Yesterday I went out like I normally do, to feed the animals. And, like most things, I have a certain routine I follow. Feed the dogs (unless I did it early while writing at 5am), feed the chickens, feed the barn animals, feed the horses, then the cows.
I had just gone down and fed the chickens and pigeons, and since it was a nice day in February, I left the coop open for the chickens to free-range. They slowly began to wander out and peck at the ground as I walked back up to the dog kennel and was met by a strange face!
It looked like a brown and white Brittany spaniel. My dogs seemed to care less about their visitor (odd), and my first thought was “holy crap, this dog might go for the chickens!”. It didn’t have a collar, so I tried to herd it toward the deck where our house dog’s leash line sat. I could loop it around this dog’s neck and keep it contained.
Unfortunately, it spotted the chickens wandering up from their coop and in a second it was chasing them down.
Their first instinct was to run to their coop, but the dog chased them right in and began bouncing from chicken to chicken, grabbing them and ripping out feathers. As soon as the dog ran-off, I ran into the dog shed and grabbed a leash, then sprinted down to the chicken coop.
I locked the door behind me and squeezed through the small door into the outside pen. I then corralled the dog into the corner (after it grabbed 3 more chickens and tore them up), and I clipped the leash around his neck and hauled him back out the door to the barn.
Once in the barn, I locked him in a horse stall and grabbed a wire line and an old collar. I clipped the line to the collar and took off his leash. Because, the stall is NOT dog proof, and I don’t want him running-off again.
I posted an ad on Facebook, plus Craigslist, plus put a sign by our driveway. Erik is certain this is the same dog that ran through last year and killed HALF my chickens and two of my guinea hens. We never saw the killer last year, so I was lucky to catch it this time around.
There is a $100 ransom on his head for property damage. Erik wanted to just shoot it (legally you can if it’s chasing/killing livestock) because he’s certain it will be back for more, but I’m a bigger fan of claiming the lost property. If the dog is not claimed in a few days, he will be posted for sale. Honestly, I think $100 is a great deal for a trained birding dog!
I don’t blame the dog. He’s a dog, and obviously trained to catch birds. But we live in the country, and if someone wants to keep their dog safe, they must keep it contained securely.
Accidents happen. Our dogs had the habit of escaping too. After having our electric fence fail repeatedly, we paid the money to install a physical fence. Now they can run like the wind with no worries!
The few times our dogs got out of the electric fence, one ran to the neighbor’s house across the road. The guy was NOT happy as the dog was chasing down his cat (her favorite thing). I was home (the toddler had let the dog out) and I ran over to try to grab her.
Now, had he shot her in an attempt to save his poor cat (she WOULD have killed it), I would hold no grudge. My dog was trespassing, AND causing damage/harm. It would be my own fault for not keeping the dog door child proof.
Luckily the cat got away, and my dog ran past me and I grabbed her. But after that I made double sure everything was toddler proof, and then 2 years later we finally installed the solid fence!
So, the dog is still sitting in my barn. Strange no one has come looking for it! I’ll also put an ad up at Tractor Supply. If no one has claimed it by Saturday, I’ll post it for sale on Craigslist.