Advice needed: Dealing with feral & stray dogs

[Tackleberry41]

Could be worse, my neighbor takes in every dog or cat they see. They had alot of fun slaughtering our chickens, ducks, turkeys, and rabbits. Even went as far as hiding the evidence at times. Never once offered to do anything about it. Now when a neighbors dogs were chasing his horses, suddenly it was.....different. I think they have 8 or 9 dogs now. Several small ones are in a pen, the rest just roam as they please. I put alot of effort and expense into a fence to try and keep them out. Not sure how many have been hit by cars, but keeps the horde numbers down. One is a little Boston Terrier that barks at everything, it slips easily in and out of the fence. Of all of them its the one I hate the most. If it were to disappear, I would automatically be blamed. They even blame me for ones hit by cars. One got run over a couple Thanksgivings ago while they were out of town. I buried it, but then I was hiding the evidence of shooting it. So I learned, now I leave them to rot in the road in front of their house. Animal control does not exist in the sticks.

As for animal control releasing dogs. Some say it would never happen, depends on how lazy the guy doing it is. And would be difficult to prove without video evidence, so not a whole lot of liability.

[Catshooter]

sorry I don't call many out but why would a dog catcher turn dogs loose. If anything theyd have them put down. If a dog catcher was truly letting dogs loose in the wild he would be out of work in a second and the city officials would have some serious explaining to do. Can you imagine the liability issues with letting a dog loose like that if it did attack a child. Sorry but this aint my first rodeo. Just an excuse to justify killing them.

Lloyd,

No offence, but surely you can't be this naive? Like no one has ever heard of a Post Man who threw mail away, or a mortician who got paid to bury loved ones but kept them in his garage, a congress critter lying or even a President who wanted to destroy (change fundamentally) America?

I love dogs, there's one sitting on my lap as I type this. I certainly don't know the circumstances of the OP, not personally. But I have heard many others talk about the same problem with people dumping their dogs & cats. He should just let them pack up and kill all many of critters and maybe a person or two?

In his shoes I'd SSS. You live in a place for a while and you can see who owns what dog. And the other posters are right, ferals stick out.


Cat

[sghart3578]

I'll add another wrinkle. I work in remote areas in state and national forests. It is not uncommon for yuppies from town to bring their dogs out for a day hike in the El Dorado forest or Tahoe forest and let them run deer all day. They think it is cute and hilarious.

Sometimes these dogs don't come back when it is time to drive back to Sacramento or San Francisco. These dogs run loose until they run into a pack of coyotes or, more commonly, start pestering the mountain folk and their trail horses. Then it is all over.

Not everyone in California is a tree hugger.

[MaryB]

An assumption was made everyone has animal control a few minutes away. I could call the sheriff but 99% of the time he will tell me to shoot the stray they don't want to deal with it.If a deputy happens to be in town he might stop and then he shoots it. Same result, the "pet" someone dumped that turned wild is now dead. If they are tame and come to me I can call them to pick them up but the deputy often takes them out to a gravel pit and shoots them because we do not have animal control in this country at all!

And yes I have been a dog owner. Once they turn wild they are dangerous.

[M-Tecs]

An assumption was made everyone has animal control a few minutes away. I could call the sheriff but 99% of the time he will tell me to shoot the stray they don't want to deal with it.If a deputy happens to be in town he might stop and then he shoots it. Same result, the "pet" someone dumped that turned wild is now dead. If they are tame and come to me I can call them to pick them up but the deputy often takes them out to a gravel pit and shoots them because we do not have animal control in this country at all!
.

The is true for most of rural America. The nearest Animal Control is may be 100 plus miles away. The town police may catch them it the can. If caught and not clamed after normally three day they are taken to the town dump or landfill and shot. That was not true in my home since the State Predator Control officer lived in town. He just shot them. In the mid seventies the town was the center of a mining boom. That was over by the early 80's. Lots of dogs were abandoned in the area. They become a real problem for livestock and wildlife. He made an announcement in the local papers during stated times he would be in the air shooting any free roaming dogs. He shot a lot of dog but solved the problem.

[OS OK]

The problem at the core of this mess is always an irresponsible person...I don't think mankind is going to survive itself!

