Chicken Killing Mutts

[lcertuche]

I am so mad this a.m. DH woke me at 4:30 a.m. to tell me those little chicken killing mutts my son rescued killed another one of my chickens. Well it turns out it wasn't one of mine so now I need to find out who lost a rooster last night.

This dogs (2) were both dumped within days of each other. One looked like a skin covered skeleton. I still have a hard time believing it was even alive. Nethertheless they have already killed four of my birds. I am extra careful to leave them penned up on my porch until after dark and just let them run around for a few hours at most before calling them back. They are good watchdogs and has killed opossums but also neighbors cats, stray cats and armadillos. My grandson loves them so much and they are really friendly when they are killing critters. I heard other dogs last night too and we do have a problem with a roaming pack of dogs.

I don't have a gun or I probably would have killed the little mutts with the first chicken. I can't get anyone to take them (no one wants a chicken killing dog). I don't have the money to take them to a vet to put down and the dog pounds, rescues, etc. are full (always). Probably why people dump them on the country roads. People have no idea how cruel that is for the animals.

 

[samssimonsays]

How are they with humans, small kids and other dogs? They obviously shouldn't be around poultry or cats.... Or small livestock.

craigslist add? Put on there that you fostered them and nursed them back to health, that they would make good pets, not farm dogs. SOMEONE without chickens or other animals would swoop them up, Advertise them as hunting dogs since they have such high prey drive?

 

[farmerjan]

You say that the dog pounds are full all the time, but don't you have a dog warden or animal control dept? It is not your responsibility to "take them to the pound" if they are roaming. If you have "rescued them" to feed them then you might not have as much wiggle room...but here if there is a roaming dog, we call the sheriff's dept ( if it doesn't get shot first for chasing livestock), and they send out an animal control officer. They will pick up the animal, mostly dogs, and then it is the states' problem to deal with them.
If they can establish ownership, then that person will pay a fine to be able to get them back. And there are dogs that do get loose and stray and such. Since this is not the reason most likely (due to their condition when you rescued them) they come and pick them up and then will try to adopt them or have them put down.

That is part and parcel of why you pay taxes, for SERVICES such as that. Most time you can call the county sheriff or the local law and tell them you have stray dogs harassing your livestock and that they need to send an animal control officer to take care of the situation.
Since you have "rescued them" I don't know where you would stand...but think about this; if they are killing someone else's chickens, and can be traced back to you even though you only felt sorry for them, you may be responsible for them, and the dead animals, and what if they bite someone, and do they need tags etc.????
You need to get shut of them ASAP.

 

[DutchBunny03]

If they are killing your birds, they should go. Are they in any better physical condition than what you found them in? Is training them not to bother the chickens out of the question?

 

[Bruce]

Sounds to me like those dogs need to be held in a kennel.

 

[kajira]

if you have any reservations at all, about keeping them. get a shock collar and a remote. I garauntee you can train almost any dog to "leave it" with a shock collar.

I have a lab/pit mix, a super high prey drive working GSD, a blood hound, and a catahoula leopard dog, who were all trained leave it with a shock collar. It took our GSD 3 days to learn to ignore the birds, and if you say leave it, she runs full speed back to my husband. The blood hound leaves it alone, but he's a goof and will go slobber on the cat. And the lap pit mix is pretty good over-all.

I had a chicken killer pitbull, I don't have her anymore, and she wasn't euthanized. I had her rehomed to a non-farm family and with no children. (she nipped at both my boys.)