Should my husband shoot my neighbor's dog?

Question

We live in the suburbs and our neighbor has a pit bull. This dog is really cute, solid white with a circular brown patch over its eye. This dog has NOT been aggressive towards a person, but has now TWICE killed our chickens. The first time it killed 1 chicken. The second time it killed 3 chickens. We have the chickens in a dog kennel and its coop is inside the dog kennel. We even have cage wire on TOP of the kennel.

This dog JUMPS up 7 feet in the air in 1 single bound, and lands on top of the kennel, CHEWS THROUGH METAL, and killed the chickens.

These chickens were our children's PETS, and they really loved them and took care of them every day. They played with them in the backyard, drove them around in their dump trucks, and even took them on swings. The chickens were fully organic laying hens.

We called animal control out on incident #1 where it killed the chicken. It was taken to the pound.
The dog got out again and was near our yard, called again, taken to the pound again.
Dog got out again, was IN our yard near the coop, was taken to the pound AGAIN.
Once, again, dog got out, was in our yard and was taken to the pound AGAIN!!!
The last time was the time it killed our 3 other chickens! Kids cried for a day. Dog was taken to the pound AGAIN!

This was at the start of October.

We have more chickens on order, but in the mean time we bought the children some angora rabbits (the fuzzy kind). Low and behold this dog freaking got into our yard AGAIN and was trying to break into the rabbit cage.

My husband said "That's f-ing it" grabbed the gun and went outside but the dog left before he got outside. Thank God the rabbits are okay.

I guess I'm hesitant because I love dogs, but freaking crap!! This owner drives me nuts.

Could somebody outside my home out there in internet land please tell me it's okay for him to shoot that dog?

Answer 1

morality aside, can you live with the repercussions to the relationship with your neighbor. You have to live next to this neighbor, and once you kill his dog, things could get quite a bit uglier. If he doesn't care enough to stop his dog from destroying property, is he possibly the kind able to destroy your property himself? What's to stop him from taking the next step in escalating this thing.



I think that violence ought to be truly the last resort and wonder if there is any additional recourse. No three strikes law for careless owners? Is the dog's owner completely unable or unwilling to work with you to find a solution to the break-outs/break-ins? A civil suit may possibly force him to contain the dog or face legal consequences, and may have the additional benefit of collecting for damages.



Not necessarily elegant, but neither is shooting the dog. Truly elegant would be shooting the owner. :)

Answer 2

I definitely understand your frustration. The laws for shooting to protect livestock are similar where I live- and I am very, very rural- and quite frankly in MY situation the dog would have been dead the FIRST time I caught him on my property killing my animals.



Then again, my nearest 3 neighbors are 3-4 miles away and I'm on 3500 acres, so shooting a stray dog that killed livestock wouldn't be too likely to cause World War 3 with my neighbors. Even if people found out about it, considering that about half the people around here raise livestock *for a living* they would not blame me one bit for doing it...because they won't hesitate to do the same. If MY dogs went off & killed my neighbors calves, and my neighbor shot them, I would only be upset at MYSELF for failing to properly control my animals.



If I lived in the suburbs I might be more willing to exaust all other options before I went blasting away at the neighbor's dog....though after multiple incidents I'd be just as angry as you are. But I'm a fan of keeping the peace if I'm stuck living that close to a neighbor....makes *my* life more pleasant if I don't have to field hostility from someone every time I walk out into the backyard. For example, I'd try aggressively reinforcing my OWN animal pens.....some electric cattle or sheep fence strung at the right hight with a strand along the top, would pack enough punch to make any dog think twice. Anything you can do to try and beef up your own pens to keep the dog out, try it.



And in the meantime keep a record of every single incident, every time you see the dog loose, every time you call animal control, every lost animal, every time you buy a replacement animal, etc. If you make enough of a fuss I would hope eventually something would have to be done to get the guy to either control the dog or get rid of it. If nothing else you'd have a detailed incident record & a heck of a good case IF you ever ended up shooting the dog. If it's within your legal right and you can prove the dog was a recurrent and costly nuisance to your livestock & property I doubt anyone could say much to you about it.



