To have had a go at the woman whose dog killed my chicken today

[IDoAllMyOwnStunts]

SO this is the story, bear with me but I don't want to be accused of drip feeding!

I have 3 free range hens who wander all over my garden and the surrounding area (rural).

My house is adjacent to a v quiet lane, walkers pass by daily, often with dogs and only a couple of times in 3 years have dogs ran into the garden to chase the chickens (the occasions this has happenned before the dogs have always ran back to the owners when called off and chickens have escaped unharmed). Still with me?

So today I'm in the kitchen and see a black streak across the garden and hear the chickens sqwaking. GO outside to see a collie type dog going hell for leather across the garden after a chicken. It runs after it into the field at the bottom of my garden, kills it and then plays with it - owner no where to be seen.

All this time my kids are watching (and me) in horror) completely helpless. I was yelling at dog but it just kept ragging the chicken until it was limp and its wings stopped flapping. Kids v upset (and me).

Dog continues to play with chicken in the field, I go out and see the dog owner, completely pathetically trying to get the dog to drop the chicken. I had a go at her, told her my kids had to watch that and she should control her dog, that it should come back when she called it. Nearly there don't worry..

She retorted by saying as the chickens were free range then I should expect this hazard and there was nothing she could do to stop her dog chasing the chickens - ie it wouldn't come back when called. She said it legged it from her when she was up the road as soon as it got a whiff of the chicekns and then wouldn't come back when called. To me, she should have control of her dog at all times, AIBU to expect this? If she calls it, surely dog should come back? Isn't that basic dog training? (I love dogs and have a collie myself)

She did say sorry and looked mightily upset and embarrased, but I was still peed off at her comment that she a)admitted she couldn't control her dog and b) the chickens were asking for it being free range. DH came home and spent ages in the field trying to convince the dog it needed to let go of the chicken - which it did eventually.

Sorry its a long 'un, AIBU?

PS. The woman only lives half a mile from me, know her by sight - her dog is usually acting like a looney whenever I see it.

Do your worse.

YANBU.

Are your children okay?

YABU for expecting food on legs to wander around your surrounding area without being eaten.

SIBU for not having proper control of her dog.

She should keep control of the dog, charge her for the chicken.
YANBU.

YABU for not keeping your chickens properly fenced in.

SIBU for letting her dog loose. I have a dog who likes to chase things and won't come back when she gets a whiff of them. For exactly that reason she is never off her lead.

Is there a fence between your garden and the path? No? YABU. You should have kept them safe. Sorry if this is harsh.

(We have Border Collie's too)

YANBU. If her dog wont come back when called, it should be on a lead. Actually, if it wont come back when called, it should be on a lead full stop unless in a park in an area designed for dogs.

You should be able to do what you like in your own garden, without fear of someones badly behaved dog coming and doing whatever in there.

If a dog has tasted blood from a kill its a risk to other animals in the neighbourhood. It would be worth considering contacting the community police to have a quiet word with the owner about training and keeping said dog on a lead.

If you're rural whats the dog going to do come lambing season? Get a whiff of a new born and it may not just kill one but scare the other sheep to death by an attack.

I hope that your children are okay. Did she not even offer to pay for a replacement chicken?

Kids seem ok now and seem to have forgotten the whole trauma - but its still bothering me. My daughter said a minute ago "Don't worry Mum you'll forget about it soon"

It was our best bloomin layer as well. Poor thing.

Re fencing the garden - it'd be a huge task - its stone walled on the lane side which a dog can just leap over (and the chickens jump onto) - so bit of an impossible task.

Second what ANTagony says. A couple of weekends ago we went for a walk in the Peak District and passed a field gate where there was a horribly savaged sheep carcass (throat ripped out). The farmer had painted on the side of the sheep's body "Was this your dog" Hopefully that might make some dog owners stop and think.

It's difficult. We had (past tense) free range guinea pigs. Next door's dog picked them off one by one. Next door were terribly upset about it, and put up ever higher fences, but the dog still comes to hunt in our garden.

We feel sad that our replacement guinea pigs are shut up in a small pen, next door bought the pen. actually they feel much worse about it than we do.

