We have had an ongoing problem with dogs. For several months now they have been chasing, attacking and killing our chickens. A couple of weeks ago, I found a few of our geese up in the pond, plus one dead out on our road. Now the dogs are going after the geese. We don’t have many neighbors, but Cameron took off driving around looking for houses in the direction the dogs run off toward. He found a property with the dogs we have seen. No one was home so he left a note. We got in touch with animal control and they came out and spoke with the owners, who had no idea their pack of dogs was roaming, pillaging and plundering. They promised to lock them up and get rid of a couple.
It is an old lady whose grandkids gave her the dogs to protect her. I don’t think they are doing a very good job if they are at our place. For the next week, all was quiet on the farm. Then the guys told us half of our geese are gone! Chased off that night by dogs. More dead geese, as well as a duck. Another call into animal control. They have recently trapped a few dogs, and believe there is also a pack of wild dogs in the area.
What do we do? No one wants to kill dogs, I certainly have never wanted to kill a dog. But interestingly enough, I feel adamant about protecting our animals, and our crew. As the dogs get more comfortable on our land they are making their way closer to the house end of the farm. They are also more comfortable getting closer to the crew, our drivers are here at 4 am, and the dogs have definitely made their presence known.
Our rifle has been pulled out of it’s hiding spot, dusted off, ammo purchased, along with a giant high powered flashlight. We now have a flare gun, and a trap. Animal control told us that shooting near the dogs a few times should be enough to scare them off. Hopefully it will. The problem right now is the farm is very muddy, the guys use the tractor for harvesting and my car gets stuck in the mud. We need a 4WD.
Writing all of this, I realize I am sounding more and more like a true country girl. Be clear, it is not our intention to kill the dogs, just to scare them off. That being said, I can honestly say, this City Girl has gotten to a place in life where going out and shooting at dogs is a real thing. How the heck did I get here?