[Col4570]

Providing it is not just a lot of good old Boys wanting to try out their firearms on any canine that ventures into their territory,one must think twice about the distress caused to a dog owner who discovers or not that his beloved four legged friend has been destroyed.Whilst I do fully understand that dogs will return to the wild and go through the hierarchy of Pack formation all animals share this Planet with us and should receive respect from us who have domain over them.Here in the UK Dogs are shot by Farmers and livestock owners legaly only if the Canines are caught in the act or identified as the culprits and can,t be rounded up.The terrain in the US is obviously more condusive to Pack formation but consideration is required when dealing with somebodies Pooch that has gone astray.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Providing it is not just a lot of good old Boys wanting to try out their firearms on any canine that ventures into their territory,one must think twice about the distress caused to a dog owner who discovers or not that his beloved four legged friend has been destroyed.Whilst I do fully understand that dogs will return to the wild and go through the hierarchy of Pack formation all animals share this Planet with us and should receive respect from us who have domain over them.Here in the UK Dogs are shot by Farmers and livestock owners legaly only if the Canines are caught in the act or identified as the culprits and can,t be rounded up.The terrain in the US is obviously more condusive to Pack formation but consideration is required when dealing with somebodies Pooch that has gone astray.

The dumping of dogs happens everywhere. But since it could so easily be done somewhere quiet, with no numberplate or witnesses, I hope this story was just a case of the dog seeing something moving and leaping out of a window, making it stupidity and callousness rather than premeditated evil. It is a very busy highway, where you need a good excuse if you're caught stopping.

The dog looks to have saluki blood. I've known the pure-blooded article, extremely good-natured dogs, but my old collie plainly recognised serious intellectual limitation when she saw it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39268184

[GhostHawk]

Sorry col4570 but I must disagree.

I am a dog owner, I do not allow my dog to run.
Responsible owners never do.

Irresponsible owners ARE the problem.

If you do not want your dog to get shot wandering onto someone else's property do not let it wander. Confine it, or teach it to stay home. That is the point, and the only point.

Anyone who does not deserves what they get.

You go to any city of any size and any animal found wandering loose is picked up, held for 3 days then destroyed.

Why should anywhere else be any different?

[Teddy (punchie)]

Here in Pa as stated earlier. Dogs owned or turned out, chasing cattle, livestock up to the farmer if they choose to let them live. Now that said I never shot at a dog. Sheep farmer had a few that they had trouble with, the little ones are the pain he told me once. Most are house dogs and the larger ones chase but just don't understand how to take a 150-200 lbs of sheep down, the little 25 pounds dogs hit the neck area. We have not had a dogs problem for years like 40 or so. Back then yotes were just coming around, now I think they control them. I'm not so sure the large yotes we have aren't inbreeding with dogs or did so in the past. Large male here average 45 an up, one I shot weighted 55.

About dog and club etc. My Dad tells of Granddad teaching, my dad to use a longer walking staff if you will to use on dogs. Hit the dog in the body not the head, they'll move there head and swing around and bit you. Hit them in the front chest and knock them off stride and then wait and do it again, they'll pass on. Granddad was born in 1880's in Romania where they had a huge farm family owned. He came here to become an an American but didn't care for this country, he hope to return to his home. But depression and wars changed all that and had two uncles that were WWII vets. I was taught to raise calves in the barn tide to a post, wall, pen etc. and lead them to mom twice a day.

Gut shooting is just wrong. I know of a large number of farmer shoot a ton of deer in the summer this way, sad.

By the way we try to be neighborly. Now that said, if your dog is chasing anyone or damaging someone elses's property, they need to be under control, by you, by the law, or by the person dealing with them.

By the way if your pet kills livestock you the owner are liable for the damage your dog did.

First bite law, PA your dog get one bite , after that the state says it must be put down. Lady we did sale hay to has $$$$ dogs. One she had it trained and papered that if you are bitten if is your fault because it is registered with the state and trainers that it is certified that it has been tested, basically as a protection dog you did something to make the dog bite. Almost like a police dog, but police are not spending $$$$ this lady did, I think she told me it took 3-4 training's and that was over 2 years. That he needs to go back every so often.

[Lloyd Smale]

no different then gut shooting them. hope no one ever feeds your dog antifreeze thinking its feral or shoots your kid with a bb gun because there on your land!!!! Anyone that would feed even a wild animal antifreeze needs to see a therapist. If a dog catcher around here was turned in for turning dogs loose in the wild would probably be visited by a lynch mob. Its him that's the problem not the innocent dogs that are turned loose that have no choice but to find a way to eat. Its them that should be fed some lead.

What should be done is to make it a felony to dump a dog in the woods. Make it a year in jail mandatory minimum sentence. Triple it if its an idiot that the city or county hired as a dog control officer. Why anyone would feel its right to punish an innocent dog because some sick individual dumped one on the side of the road is beyond me. You wouldn't put a girl in jail after being raped because she broke a curfew or was trespassing when she got raped. those dogs are victims.