Only other thing I'd advise is making sure there is no law against discharging a firearm within so many feet of another residence. Here we're allowed to shoot to protect livestock but can't shoot a firearm within 600 feet of someone else's house or livestock. Basically limits what you can do if you're keeping small livestock in a suburban area. Might want to cover your bases before you do anything. Good luck.

Answer 3

Techinly speaking it is within your right to shoot the dog, but I get where you are coming from who wants to see a dog get shot bc the owner is dumb. Have you told your neighbor your husbands intentions if it happens again? That may help. Sometimes animal control sucks in certain areas and the police will likely tell you to shoot the dog. ( that's how it goes where I live, and I live in the country). I would tell you just to fire a round into the air, that's how we used to get rid of the bears that came into the cherry orchard eating our trees, but as you live in the suburbs that may not be such a good idea, plus you don't want the dog turning on you. I would just keep pressing your neighbors saying that they need to control this issue or their dog will end up dead.

Answer 4

No. I get your frustration completely... The chickens are your pets. But imagine if your neighbor came and shot one of them? Even though this behavior by the owner is terrible, shooting the dog is not the solution. If it was attacking your kid, yes, you should of course do everything you can to save your child. But it is an animal's instinct (especially a Pit Bull) to hunt. I don't think the dog needs to be punished for that unless it is being aggressive towards a human. Try confronting the owner directly and telling them that this is their last shot or you are calling the pound and making sure the dog never gets released to the same owner again. Make sure they KNOW that these chickens are your children's pets and that this is not okay! Good luck!

Answer 5

So animal control gets called each time, dog gets picked up, owner gets dog out of pound each time. Dog gets back and right away does it again. I assume owner has to pay a fee to spring dog each time, yet, he will not make any effort to contain dog. I feel for you, I really do. This "neighbor" is such a total jerk and incredibly frustrating.



I guess it's legal from what you wrote, but I too, being a dog lover, would have a problem with the dog being killed. Truth is, it's not abnormal for a dog to kill prey. It is, however, abnormal for an owner to not give a sh*t at all and continue to allow this killing instead of controlling this dog.



Tough situation because anyone would be feeling like enough is enough. Maybe try animal control again to see if they would intervene somehow and put an end to this.



Good Luck!

Answer 6

You can

A) Take the dog to a shelter where the owner won't be able to find it... (However, this is almost definitely illegal...)

B) Confront the owner and tell him if he gets into your yard again, the dog will be shot. (You don't actually have to shoot the dog, but if the neighbor thinks that you are serious, hopefully he/she will figure out how to keep the dog in it's own yard.

C) Take legal action and get the dog taken away from the owner. It is not the dog's fault that the owner can't keep him contained. Suggest that the owner take the dog out for exercise every day. Pit Bulls have a lot of energy and that needs to be sated or they will get into trouble.

D) Put an electric fence around the kennel with the animals in it. A couple of shocks and the dog will stay away from the chickens whether the fence is on or off. This seems cruel, but it is not that bad (I've accidentally shocked myself before) and it works as a last resort. It is extremely effective because the dog learns to associate that shock with the animals and will probably think that going after chickens/rabbits = getting bit so he will stop.

Answer 7

so take it too the courts



talk too a lawyer about laws too check if its a posibility too demand it put down after the event, in which case you can demand it put down unless they rehome it, by saying you are willing too pull the demand if the dog goes away



or tell the neighbor direct if you see it tresspassing again its gone, to give them a direct warning and see if they will shape up with that



besides you are due compensation for lost livestock anyway, so either way make him pay economically, its the only language some understand, i get you and feel for the dog, its not its fault it have a completely irresponsible owner



but sometimes there is no solution other then this, unless the owner is willing too yield the dog, because they arent enough in breach for a verdict of not being allowed to own animals

Answer 8

1: Talk to them, explain the damages the dog has done, explain you're not just being a brat, and that you indeed saw with your own two eyes that it was their dog doing it, and explain the money you're losing. Make it clear that you want to be a good neighbor and not have any beef, but that they need to do something different, because what they're doing isn't keeping their dog contained.



