Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?  (Read 12785 times)

hafod

  • Joined Jan 2013
Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« on: October 17, 2014, 09:43:26 pm »
Horrible day today.
I had just come back from a ride, put the horse out in the field and went down the drive to shut the gate when I heard this awful screeching. I looked round to see next doors dog with one of our hens in it's mouth - tossing it about and shaking it and I go to phone my neighbours to tell them to come and sort it out before anyone answered I spotted one of my neighbours in the lane. So I shouted at him to come and sort his dog out. By this time the dog had disappeared (presumably to get another hen). After a bit of 'where's my do?' 'are you sure it was my dog?' the dog reappears and my neighbour trys to call it to him . He eventually gets it close to him, turns his back on me and walks off. He gets to the bottom of the drive and I shout to him, ' you haven't even apologised'. So he says he'll be back.
While he's away I find another 2 dead hens and one flattened, bloody and struggling for breath which I had to put out of its misery. My neighbour arrives back ( I don't really remember in what order the rest happens) - I show him the 4 dead hens - he tries to tell me one is just in shock. He apologises, says that he didn't apologise at first because he was getting the dog under control (well it's the 1st thing I would have done). Says 'you don't think I did this on purpose do you?', asks me how much the hens were worth (I told him I didn't want his money). Says that the only reason the dog was out was because he had his gate open as he was sweeping up the leaves he also says that it wouldn't have happened if my gate had been shut. I said I expect my animals to be safe on my own property and I didn't think it was my job to keep his dog off my land. At somepoint we had a conversation about where his wife was - she was out looking for the dog (she drives everywhere and there was no sign of her so I'm guessing the dog must have been 'gone' a while).

So apart from being angry and upset and think that my neighbour handled it very badly by not apologising and then saying it wouldn't have happened if my gate had been shut. Also, there was blood and feathers everywhere, I had ripped trousers and blood dripping down my leg and was shaking - he didn't ask me whether I was ok or offer to help clear up). I am mostly worried that the dog will come back and go for the remaining hens or the cats or the sheep. In fact, only last week I found a huge dog poo in the sheep field, when I asked them about whether their other dog had got in with the sheep - they denied it (and I believed them) but we don't live near a foot path and there was no way this pile of poo came from a fox (unless it had a problem!) so I was a bit suspicious....

Anyway, is it worth reporting this to anyone? if so who? From my conversation with my neighbour he didn't really seem to accept that he had done anything wrong so I have no confidence that they will go to any lengths to stop it happening again.



Old Shep

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • North Yorkshire
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2014, 10:13:23 pm »
The only way in my opinion to work through this is by friendly co-operation.  Between you and your neighbour work out a way of reducing the risk of dogs meeting hens.  Good fences make good neighbours.
Helen - (used to be just Shep).  Gordon Setters, Border Collies and chief lambing assistant to BigBennyShep.

Eve

  • Joined Jul 2010
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2014, 11:26:07 pm »
Depends on how your relationship with your neighbour was until now, and the type of area you live in - in certain places reporting it to the police would be normal, in others not. Have you had problems with him before? How rural (or not) is it where you live?

From his reaction, he doesn't seem like the type of neighbour with whom friendliness or attempts at cooperation would work, though you could try going 'round in the morning and in a friendly way telling him you expect to be compensated before you decide whether to report the incident or not based on his response. He definitely doesn't take responsibility the way he should. Not keeping your gate shut doesn't take any responsibility away from him, and with some people, mainly the unapologetic 'nothing-is-ever-my-fault' type, putting a sign up saying 'trespassing dogs shall be shot' is the only thing that works - as long as you don't have a dog that at times escapes into his garden as well ;)
On one of the farms here there's a sign up about sheep worrying being a crime as a public footpath runs through it and irresponsible dog ownership has been an issue - unfortunately some don't understand the term 'sheep worrying' and think it funny ::)

