Doggie Drama

I love dogs! They enrich my life. Dogs can be the best companions that anyone could ask for. Like furry children, even. They have been causing so much heartbreak and drama here the last few days, though. Randy, my foster puppy, has had a bad habit of catching, and killing, my chickens. At first it was Miss Idgie's babies. I assumed that it was because they were small, fast, and made lots of noise. I tried keeping them away from him and hoped that it would stop. On Thursday, he killed Gabby, one of my adult easter egger hens. I assume that it was him, anyway. After today, I wonder. Yesterday, he caught Greta (Gabby's sister) be the tail and was trying to get a hold of the rest of her. At that point, I realized that it wasn't something I was ever going to be able to correct. He is a wonderful dog, he just isn't "chicken friendly". I had to return him to the shelter. I signed a paper saying that I would not give him away to anyone else, and if I couldn't keep him for any reason I would return him. But, I didn't want to take him back to that place. I cried halfway up there, stopped and got Randy a cheeseburger, and then cried the whole time I was getting him processed and coming home. I hope that he will find a good home, somewhere that he will not have feather covered temptation staring him in the face all of the time. As much as I love my dogs, I am just as responsible for keeping my chickens safe, as I am responsible for the dogs' safety. I have been working on circulating photos of Randy in hopes that he will find a new home.

This morning, I was awakened by the sound of my turkeys, upset, right outside my window. Immediately, I hopped out of bed and ran outside, to see a hunting dog chasing them around the yard. He had somehow unlatched the hoop coop, and was trying his best to catch one. Again, I love dogs, but we have to protect our animals. Brad grabbed the gun and took aim, but missed. The dog ran off. After locating most of the turkeys, we went looking for the dog (they always have phone numbers on their collar). We found him next door, got the phone number off of his collar, and hoped that he would not be back. I am missing one of my blue slate females (of which I only had 2). This evening, the dog returned. He was a sweet dog, but I didn't want to take any chances, so I put him on a chain until I could get in touch with is owners. Finally, the owner returned my call and said he would be right over. I assumed that I would be able to explain to him our situation, and he would be apologetic, and promise to keep his dog off of our property. Boy, was I wrong! He was upset because I asked him to reimburse me for the turkey! When I explained why we can't allow hunting dogs on our property, he looked at me as if I were insane, and said he has run dogs here for years, and asked if I was even from around here! I don't care if I moved here yesterday, it is my property! I finally had to tell him that if we caught his dog on our property again, we would have no choice but to shoot it (surely he would think better if bringing them back, right?). He came back with "that really wouldn't be a good idea, I suggest you don't do that" and then started listing the local police and sheriff as his hunting buddies. I called the sheriff's office, because I felt like he was threatening me, at that point. Once the police officer got here, he informed me that I do indeed, have the right to shoot the animal if it is in the act of killing my poultry, but they can be on our property as much as they want and I can't do anything about it any other time. Hunting dogs have more rights than I do, apparently. I have to let the dog attack my animals before I can do anything about it. Really?! Where are my rights?! Where are the rights of my animals? 

Now I just don't feel safe. I feel helpless. Now I have made the hunters in my area mad at me, and half of the hunters are the public officials that should be there to protect me. I am worried at this point that they might come back and retaliate for me causing a commotion and "threatening" their dogs. Perhaps I should have just kept my mouth shut, and ate the cost caused by their dogs, simply because they have the numbers in their favor? I also have to find a new place to buy my feed. The brother of the man I was dealing with owns the feed store. He showed up part way in to the conversation and was not happy with me. He finally bit his tongue, got in his truck, and left. Was I wrong to expect the response that I did? That is how I imagine I would respond if the tables were turned. If one of my animals went onto someone else's property and caused damage I would feel terrible! I would do everything I could to make up for it! I would at least promise to make sure that it never happened again! It makes me want to move. I am praying that the issue is over and the problem is solved, that all of my animals will be safe, but as upset as the hunter was, I don't see that being the end of it. I am worried now, that he will come back when I'm not home and do damage to my animals, himself. I am buying game cameras, motion sensor lights, and lots of "No Trespassing" signs to put up. Only time will tell how this will play out. 

Doggie drama has run rampant here the last few days. I'm ready for it to be over...

Update: We found the remains of our turkey hen in a side field on our property. We received the game camera that we ordered. It will be up and working as soon as possible. The hoop coop dutch door has been wired together so it is more difficult to open. I am more hopeful that things will work out than I was the other night. Everything always works out in the end.