2: If that doesn't work, call Animal Control and fill them in on what's going on. Explain that you want to be a good neighbor, that you're not a brat, and that you've warned them. Perhaps they can give them enough grief to fix the situation.



3: Shoot the dog...heck you gave it the good ole college try. No guilt after that.

Answer 9

Whatever you do, just don't harm the dog in a way that could be considered animal abuse. I could tell you why, but I don't think it's necessary if you know enough about the law. Anyway if I'm to be honest if someone shot my dog I'd have no choice but to take action (probably would go a bit nuts, but there wouldn't be much I actually could do), but I'm just not entirely sane about things when it comes to people harming animals though I can admit it may not be the right thing to do. This is especially true if they're my pets. However I can see there's a flaw in certain parts of my logic here I'm just sort of smart that why I guess, though I wouldn't exactly brag as I don't feel that smart myself. Anyway it's pretty much a given that you'd be angry, but it's also possible that certain people would be none to happy that you shot their dog. Now consider this, dogs do not have the same type of thought process as us. They live under rules of eat or be eaten so it never occurs to them that what they're doing is wrong I always feel that I can understand the way my pet thinks more than some people can with theirs thus the need to protect them as much as they protect me which even though mine are pugs I know they could tear a pretty sizable chunk out of you if you hurt someone they loved. Which is why I feel I can relate to my pets even though many think that because they're animals they can't think at all, but I know they can because every time I get mad at them they tend to lower their head in shame which makes me feel bad, but due to my many issues I can't really stay that way long, and then I tend to go on, and on until they whimper which again proves to me that they know that thought process I live under. So I want you to think about one last thing before I'm finished, and that is the whole fact that killing anything never really solves a problem it just makes it worse.

Edit: So two people think that killing things is the answer?

Edit 2: Now "BYH" (and I don't know how I got 2 thumbs down, and you got 6 up) I have a question for you would you be saying this if (A) it was your dog, (B) if the dog (or dogs) belonged to another few children (like for example your own), and/or (C) even if it was a small-medium sized dog (like a pug or a beagle)? And I want you to think about it very carefully, and (hopefully) answer.

Answer 10

It depends on your states law. Here in tx we can shoot an animal that gets in our yard, but i would try a high powered bb gun first to scare the dog. We also have this problem in my area, i have seen a couple of the neighbors shoot at the dogs but not actually hitting them and it seems to work ok. But to be on the safe side i would video tape the dog jumping the fence so that you have proof if anything legal comes out of it.

Answer 11

I would try, if feasible, to electrify the fence in such a manner that the chickens and rabbits (and kids) do not come into contact with the electrified part. You could set it up so that you can turn the juice on and off, so when your out there, it can be off. Additionally, you can set it up so as to just give a nonlethal zap.

Picture calling that neighbor, and asking him to come get his unconscious dog off the top of your wire cage. The dog will eventually learn, if not, increase the amount of electricity until you have pitt BBQ.



This way, hopefully, you can resolve the problem without resorting to shooting the dog. Also, it will make it impossible for the neighbor to claim it is not his dog, and it must be some wild animal, when it is his dog zapped out cold on top of the fencing.

Answer 12

I am against any kill of a dog of ANY reason. I do not believe that the pit bull was irresponsible, the owner was clearly irresponsible. To be able to own such a powerful breed, one doesn't just have to be responsible, one NEEDS to have common sense as well.



I'm just sad that the dog didn't have the proper home and owner.



I'm glad you're safe, though!

Answer 13

Depends on local laws. Personally I would give your neighbor ONE warning after that kill it. I love dogs but not at the expense of my animals.



ADD: OKAY PEOPLE NOW IS LESSON TIME.

There are laws that say you can kill an animal that is a threat to YOUR ANIMALS, not just to you and your family.



They have been given enough warning kill it if you care about YOUR animals. Do you really want to see your kids cry when more of their pets have been killed? I would in a heart beat, its legal here. I would sleep very soundly knowing that I did my job, keeping my pets safe.





ADD AGAIN: Yes, it is very sad to see it happen. But you got to make a choice: Keep your animals safe or let them be ripped apart by a dog.



