Ideas/Advice stray dogs

[aaluck]

Last week two dogs killed about five of our chickens and wounded several others. I have not seen them since but I know they will return. I really hate to shoot a dog but I really feel I have no other choice at this point--if I see them again.

Does anyone have any ideas short of killing them? I live in the country so we have no animal control to speak of... other than the sheriff shooting them. Finally, we do have a coop but for years they have roamed the property without an incident so really hate to go back to losing them into a small coop when they have 20 acres.

 

[imnukensc]

I hate to shoot a dog, also, but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do. If you have any kind of county animal control, they should be able to provide you traps free of charge to at least try to catch the offenders.

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

Good day.

i am sorry about your chickens.
It’s not much fun coming home to dead livestock.

if not open to permanent countermeasure, I only have a couple thoughts:

1. Electric fence
2. Livestock guardian dog - be aware if they don’t get the hint the LGD will kill the stray dogs (at that point there are cheaper permanent countermeasure measures than adding a 150ish lb dog to feed IMO)

I know you did not ask this, but if you have other predators (all kind of predators will get after eggs chicks and chickens) around may want to consider preventative measures.

good luck.

 

[#40Fan]

I heard the Danish zoo is accepting strays.

 

[mcfarmall]

My logic says that if you love your dog, then you would make sure they are safe at all times. If you opt for the pew pew, make it count the first time.

 

[skeets]

It is sad to say, but they will be back. Most likely it was done for sport and not due to hunger. Unless you really lock up your critters they will be back, and as distasteful as it may seem, a pew pew is the only answer. Unless you have a county dog catcher that is willing to set live traps and if the dogs are tagged or have a collar, you can file a suit for damages against the owners

 

[PoTreeBoy]

Good day.

i am sorry about your chickens.
It’s not much fun coming home to dead livestock.

if not open to permanent countermeasure, I only have a couple thoughts:

1. Electric fence
2. Livestock guardian dog - be aware if they don’t get the hint the LGD will kill the stray dogs (at that point there are cheaper permanent countermeasure measures than adding a 150ish lb dog to feed IMO)

I know you did not ask this, but if you have other predators (all kind of predators will get after eggs chicks and chickens) around may want to consider preventative measures.

good luck.

2b. Donkey, same caveat as LGD

 

[MINICUP28]

.22 CAL BIRDSHOT IN THE GENERAL DIRECTION IS A GOOD DETERRANT. MY HENS ARE FREE RANGE FROM DAWN TO DUSK. EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE I LOSE ONE THAT NEVER COMES BACK AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HAPPENED. ANY TIME I SEE UNWELCOME CRITTERS I TRY TO DISCOURAGE THEM

 

[NCL4701]

Been a long time (and a few local statutory changes) since I’ve had to deal with similar. If you can identify the offenders and get within 300 yards of them, as unpleasant as it is, a 30-06 will stop their behavior. Once they start, you can try to creatively stop them but likely you’ll end up there regardless.

Edit: Noted some here are talking about notifying the dogs’ owners. Title of the thread indicates “stray” dogs; dogs who don’t have owners to notify. My original comment was regarding stray dogs. If the dogs have collars so owners can be identified or owners are known, of course they should be notified and given the opportunity to rectify the problem.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Just some food for thought.
Having a ton of dogs over the years, sometimes they just get out and roam, and yes sometimes they get into trouble.
My take on it... we eat chicken and so do they so why is it wrong when they do it?
Yes I prefer mine a little more cooked than they do, but to each their own.

Years ago we had a couple of new fosters that found a way out, one was a sweet dude and the other was a 100% rouge girl, well they ventured over to a neighbors place and that neighbor thought it was in his best interest to shoot them.
It was hard on us, we love our dogs and Wolves and never want harm to come to them.

Just keep in mind that some roaming dogs are possibly someone's cherished family member that is just out on a bender.
Would you want to tell some little boy or some little girl that you shot their best friend?

 

[GeoHorn]

My neighbor lost chickens to dog(s) and then discovered it was his own dog that attacked the chickens for “sport”. It was a disappointing surprise to discover his own sweet family-pet had gotten “goofy” one day.
I had a picture of what he’d done…. ripped all the feathers out of the backs of the chickens…. didn’t Kill the birds….but left them horribly damaged and Tim had to put-them-down.
It was like the dog had found an unusual way to play with moving-toys….no intent to actually kill the birds.
The dog was shown the feathers…scolded severely….and never did it again.