Yes they need to be removed or even put down if there dangerous but its not up to you and I to judge which are feral and which are someones pet that happened to get loose. If your officials wont respond to the problem then either its not a real problem or you need to spend your time going to a town meeting with a group of like minded people to change things not out poisoning or shooting them. Yes I will concede that theres even ranchers and farmers that these animals are a big problem for. But how many people here recommending you do things like this own farms or ranches???? Maybe its a bigger problem where you live. I don't know. But my guess is its more a matter of shoot first ask questions later. Id bet most who here who do it don't even try to call animal control. I just wonder how youd react if your son who picked up your attitude killed the neigbors dog because dad said they all need to die and in turn the owner shot him! I'm telling you one thing. You don't want to be the one that shot my dog because you have that attitude because I LOVE my dog. I LOVE HIM AS MUCH AS ONE OF MY KIDS! As do many other dog owners. You shoot him because hes on your land and its not a bit different then if you shot my grandkids because they were on your land. Wow be to you!! I will hunt you down and rid this world of your sick mind. If it lands me in prison so be it! Ever see what an animal that drinks antifreeze goes through before it dies????? It isn't pretty!

just give 'em a little antifreeze to keep 'em warm at night

[Lloyd Smale]

Plate plinker you said nobody here is a proponent of gut shooting them and letting them run off. Id say theres one here encouraging it.

22 LR in the liver and no shoveling required.

[Plate plinker]

Plate plinker you said nobody here is a proponent of gut shooting them and letting them run off. Id say theres one here encouraging it.

Sorry missed that guy.

[M-Tecs]

Am I advocating gut shooting feral dogs. No, the reality is in most area's feral dogs are rare. I can't speak for the mild weather areas but in the areas that have hard winters very few truly feral dogs can survive the winter. Owners that don't take care of their dogs and let them run wild are much more common. Not the dogs fault but sometimes the only way to got the owners to take control is if dogs make it home a die on the door step.

In rural and semi-rural areas coyote snares are very common and in coyote problem area's the State Predator Control uses cyanide traps like these.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fe...fcL&ocid=edgsp

POCATELLO, Idaho — Federal authorities have confirmed that a cyanide trap intended to kill coyotes in eastern Idaho instead killed a dog in an incident that local law enforcement officials say also injured a 14-year-old boy.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture acknowledged Friday that workers with its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's Wildlife Services placed the device called an M-44. The device activated and killed a 3-year-old Lab named Casey on Thursday near Pocatello.
"APHIS' Wildlife Services confirms the unintentional lethal take of a dog in Idaho," the agency said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press. "Wildlife Services has removed M-44s in that immediate area."
It's not clear how many other devices had been set.
Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen in a statement said the boy's father reported that his son had been covered in an unknown substance and the dog had died.
"Initially, we were just trying to determine what it even was — that was our biggest concern" said Capt. Dan Argyle, who responded to the call at about 1 p.m. Thursday. "We have never dealt with these before."
He said the device was on top of a ridge about 500 yards from the boy's home, which is in a foothills area with other homes outside Pocatello.
The boy was transported to a hospital emergency room to be tested for cyanide poisoning but was not seriously injured and was released. The rest of the family was also checked for cyanide poisoning and released.
"It's a miracle the child wasn't seriously injured or even killed," Argyle said.
M-44s are spring-activated devices typically smeared with bait that shoot poison into an animal's mouth when it tugs on the trap. The federal government uses the devices to control predator populations in an effort to limit losses to livestock operators.
Wildlife advocate groups and some environmental groups condemn the devices, contending that they can kill non-targeted species.
Theresa Mansfield, the boy's mother, said her son was walking their dog on a hillside behind their home when they encountered the device. She said her son was knocked down when it activated, and that he watched as the dog died.
"Seeing something like that stays with you," she told the Idaho State Journal (http://bit.ly/2mCFmGu).
The Pocatello Fire Department and a hazardous material crew also responded to the area.
Argyle said the device was in a patchwork area of private and public land and is believed to have been placed on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land. Argyle said the area is frequented by hikers, bikers and ATV riders. He said the area also has some sheep grazing.
"Wildlife Services is completing a thorough review of the circumstances of this incident, and will work to review our operating procedures to determine whether improvements can be made to reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences happening in the future," the Agriculture Department said in the statement.