Many people don't see this kind of thing they way I do but for me this is a very simple decision.





****ADD: well my dog is always properly contained in the house or yard because she WOULD do this if given the chance. But putting me in their neighbors shoes I would have at the very least I would want to be told if the neighbor took care of her, as we would like to bury her. We would apoligize then give them the money to replace the poor animals that were killed. Though we are responsible owners so she doesn't get out. Were not delusional in thinking that in a situation like that, her life would be held higher then their pets.



I put myself in both situations before I even answered the question. My answer is the same untheless.

Friends always did say I was a cold hearted ***** must be true.



If the dog belonged to some kids (I am the youngest in my home at 21) that makes no difference, if the dog was so important to the kids then it would have been properly restrained in their yard not running around where it could have benn hit by a car.



Size doesn't matter to me either. I would football a Chihuahua for bitting me just like I would for a lab. The neighbor down the road has small dogs that escaped they ran straight to the house in front our ours and started ripping apart the neighbors cat. Believe me if I catch them going after their cats again they will not make it home, I have no tolerance for crappy owners like they were, the cat was still alive and she was agruing over who was responsible for taking it to the vet. Just so you know the cat took it's last breath as another neighbor rushed it through the vet hospital doors.

Answer 14

NO i personally would rather die than hurt another creature you should try talking with the owner to do something about it, and if that does not work put up extra barriers, PLEASE DON'T KILL THE PIT BULL. KILLING AN ANIMAL IS ABUSE.PLEASE DON'T KILL THE DOG,Now im a vegetarian so i don't go with what the Angil girl says but dogs do see it as a food source please do not shoot the dog,now you may not be like me but if a animal dies out of my hand even if i didn't even now it like a bug im haunted i cry so bad iv gotten sick numerous times because of it,humans are disgusting how could you say such brute like things how do u think that dogs going to feel hes got a kife ahead of him ill hate u if u do ill report u n this and to the spca DONT SO IT.

Answer 15

Is it even legal for him to fire a weapon? In most suburbs, shooting a gun - any gun - is against the law. Makes sense as you don't know who could be accidentally shot (not saying your husband would miss, but you get the law).



I would personally use no more than a BB gun or even an AirSoft gun to start out. See if that keeps him out of the yard. I'm surprised that they keep giving the dog back to these people. Have you called the police?

Answer 16

NO IT IS NOT OK TO SHOOT THAT DOG!

There are better solutions than taking away a life.

I understand that an animal who is killing your pets may be classed as the enemy, but its the natural instincts. If a dog ever hurt any of my animals, i would hate it, but never want it dead. If it is really causing that many problems, then fret the pound that if they dont take it in and try to rehome it then it will be shot. Dont do it just fret about it. If they still do nothing then maybe you should get higher fences or something like that. The owners really should be more considerate of you and your pets safety, so if they cannot take matters into their own hands then maybe call the police. It hasnt hurt your children thank god but if its breaking into your garden and attacking your pets then what would happen if a child did get in the way. Maybe shooting it is best, but i feel heartbroken and physicly sick when any animal is killed, no matter what they've done. So please, before doing anything to that dog, think it through. As a major dog lover, i vote 100% no to killing that dog.

Answer 17

Your husband has an absolute right to shoot the dog. The dog is on your property killing your livestock. You've already tried to going about things the legal way, by contact animal control. I would also, sue the dog owner for the price of replacement for the lost chickens.



Just make sure you double check with your local laws.

Answer 18

Now that you cleared that up and said it is in fact legal. i would definitely kill it. I would have done it a long time ago.. Just because its the dogs natural instincts, doesnt make it okay at all. None of these other people who are defending the dumb dog would understand because their beloved pet has never been mauled to death by another person's pet. Plus, if that isnt enough, whos to say the dog is not going to be a danger to any small children you may bring to your house? A pet is not suppose to be a danger to anyone. kill it and protect your home, you have no other options from what you tell us.