I don't know what the answer is, we like dogs, even the next door dog that kills our pets, but I suppose free range pets are at risk from foxes, dogs, cats etc.

Thats what I ranted at her - that it should be on a lead if it doesn't come back when called.
It just looks like one of those relationships where the dog it truly in charge.

She couldn't get it to drop the chicken - DH had to do it. DH said she was sobbing when he was there trying to get the dog to drop the chicken - thats when I thought I might have been unreasonable for having a go at her and her lack of control.

YANBU as long as they were in your garden - dodgy ground if they had wandered into the lane. It doesn't matter what kind of breed the dog was - if she cannot control it then it should not be off the lead.

Don't hens count as livestock and so you are allowed to shoot worrying dogs? Not suggesting this obviously but if it happens again with the same dog, you could ask the Police to have a word.

And before everyone leaps on me for over-reacting, an out of control dog is a liability in a rural area and a risk to people, drivers and animals. If she cannot control her dog then she should keep it on a lead.

If your chickens were wandering out of the garden, you can't complain. If the dog came in to your garden, she is definitely at fault. If she can't control her dog, whether there are chickens there or not, the dog should be on a lead.

As far as I am aware the dangerous dogs act can cover any dog which is out of control, as this one was. As it has tasted blood now, it could be more dangerous in future. It should be on a lead.

Hmmmnnn, I don't know where they were when the dog first spotted them, but she said the dog had legged it from up the lane wherer she was walking it. She just kept saying "There was nothing I could do". But in patronising tone as if to say "You silly woman what on earth do you think I could have done!"

That made me cross and rant further at her. I didn't swear though.....

"If your chickens were wandering out of the garden, you can't complain. If the dog came in to your garden, she is definitely at fault."

Isn't it a bit much for a dog to be expected to recognise what is private property?

If you don't control your chickens, and allow them to wander wherever they please, you can hardly complain that the woman allowed her dog off the lead.

Also, it is a very different thing to have control of your dog in normal circumstances, with good recall, and to intervene in a natural instinct to chase a chicken.

I can control my Westie. He can be called to put his nose on a certain spot on my leg if necessary, he is that good. He doesn't wander, and if I left the front door open he wouldn't venture beyond two steps out of it.

I wouldn't fancy my chances, though, if it was a choice between obeying me and chasing a chicken

Ya both bu

you for having free range chiockens and not expecting this (it could have been a fox)

and her for not having her dog under control

I don't think yabu.

Sorry to hear about the horrible death of your poor chook. I think the woman should have better control of her dog. We have had chickens and a fairly ferocious dog next door - he is well contained. I have one old hen left, I just let her roam around now, because I feel she is used to company and it is sad her sisters have died, so the last few months of her life she is free to go where she chooses - we don't have anyone walking dogs near us though.

I do realise my hen is more at risk now, but I accept the risk knowing it could shorten her life, especially since she is getting so decrepit. We have two cats too, but they have left her alone so far.

I hope that woman will keep her dog on a lead now, but I think there will always be irresponsible dog owners out there unfortunately, so if it happened once it could happen again .

Having said all that, someone asked me if they could walk my dog, and I said yes. They then asked if he was alright off the lead in the field. I said "NO!" Not because he can't be trusted off a lead. But because he is head shy, and would be scared to come back to him to have the lead put back on.

So I guess I wouldn't be that woman, because I know my dog.

Foxes are much less likely to attack during the day, and presumably the OP keeps the chickens safe at night.

I think a fox is a different issue - its not controlled by an (ineffective in this case) human.

We currently have THE most well-behaved properly trained dog I have ever met, she's a guide dog trainee we are boarding for a while. She can be trusted all over the place and terribly obedient to a whistle 99% of the time.

I still wouldn't trust her near a chicken, or a guinea pig, or a hamster. She's still a dog.

I think the woman's attitude is at fault. Our neighbours felt so terribly bad about their dog murdering our pets, that we forgave them and the dog. If they'd been casual about it we'd have been much more upset.

Yes chickens are locked up at night.