It all depends on your setup and relationship whether you report it or not, but he definitely has to keep his dog under control. Does he live right next to you, do you share a path or driveway or so, or could you live alongside him but ignore him? I know of neighbours here falling out over the exact same thing as what happened to your hens, with a similar reaction from the dog owner, but not reporting it as they share a driveway with him and the owner was about to move.Are your gate and fence high enough to stop the dog jumping over now that it knows where the goodies are? You're right, that would be the main worry right now - that the dog will come again :(
« Last Edit: October 17, 2014, 11:35:53 pm by Eve »

devonlady

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2014, 07:21:54 am »
If  the friendly, neighbourly way doesn't work then your local dog warden might be your best bet. Our's is wonderful.

NicandChic

  • Joined Oct 2013
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2014, 10:31:50 am »
Hmm Im not sure what you want to happen, your neighbour returned & apologised, offered to pay for the losses his dog caused, if it was a genuine accident the neighbours dog escaping and you leaving your gate open its just an unfortunate turn of events in my opinion.
« Last Edit: October 18, 2014, 10:36:34 am by NicandChic »

clydesdaleclopper

  • Joined Aug 2009
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #5 on: October 18, 2014, 10:57:01 am »
From Monday the new powers in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 come into effect and these give quite far reaching powers to both the police and the local council to control dogs.
Our holding has Anglo Nubian and British Toggenburg goats, Gotland sheep, Franconian Geese, Blue Swedish ducks, a whole load of mongrel hens and two semi-feral children.

chrismahon

  • Joined Dec 2011
  • Gascony, France
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #6 on: October 18, 2014, 03:41:30 pm »
An unfortunate series of events have combined to create this tragedy. But I have to say Hafod, that by the sounds of it your hens could be taken by any predator at any time. Particularly illegally released urban foxes in broad daylight. So I think your neighbour has done you a favour in a strange way. If you leave your hens out in an unsecured area sooner or later you will lose them, but next time it could be all of them. You need to get them securely enclosed.

clydesdaleclopper

  • Joined Aug 2009
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #7 on: October 18, 2014, 04:27:45 pm »
An unfortunate series of events have combined to create this tragedy. But I have to say Hafod, that by the sounds of it your hens could be taken by any predator at any time. Particularly illegally released urban foxes in broad daylight. So I think your neighbour has done you a favour in a strange way. If you leave your hens out in an unsecured area sooner or later you will lose them, but next time it could be all of them. You need to get them securely enclosed.


I disagree - to me the point of having hens is that they free range over my land and are not enclosed. It is by no means certain that a predator will take their hens - we certainly have never lost one during the day time.
Our holding has Anglo Nubian and British Toggenburg goats, Gotland sheep, Franconian Geese, Blue Swedish ducks, a whole load of mongrel hens and two semi-feral children.

in the hills

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #8 on: October 18, 2014, 05:20:42 pm »
 :hug: Sorry. A horrible thing to happen.

Chrismahon is right in that true 'free rangers' take a chance more than enclosed hens but unless I had a continuing problem with predators I would sooner that mine were out and about.

If it were the first incident with this neighbour and their dogs then I think I would accept the apology and the compensation. Accidents can happen to the best of folk .... with the best of intentions. Hopefully they will be more careful in future and put their dog indoors if they need to have their gate open. They should have said an instant sorry. Do you think they were shocked and wanted to get the dog secured before more harm was done?Suppose it depends what type of people they are.