Answer 19

this kinda happened this neighbor's 2 Chihuahuas bit my dog that was more big then those, and tried to attack us couple times, and they didn't take it away... i think you should find a sleeping pill or dart and shoot it, if you love dogs, you wouldn't kill it, that'll make it suffer if you killed it, or you should get that pitbull and train it to become your own pet.



I don't think you're nuts, i think the owner's nuts...



keep complaining to the owner.

Answer 20

Its a tough thing to decide because the dog may turn on your children and not ur chickens just call the cops or something

Answer 21

Is your husband a sharp shooter? Do you think he can actually hit it once with lethal shot? Are you ready to deal with an injured dog?



You are protecting your kids. Are you ready for your kids to witness a screaming, severely traumatized, injured dog? Not sure what lesson you are trying to convey. If any.

Answer 22

No, it is not okay to shoot the dog. It is against the law and your husband could be charged with a crime. Probably the only thing you can do is sue the people who own the dog. I am assuming you have tried to talk to them about the dog? Aren't there laws in your area that state you have to keep your dog secured in your yard? I feel for you and I wish there was an easy answer for you. Have you contacted the SPCA to tell them about it? I would be so frustrated with your animal control. They are really not doing a very good job. I hope it all works out.

Answer 23

No I would call the police and/or local animal rescue or control agency. Also where is it legal?

Answer 24

I would shoot the owner because he needs to control his freaking dog. I would call animal control on the owner and make him build a higher fence if he wants to keep his dog.

Answer 25

call the shelter. they will take the dog if the dog does not have a license, rabies shot, or if the owner does not have the dog on the home owners insurance. pit bulls have to be covered. they will take the dog!

Answer 26

He is with in his legal right to do so I believe. I know farmers can do that to any dog that worries their stock. And deaths and the dog's owner must reimburse for the livestock. Just check with the ordnance's in your area. Has he talked to the neighbours?

Answer 27

it is NOT okay sorry to burst your bubble....unless the dog is physically threating to you or your family then you can but if you shoot the dog you will go to jail you need to inform the cops and file a report or take more action and have the dog taken away from them and if calling animal control and the police arnt doing anything go into the office and talk to them or sue them just make sure you have evidence and take pictures the way you set up the cages and how the dog gets over

Answer 28

Kill it. Wish I could legally kill my neighbors dogs they crap in my yard and bark and howl all night long.

Answer 29

Never shoot a dog. I understand you anger. Just relax, ok first make it dog proof. Try every single thing before shooting the dog. That is the last thing you want to do. It could be called animal abuse for killing a dog. Talk to your neighbor and ask him to please watch over the dog. Also research how to dog proof things.



Hope this helped

Answer 30

i think you should take the dog owner to court and maybe then the owner will tie up his dog

Answer 31

Shoot a leg or something? It would stop the jumping...

Answer 32

I would call the cops and have THE OWNER arrested. Call your neighbor. SCREAM!

Answer 33

No maam it is not okay to shoot the dog. Your husband can get aanimal cruelty charges and maybe even tim in jjail. My dog was shot and the killer got 6 years. The dog will be put down if you call the police on the nieghbor he or she is not training the dog and doesnot have any respect gor you personal property

Answer 34

No you psycho freaks talk to the neighbors.

Answer 35

No. are yall nuts dogs see those animals as food he cant help it. if yall shoot that dog then yall are no better than the dog is. and chickens are not pets they are FOOOD we eat them. And same for the rabbits they are FOOOD . I WOULD SUGGEST GETTING A DIFFERENT PET. IDIOTS CHICKINS ARE BARN ANIMALS THEY BELONG IN A BARN NOT IN THE SUBURBS. I would also talk to the dogs owner about kepping his dog in his own yard. and if you shoot that dog you will go to jail.

Answer 36

knock yourself out.

Answer 37

Take it to judge Judy maybe?

Answer 38

no i think you should complain first .. and if the owners don't put the dog down then killing it would be your only option. but only if he invades your property again

Answer 39

No, he will get arrested. I suggest instead you complain to bylaw and animal control and pressure them to put the dog down.

Answer 40

NO NO NO and NO don't shoot the dog!!!!! It's a living creature!!!!