[MaryB]

13 people per square mile where I live, in a handful of tiny towns mostly. Poorest county in the state to top it off. No money to form an animal control unit and the few deputies are already way over worked covering a county that is 75 miles long. No town cops in most of the towns either. So animal control is non-existent and will never be because of lack of funds.

no different then gut shooting them. hope no one ever feeds your dog antifreeze thinking its feral or shoots your kid with a bb gun because there on your land!!!! Anyone that would feed even a wild animal antifreeze needs to see a therapist. If a dog catcher around here was turned in for turning dogs loose in the wild would probably be visited by a lynch mob. Its him that's the problem not the innocent dogs that are turned loose that have no choice but to find a way to eat. Its them that should be fed some lead.

What should be done is to make it a felony to dump a dog in the woods. Make it a year in jail mandatory minimum sentence. Triple it if its an idiot that the city or county hired as a dog control officer. Why anyone would feel its right to punish an innocent dog because some sick individual dumped one on the side of the road is beyond me. You wouldn't put a girl in jail after being raped because she broke a curfew or was trespassing when she got raped. those dogs are victims.

Yes they need to be removed or even put down if there dangerous but its not up to you and I to judge which are feral and which are someones pet that happened to get loose. If your officials wont respond to the problem then either its not a real problem or you need to spend your time going to a town meeting with a group of like minded people to change things not out poisoning or shooting them. Yes I will concede that theres even ranchers and farmers that these animals are a big problem for. But how many people here recommending you do things like this own farms or ranches???? Maybe its a bigger problem where you live. I don't know. But my guess is its more a matter of shoot first ask questions later. Id bet most who here who do it don't even try to call animal control. I just wonder how youd react if your son who picked up your attitude killed the neigbors dog because dad said they all need to die and in turn the owner shot him! I'm telling you one thing. You don't want to be the one that shot my dog because you have that attitude because I LOVE my dog. I LOVE HIM AS MUCH AS ONE OF MY KIDS! As do many other dog owners. You shoot him because hes on your land and its not a bit different then if you shot my grandkids because they were on your land. Wow be to you!! I will hunt you down and rid this world of your sick mind. If it lands me in prison so be it! Ever see what an animal that drinks antifreeze goes through before it dies????? It isn't pretty!

[Catshooter]

Yea, pass a law, that'll fix it.


Cat

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Am I advocating gut shooting feral dogs.

Not now but you were, and the only good thing to be said is that it could have been for internet status, rather than actually doing it. But you came to the right place for encouraging some suggestible lamebrain that it would be smart to actually do it.

[M-Tecs]

Not now but you were, and the only good thing to be said is that it could have been for internet status, rather than actually doing it. But you came to the right place for encouraging some suggestible lamebrain that it would be smart to actually do it.

Actually I have done it and under the right circumstance I would do it again. On feral dogs the quicker and more humanely the better. Problem is most of them are being feed somewhere.

When I was still living in my home town area I owned and helped train one of my colts into a superb barrel racing horse. I had a hand shake agreement to sell this horse for the an amount the was equal to two brand new pickups. That was until I got a call that some dogs were in our pasture chasing the horses. They were still they when I got there. They had ran my barrel horse into the fence. After I saw the damage they had done I shot two with the 243 hoping for collars but no luck. My barrel horse had cut its shoulders and legs so badly it was never able to race so the deal was off.

The dogs came from about two miles away. A lady had move in from the big city and she had 30 to 40 dogs that she was feeding outside. She would drag them in from everyway but when something happened she would claim not hers. When the police would catch them in town she wouldn't claimed them and after awhile the cops took them to the dump and shot them. Couldn't directly link ownership to her so I was just out a horse that was valued at about the cost of two new pickup trucks.

She lived about a mile and 1/2 out of a town of about 800 people. The towns folk and her were always fighting about the dogs but nothing getting resolved. About a year later one of the towns 8 year old girls was mauled by a pack of dogs. Blinded in one eye and facially scared for life. After that most of her dogs were shot on sight by the towns folk, yet she would just drag more in. This was in a rural area in a state that has no case law and the gun was legally empty if there was not a round in the chamber. Everyone drove pickups and every pickup had a gun rack in it with at least one rifle and one shotgun.

See didn't get the message when the State Predator Control officer would fly around the edge of here 360 acres of land and shot dogs form the air. Nothing stopped her from getting more dogs until the towns folk started shooting them in the liver/guts and letting them run home to die. After a dozen or so that got the message through to her. I shot three that way in our pasture and I know two made it home to die on her porch. All three were with a Winchester 75 22LR with a 15 power Litschert scope. Normally used it for red fox with hollow points. The first one was with hollow points. That one did make it to her porch. The other two were with solids. They made it home before dying.