shygirl

  • Joined May 2013
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #9 on: October 18, 2014, 06:53:33 pm »
take his money but make sure you price the hens on the high side, remember how much it cost to get them to the age where they lay (and obviously they are top pedigree rare breed show stock - which you travelled miles to get  ::)).  im sure having to pay up will hit home. very distressing for you  :bouquet:

devonlad

  • Joined Nov 2012
  • Nr Crediton in Devon
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #10 on: October 18, 2014, 06:57:47 pm »
terrible thing to happen. I am aware also that the chap did apologise and did offer to pay for the loss. We have several near neighbours and none of them are anything like as animal nuts as me and OH. we get on brilliantly but we are so devoted to our sheep pigs and chickens that we are not prepared to rely on neighbours or their visitors thinking about our animals safety in the way that we do. in my world nothing (and I mean  nothing) happens before the animals needs and security are dealt with at all times. when our neighbours lab puppy became bigger, more boisterous and capable of leaping our fence and running round the field I went round, told the neighbour how worried I was and asked if  I could sheep train him. this happened and crisis over. sometimes I think its because we don't have kids, but our animals are  so important to us and it feels safer to  start from a place assuming all others are thoughtless idiots means that our sheep , pigs and chickens are not at risk from anyone elses cluelessness.

Stereo

  • Joined Aug 2012
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #11 on: October 18, 2014, 09:04:37 pm »
Obviously we don't know your neighbour or any history but I kind of agree with some other posts. The guy did come back and apologise and offered to pay for the stock. Animals are animals and bad things happen. If your neighbours son had pet worms, left the lid off and your 'out of control hens' flew over the fence and got in, what would happen then?

You have to see both sides. You choose to let your hens range and that's OK but you to accept that they are more at risk. We did with our garden (pet) birds for a while until they decided the conservatory was a better place to hang out. So now they are in a 50m net. But when they were out they would be all over the place. On the road, up the hedges, in the river. We know we have fox visits, even in the day but we decided that we would take that chance. If anything happened we decided we would not blame the fox, or the car driver or the person walking their dog. It's a risk assessment and you live with the consequences.

I would have thought a calm and honest chat with the neighbour without threats would be in order. Ask him to pay for the hens at full value. If he does this and accepts that he needs to take at least some measures to prevent it happening again then there is no need to fall out, unless he doesn't stick to his side of the deal.  If you do fall out and it descends into threats and legal action, it's not going to make your life any better, or his.

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
    • ABERDON GUNDOGS for work and show
    • Facebook
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #12 on: October 18, 2014, 11:13:07 pm »
I have four dogs, 10 hens, 2 quail and 5 ducks. At NO TIME do I let my dogs come in contact with my birds - nature such as it is the temptation is too much.  Keep your gate shut or your hens penned in.
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

HesterF

  • Joined Jul 2012
  • Kent
  • HesterF
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #13 on: October 19, 2014, 12:40:11 am »
I lost a hen to a neighbour's dog a couple of years ago. Really upsetting at the time to see the dog running around with it, neighbour unable to get it back - hen was still alive when I got her back but died within minutes. My neighbour came back later to apologise - once she'd taken the dog home (he was off the lead on a walk at the time and I was cleaning out the hens so the run was open - all unfortunate). By the time she came back, I'd had time to calm down and she did apologise profusely and offer to pay etc. - apology was accepted and neighbourly relations have been maintained. She's always taken them in a different direction for walks since. I agree with the others - this is about good local relationships too and it does work both ways. Yes, their dog shouldn't have been in your garden but you know that if your hens are free range, they are at risk from predators. We have free range dogs on the run maybe twice a year? I tend to mention the lambs in the field opposite and how the farmers there shoot dogs - tends to get them back on the lead. Not normally local owners though.

My guess would be that your neighbour was shocked at the time and more worried about trying to get his dog out of there. Not everybody is mature enough to realise that a full apology straight off is the best way to compensate for something like this (my husband wouldn't) but he did come back and apologise which would have been difficult for him to do.

devonlady

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: Neighbour's dog killed 4 hens - should I report it, who to?
« Reply #14 on: October 19, 2014, 06:10:37 am »
I can only free range my poultry because my dogs free range with them, otherwise they would have to be restricted. My whippets chased and killed a young fox two days ago and though it was a distressing sight at the time it would have been far worse for me had I found that awful pile of feathers :(
I bought  four new banties from the market yesterday and one escaped. I found her at dusk perched on a dog in the kennels ::)

 

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