My dogs killed neighbors chicken

[dfeck]

Background - I live in a rural area in Western, NY. that is 20mins away from a major city. So it's not in the sticks. I live on 2.5A. The house next to us has been vacate for 2+years due to foreclosure. The house has been sold and the new neighbors just moved in a few weeks ago. I have a feeling this neighbor will be problems. First, one of my dogs bit the neighbors wife when she came over (on my property) to talk with me. Both dogs came over barking and I warned her but she insisted to approach the more dominate dog with eye contact and extending hand. He lunged and nipped her bare leg (wearing shorts) and broke skin. It happened quick and he backed off and ran away. I apologized and after 15mins she went on her way. My wife went over to introduce herself and apologized about the dog and again told her that our one dog is very territorial and not come over while the dogs are out. The neighbor was fine about it since it wasn't a terrible bite. Since then the new neighbor believes they are in the sticks and her kids ride motorcycles on their property along with one that is VERY loud. So loud you can't sit out and enjoy the porch because you can't hear each other talking. They have a dog that was left chained to a tree that barked one night for 2+ hours. BTW - my dogs are contained by invisible fence and have never crossed our property lines.

Now to the chicken - The neighbors now have chickens and they let them free range. Last night one wandered into our property and the dogs attacked it and severely wounded it. Well I assume the dogs attacked it because when I looked out the window the 2 dogs were around the chicken that was already wounded and on the verge of dying and feather were everywhere. I picked up the bird and walked over to the neighbors. They were not home so I left the chicken next to the tree and walked back home.

So now I'm wondering how to handle the situation. My wife and I live in a town that is considered an upscale community in our city. We have 6-8 neighbors that are fairly close to each other (2.5-5 acre lots) and feel all neighbors have a give and take relationship. We have to be aware of our actions that they don't inconvenience one another. I don't feel I should do whatever I want solely because I own my property. I respect my neighbors and want everyone to enjoy their property. Between the loud motorcycles, dog barking, chickens, etc I feel I need to say something to them. However, I don't want to say the wrong thing that sparks tension going forward. At this point, I don't think they will realize our dogs killed the chicken but I probably should stop over tonight and discuss it with them. Thoughts?

 

[GPintheMitten]

Hmm. An unfortunate start. They will perceive that you or your dog's are the problem. Putting the chicken on their property will have them thinking that your dog's left your yard and killed it on their property.

I think legally you are responsible if a dog bites a human even if on your property.

If you want to explain the chicken, I recommend you take pictures of the feathers etc at the kill site to prove it happened there.

At this point you are at a disadvantage in attempting to solve the dog barking and motorcycle noise problems. I would wait on that until this other stuff seems to be resolved. Offer to.pay for the chicken and ask them to fence off an area. Maybe offer to help them on the project.

See how that goes before you deal with noise issues.

 

[rsallen]

Might as well have let the dogs eat the chicken. Free meal!

You might try explaining to your neighbors that free range is all well and good until one of them wanders on to the roadway......or your property. Same danger for the chickens.

On your side, while I don't know what kind of dogs you have, but even if I would trust either of my dogs to stay on the right side of an invisible fence from the beginning, after something as self rewarding as catching and killing live prey, I sure as heck wouldn't trust them to stay in bounds in the future.

 

[eddie48]

Personally, I would not keep a dog that bit anyone, even in the situation you described. Could just as well have been a small child -- maybe my own grandchild. I could never forgive myself if that happened, particularly since the dog is known to be "territorial". I have always had dogs, big ones, but never one that I could not trust to not hurt someone. By the way, mine would have killed the chicken, too. That's a separate issue.

 

[dave1949]

I think you are opening yourself up to a lot of risk with your dog situation. Given enough motivation dogs will go through invisible fences. Even on your own property, you can be liable for what your dog may do to someone, such as a youngster.

You were present when the neighbor got nipped, so obviously you don't have obedience control of the dog. That's not good, as I'm sure you realize. We have a dog with an odd personality, including fear reactions that we have never succeeded in changing or preventing with lots of puppy socialization, so I know what you are up against maybe.

My opinion is a couple thousand for a good chain link fence is cheap compared to your liability risk.

 

[Rock knocker]

Fences are good, invisible fences make good dogs insane

 

[GPintheMitten]

I agree. Build your own fence for the dogs.

 

[k0ua]

Build a good Chain link fence, get rid of the biting dog, and Pray that you are not sued. You are on the edge of disaster and apparently don't see it. There is not a whole lot you can do about the Motorcycle except during late hours and calling the police. But it is going to make an adverse confrontational situation. But you are already on the losing end of a developing situation.

 

[rsallen]

Good point Dave.
Don't why I overlooked the bite. Probably because I kinda feel like an adult silly enough to walk into two dogs upset about being there and ignoring a verbal warning is probably asking for it.
The women is lucky it was a fear biter rather than a serious dog.

You're right on about Dfeck and control of his dogs. Particularly as they are fear biters. Those kinds of dogs generally see everything as threats and they always need real solid ob control.
All dogs bite. Yeah read that again everybody. All dogs bite. That's what any and all dogs do given the right circumstances, they bite.

 

[aczlan]

First off, any of our animals that attacks a human without provocation (be it a dog, a rooster, or a cat) leaves our property ASAP (or in the case of the roosters, goes into the freezer).
On the chickens, they should have had them fenced in, so (technically) you probbaly aren't responsible for what happens to their critter on your property, but you (and your dogs) will be seen as responsible by them.
I would say that good fences make good neighbors and build a fence to make sure that your dogs stay in. Having bitten someone, your dog would now qualify as a "known aggressive" dog which is NOT in your favor if someone were to get bit down the road and get the cops involved.

Aaron Z