What do I regret about that. I regret not shooting more. Had the town or I not waited till after a girl was damaged for life things for both her and I may have been different. Not the dogs fault but what do your do the owners don't get the message????????

A question for the folks advocate the 3S's. What do you do in the winter time when you can't dig a hole?

As I type this a dog is sleeping on my feet.

[54bore]

We have a little dog, she is like a child to us. When we first moved here our immediate neighbors on the one side had 2 Boxers, our backyard is 6 Ft chain link all the way around, those boxers would sit and stare nonstop at our little dog, ours was afraid of them and wouldn't go nowhere near that side of the yard, my little dog NEVER barks or yaps at anyone, she is a total people lover, i was over on the fence line one day, i tried petting the boxers, they would let me touch them but they were so intensely focused on my little dog that they acted almost brain dead like statues, i could see where they had dug holes all along the fence line, the owner and i have known eachother for quite awhile, he and i were visiting through the fence one day and i told him that if his dogs ever dug into my yard and got my little dog that i would kill both of them, even if they had made it back into his living room!! The guy knew i was DEAD SERIOUS. People need to have Control of their animals, Plain N Simple!!

[Ballistics in Scotland]

no different then gut shooting them. hope no one ever feeds your dog antifreeze thinking its feral or shoots your kid with a bb gun because there on your land!!!! Anyone that would feed even a wild animal antifreeze needs to see a therapist. If a dog catcher around here was turned in for turning dogs loose in the wild would probably be visited by a lynch mob. Its him that's the problem not the innocent dogs that are turned loose that have no choice but to find a way to eat. Its them that should be fed some lead.

What should be done is to make it a felony to dump a dog in the woods. Make it a year in jail mandatory minimum sentence. Triple it if its an idiot that the city or county hired as a dog control officer. Why anyone would feel its right to punish an innocent dog because some sick individual dumped one on the side of the road is beyond me. You wouldn't put a girl in jail after being raped because she broke a curfew or was trespassing when she got raped. those dogs are victims.

Yes they need to be removed or even put down if there dangerous but its not up to you and I to judge which are feral and which are someones pet that happened to get loose. If your officials wont respond to the problem then either its not a real problem or you need to spend your time going to a town meeting with a group of like minded people to change things not out poisoning or shooting them. Yes I will concede that theres even ranchers and farmers that these animals are a big problem for. But how many people here recommending you do things like this own farms or ranches???? Maybe its a bigger problem where you live. I don't know. But my guess is its more a matter of shoot first ask questions later. Id bet most who here who do it don't even try to call animal control. I just wonder how youd react if your son who picked up your attitude killed the neigbors dog because dad said they all need to die and in turn the owner shot him! I'm telling you one thing. You don't want to be the one that shot my dog because you have that attitude because I LOVE my dog. I LOVE HIM AS MUCH AS ONE OF MY KIDS! As do many other dog owners. You shoot him because hes on your land and its not a bit different then if you shot my grandkids because they were on your land. Wow be to you!! I will hunt you down and rid this world of your sick mind. If it lands me in prison so be it! Ever see what an animal that drinks antifreeze goes through before it dies????? It isn't pretty!

A therapist would tell you they can't do much with someone who values the disorder. Of course dumping dogs in the wild is wrong, and so is taking them there if they are going to run off and seek a better deal than they've got - which in some cases does credit to their judgment. I imagine the former is criminal in most places, and in the UK microchipping of dogs, which most professional breeders have been doing, became mandatory. I think doing it to criminals and people getting married might have more point, but there is definitely enough of a need to justify it.

Of course any dog which is actually doing harm has to be killed. Unfortunately when damage to stock or danger to children actually is prevalent, animal prime suspects don't get the benefit of the doubt or right to a court judgment human ones do. But there is a world of difference between that and posing as the alpha male deciding what can come into his territory, or saying "Whee, I can kill something I don't need a tag for!" As for trapping, the existence of another barbarism doesn't make an alternative form of barbarism OK. There aren't many countries where you can buy monstrosities like the M-44 or leghold traps, or set any kind of trap in the open.

About the sickest thing I ever read on the internet was in a board on trapping. Someone said, and was applauded for saying, that animals biting off their own feet to escape didn't matter that much, since they were so formed by nature that they didn't mind it very much. They were staunch sixth-day creationists too, and can you believe that one creature with an electric light bulb above his head realised that that meant Divine sanction for the leghold trap?

http://harpers.org/archive/2016/03/the-rogue-agency/7/

http://dark-mountain.net/blog/congre...es-in-montana/