This doesn’t help aaluck ‘s situation. I get it. I’d be furious about the loss of hte chickens…but I’d be loathe to kill someone else’s dogs without first confronting them about it.

I don’t know how you can do both without getting the birds somehow “corralled” …so if the birds attract the dogs…. the dogs cannot escape from capture…. in order to identify and confront the owner. (Camera/Videos maybe…??)

The dog owner certainly owes you for the lost chickens. I think that would be a workable solution, but it’d take effort and further expense on your part. Killing the dogs requires your presence…. and THAT might be all that’s required to capture the dogs. Only by capture, and identification of the owner, .. will the previous damage be compensated, …the future damage be prevented,…. and the dogs behavior be best-addressed without killing them.

@aaluck , do you know who owns dogs in the area..?

 

[Bmyers]

Sadly, we have had to shot dogs out on the farm. When grandpa had cows, there was a small pack of dogs (5 of them) that got into the pasture with the cows. They ended up running down and killing two calves (the dogs ran the young calves to death). Grandpa didn't get mad often, but he was ticked. We got two of the five dogs. Over the next week, grandpa got the other three.

Most likely they had been dropped off by some shameless person who didn't want to take care of them anymore. Yet, we couldn't have them going around killing the calves.

I'm a HUGE dog lover and I try to be a responsible dog owner. I would hate if someone killed my dog if he wandered off for a visit. Yet, if my dog was killing their livestock, I would understand and I would pay for the damage to their livestock.

 

[Tughill Tom]

Rubber Buckshot at 25 yards, trust me them won't be back.

 

[GeoHorn]

Getting within 25 yds alone will likely chase them away.

Electrify the chickens.

(sorry…couldn’t resist)

 

[lugbolt]

You know how to handle it. Do it. I know it sucks, BTDT, but as someone who's worked on a farm, things have to be done that aren't exactly "PC". Working farm, you're gonna have a dead one here and there and they usually just carried them out to the bone pile and left them. Coyotes took care of the rest. Just an example. Animal rights people would have had us hanged for that, sometimes I wondered if those people value the animals' lives more than ours, but whatever.

I like dogs and we value them as pets. But I'm a responsible pet owner, knowing what dogs do. They wander off and no telling what they're gonna get into. That's just their nature. We kept our on leashes and/or on a run (a long one) and/or in a pen. I don't like doing any of that but I also value others' stuff and their livestock too. We no longer have dogs now but we do have a couple barn cats and an indoor cat. Barn cats are wild, can't get within 20 feet of them but they keep the mice down and they don't wander very far off either since the food is at the shop (I feed em about twice a week). The indoor cat is just a pet obviously, laying on my chest as we speak.

We have a new neighbor who's got a pit, and it's not all that friendly to us. Wife won't go outside, darn dog roams around and when she goes to get the mail and the dog is close, it growls and barks at her. I told her to keep an eye on it and take some video of it. I hope she doesn't have to put it down but is so, so be it. She's smart enough to know when it's time. Have no use for those dogs, have had them and they are worthless for anything but hog hunting. One of them tore a lot of the scalp off of my brother's head when he was young, no reason that I know of just random. Then he had a shephard attack him too a number of years later. So it can be any breed; but some are a LOT stronger than others which is why they are good at what they're bred to do. Mom's got a ACD (blue heeler) which is a great dog but hyper and can bring the blood when she's nipping at your heels, but that's what those dogs are bred to do-to nip at the heels of livestock to herd them.

S.S.S if you have to.

 

[trevoroni]

As a kid growing up in the farm we've both had to shoot neighbors dogs and our own when they started creating pacts and disturbing other people's source of incomes.
It sucks for everyone involved but you've got to do what you have to do.
We recently got a puppy that's going to be a big dog. Already 55lbs at 22 weeks old and we've done our best at trying to keep in her in the yard and not bother the cows outside the barbed wire fence.
But if she ever kills a calf that'll be the end of her.
I'll do what I can to keep her safe, which is especially easy with today's technology.