Nextdoors dog is trying to dig under the fence to get to our chickens

[maristella]

The dog is a JR, it is not the most well trained dog, it has bitten a few people on the face

Neighbours have said that if it gets to our chickens it will have them, obviously.
However the chickens are only loose within the garden when I am around.
They would only be able to get out if they jump the fence round the front, but I stop them from going round the front. I know that if my chickens get out and are killed as a result then nobody else can be held to account.

But if someone's dog was to get in and kill them where would we stand?

It would be helpful to know where we stand because the neighbours did try asking me to put the chickens back in their coop because the dog was going ballistic. The dog goes ballistic at everything we do; I go out for a smoke, the dog goes crazy. I cannot spend any time in my garden without the dog going crazy, it's not just a chicken issue. The next time they bring up the dog wanting our chickens it would be really useful to give them some factual information about where we would all stand if their dog was to get into our garden :)

Speak to your local neighbourhood police officer and also speak to the dog warden at the local council on monday morning. it is there responsibility to keep their dog in their garden not yours to keep him out and not yours to have to stop doing what you want to do reasonably in your garden. having said that if the dog does get in and you have to fend it off then it may well bite you in which case you can then ask for the dog to be destroyed. however that solves the problem but only after your chooks have been got at. i would speak to the above and if possible arrange a meeting with your neighbour with one of them there. there has to be a compromise, perhaps you only let the chickens wander freely in the mornings or whenever and that being the case they then have to have the dog on a stake lead. good luck. neighbour disputes are always horrid.

I only let the chickens out on some evenings and on weekends, so it's not all the time. The neighbours are a total pain!

That's a really good idea to speak to the dog warden.

The dog was scratching at the fence just now and the neighbour said the dog is going to break that fence any minute. Err, no he fucking won't - it's my fence and they need to stop him!

I will have a chat with the neighbours once I've spoken to the warden because I need hard facts as they tend to try and fob me off with all sorts of bullshit.

Sorry, the combination of sunshine and the prospect of a difficult conversation with the neighbours has made me a bit sweary :)

My chickens roam free in my back garden, i also have 4 cats and 2 dogs.

My neighbours both sides have dogs and like you say one sides dogs bark all the time if me, my dogs, my kids are in my garden...and they dig too!! I

Ive had to reinforce fencing, hedging etc as their dogs push their noses through and snarl etc at my dogs! Think my dogs are used to it as they just ignore them but it bloody riles me!!

Ive got new neighbours the other side and just after they moved in their husky bitch got through the wire fencing and killed one my hens :(
My neighbours were mortified :(

I would do what others have suggested, although i too dont do confrontation! Im a wuss

I'm worried about confrontation too Dee !
That's why I want to be clued up before discussing it; if I know my facts and my rights then I can calmly state my case in a friendly way. If I'm getting fobbed off then I get frustrated.

Just now I had to hammer on the fence because the dog was scratching away at it This is my fence it is scratching, and I resent it! They took the dog in but he is back out now and barking away. The barking I can just about put up with, it's more the destruction of my property as a means to kill our pets!

The irony is that the neighbours also have chickens. Their dog barked incessantly for months when they got their chooks, now he is going crazy over mine

I totally get where your coming from....

As well as their dogs busting the fence (which is my fence) years ago their ds used to kick footballs at it too which resulted in the fence becoming broken in places and weak....but as i want to keep my garden secure i replaced the 6ft panels myself a few months ago.....as i was too much of a wuss to ask them to help with cost

Legally, I suspect that if the dog got in and killed / injured your chickens then all you could do them for would be criminal damage - unfortunately animals are seen as chattels in the eyes of the law, no difference from your dining table. However, you may also be able to get them done for not keeping their dog under control, and if it was to bite a human who was willing to go to the police about it, or otherwise be proved to be vicious (I know of dogs that have been destroyed for killing another dog, although I don't know what the lower threshold is for that) then it could be ordered to be destroyed by the courts.

You could also try getting a noise abatement order for the dog's barking? I don't know how difficult they are to get, but it might make them come to the conclusion that keeping the dog is more trouble than it's worth (they don't sounds like the most dedicated owners!)

Actually proving that their dog is a nuisance would not be difficult. Apparently Env Health put a noise measuring device in for 2 weeks; I'd just let my chickens out every day for 2 weeks and bingo!

Dee that's really bad!
My house is a council house, so I will ask the council to have a look at the fence, and if there is any damage they would be approaching my neighbours about any damage and pursuing them for costs etc. The fences have slightly bowed in towards my garden, so they need to be looked at. I wonder of that has anything to do with my neighbours using a sprinkler? We are in a hosepipe ban area BTW.

Hurry up 9 o'clock, I really want to speak to the council and the dog warden!

Let us know how you get on

Last night was the first time ever we sat outside and ate our dinner (i suffer from hayfever) and nextdoors dogs kept bloody barking!!!
One barks at the birds in the trees and the other barks and snarls through the hedge at my dogs who were having a whaleof a time running round the garden with a football....she did shout 'shut up' at them a few times then said "i cant listen to this anymore im going in".........and she knew we were eating outside as she spoke to me as i brought the dinners out!!!!!!

We'll be eating indoors again tonight!!!