Not to mention the danger to your daughter.

I second lisa. get you a donkey (castrated male or a female). if you do, introduce them slowly as some horses will spook at them and their braying.

There will be another dog or coyote no matter what you decide to do with these dogs. A good fence and/or donkey sounds like the best long term option.

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"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin

We're going to have the same trouble with our new neighbors. They got a puppy this winter that is already over 100 lbs. He is totally uncontrolled. They can't get him to mind them in any way. I have sheep. They run. Dogs love to chase things that run. We're putting in a dog-resistant fence this year. It's the best thing in the long run for all of us. We haven't had any problems so far, but it's coming. These people will be our neighbors for many years. I don't want any trouble with them that can't be fixed.

You might not have to fence the entire pasture. Just enough of it that it keeps the dogs from having an easy game of chase.

No Offence, but when you open a Can-Of-Worms(by talking to neighbors, police, etc) you see you start Problems almost Every Time.

Are you a good enough shot to hit a dog chasing your horse closely at speed without risking your horse?

It doesn't sound like you have talked to the neighbor's personally? I read that your good friend who is related to them spoke to them, and that the police officer also spoke to them but I don't see where you have gone over and had a conversation with them yourself.

I'm not defending them - I spent $6K last year fencing our property in order to keep my dogs home and believe that is each property/animal owner's responsibility. But - I would also feel that neighborly relations were pretty strained if I was hearing from everyone BUT the neighbor, that they had an issue with me or my animals.

If I were you, I'd bake some cookies and take them over for a visit and while you're there say "Hey, we have a problem here, and I'd like to see what we can do about it". If they feel they are working WITH you instead of hearing from everyone else how upset you are at them, you may have better results.

Hot wire- I once watched a dog merrily traipse back and forth through a hot wire fence until it finally got him on the tail. Heard the yowling fading away into the distance for minutes and the dog never came back. My own dogs hated hot wire too.
There is a worse issue about the dogs too. That is that if the mare gets used to bolting and the dogs get used to chasing, it will happen when your daughter is mounted. And that is more than dangerous.

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For we used to ask when we were little, thinking that the old men knew all things which are on earth: yet forsooth they did not know; but we do not contradict them, for neither do we know.

I agree with Moboiku, if only because if you DO have to take drastic measures against the dogs, the neighbors will understand all that you tried to do to prevent that action. Explain to them making the horse nervous and your daughter being hurt if the horse gets upset because of dogs.

Most people who don't have contact with larger animals have no concept other than the dogs are having fun chasing the horses, and that it doesn't hurt the horse. They need to understand the damage being done.

I never had a horse chased, but I've seen a whole dairy herd tear through a barbed wire fence with a dog behind them, and milking that night with deep cuts on the udders of the first cows through the wire was not fun. Lucky none of them lost a teat. In that case it was a dog owned by a visiting "summer person" and I never saw the owners at all. The dog simply high tailed it away when I started yelling. Around here it's always those tourist dogs and nothing to do with neighbors. You are lucky that you know who the dogs belong to.

If you can afford it, put a dog proof fence up. These are probably not going to be the last dogs you see there since you are close to town, and you aren't always going to be home to stop this kind of stuff.

Good luck.

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-Northern NYS

Since the owners have been warned by the police, I say shoot the neighbors.. it's not the dog's fault they are just being dogs, and the owners are ignorant..

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Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

A hot wire will help quite a lot. Pits are smart and once they hit that fence they will most likely never go back.

And as Lisa said a donkey. I offered the use of mine to a guy who has cows. One of his pastures is next to some dogs..... one of whom is a chaser.

If it was my horse, I would definitely be hot wiring my fence. Two strands, one 5 inches above ground and the other 10 inches.

We have working dogs, not trained to herd but definitely herding breeds that would and have gone after cows that were pastured on our land. They weren't intent on hurting, just chasing and herding. They would push through barbed wire to access the focal point of their attentions.

One contact with a live wire cured that problem.

I would not shoot the animals. When all said and done, you have to live next door to these people no matter what and the relationship is already strained at this point no matter what inconsiderate idiots they happen to be. Shooting their animals will just intensify whatever stress already exists and living next door to a hostile neighbor is no fun whatsoever.

Find an alternative method to handle this situation. Live traps, paint balls, fences, etc. You can put up woven fence around the bottom of your barbed wire that will keep dogs out. It only has to be a couple of feet high, just high enough for the dogs not to be able to nose through. Think of it in terms of being 'sheep fence' if a sheep can't get through it, neither can a dog. And sheep can slip through anything they can get their head through.

Does your county have an animal control officer? If they do, I would definitely be contacting them for assistance. They might even provide traps for you to live capture the dogs. That way the county is responsible and not you for the removal of the problem dogs.

Remember, good fences make good neighbors.

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I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here!

This is the difference between in perspective from a pet owner and livestock owner. The pet owner calls their dogs actions playing while as a livestock owner sees the dog's actions as being destructive and endangering his livestock.

badlander thanks for being a responsible pet owner and containing your dogs.

Many pet owners fail to realize that when a dog chases livestock, it is going completely on instinct. It's not playing. It's doing what it's genes are telling it to do, herd, attack, control, remove, grab, etc.

When a neighbor pastured his cattle on our property, our ACD spent 3 days trying to control them. We finally had to pin him up. He never hurt one of the steers, but all his instincts said to control them and I have to give the knothead credit, he contained and herded them perfectly without training. All the instincts are there. He just needed the right stimuli to activate them.

A small dog will see a cow or horse as an intruder on their territory and work to 'remove' it from what they think is there land. A pit bull, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to ruffle anyone's feathers who owns one, I have met some mighty sweet natured APBs, but their instincts, no matter how gentle the dog, will surface if the right stimuli is there. Any dog's will.

Best to contain the animal and keep it from accessing the area where it shouldn't be. That way both stock and pets are safe.

Like I said, a hot wire or electric fence will keep your mare safe and keep things civil between neighbors. All the OP has to tell them is that they electrified the fence to protect their horse/stock, from aggressive animals. Farmers do it every day.

I'm speaking from experience here.

We are in the midst of electrifying our own front fence to contain our two young dogs who have suddenly taken up the habit of chasing Amish buggies down the road. It is our responsibility to keep them contained and if we had had the hot wire up to start with, the behavior would never have started.

Thus it is your neighbors responsibility to keep their dogs contained. Just as it is ours to keep ours contained. And if the neighbor will not contain and control his animals, it is your responsibility to protect your horses/cows/what evers from the intruding pets..

Nobody has mentioned what might happen should the mare be harassed enough that she takes a flying swing at one of the animals and kills or injures it.

Folks have been sued for less. They have also been sued for dogs attacking stock.

I would be more afraid of repercussions from the neighbor than I would be repercussions from the local LEO.

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I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here!

You can shoot the dogs as they come over, but there will be more. Put up electric fencing. I would use electric netting because a small dog will simply leap between the wires (I know this from experience). Put the netting a foot outside the fencing you currently have. If you decide to graze the mare anywhere else, you just pull up the netting and create a new pen, moving over every day. This is how I mowed my lawn for years (but with sheep).

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Nothing is as strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength - St. Francis de Sales