You can move to my neighborhood anytime! I have a house full of college kids across the street; they like to throw parties on a regular basis. We'll give them their marching orders, and you can be in like Flinn. As hot as it is, I bet you both looked like wrung out rags when you finally closed the gates. Exercise is good, but this might not be a program you want to repeat anytime soon.

Michelle

Sorry I missed it, stockgal. I drove on S. Penn twice today--between Indian Hills and S. 89th street.

I'm not sure why dogs and horses lose their minds once they're out of a gate...but they do. When we lived in town, we were in the 119th and S. May area--our dog got out a couple of times and was nearly ran over several time on 119th. Drivers aren't helpful either--they think a dog understands their loud and intense honking. Or maybe that's for the humans chasing the animal--like we don't KNOW this is inconvenient for everyone involved.

On a positive note--I'm glad you got your exercise.

Stockergal, What an adventure, albeit one you weren't hoping for.

Did y'all really have to do this on such a hot day? Seems like it would have been more pleasant in October or something. (grin) I hope your neighbor appreciates you!

It isn't just dogs and horses who lose their minds when they get out. Add to that list cattle (especially bulls looking for a lady friend), donkeys, goats, guineas and cats.

In one incident my neighbors never will forget, our guineas (who usually free-ranged ON our property and not off of it) took off running up the middle of our road right around the time that all the kids were getting out of school for the day. I was working in the garden wearing (I kid you not) overalls and a big, floppy straw hat. Concerned the guineas would get in the way of the school bus, I ran from the garden with a garden rake in my hand, determined to catch up with the wayward guineas, turn them around and "herd" them back home. I ignored the fact that guineas don't really like to be herded.

Of course, I wasn't alone. The dogs promptly followed me (3 of them) and then the cats followed the dogs. By the time the neighbors were coming back from picking up the kids at school, they were greeted by the sight of a scarecrow (me), waving a rake and straw hat at guineas as I drove them up the road ahead of me, with cats and dogs following merrily along behind. There was a lot of honking of car horns, laughing, smiling and waving but everybody did at least slow down and pass us very carefully so that no lives were lost. Everyone but me found the whole thing very amusing. It took me forever to live down that animal parade. I can laugh about it now, but boy, was my face red!

I was not very experienced with any sort of livestock when we moved here, and we do not have any livestock ourselves, but since moving here I've learned how to help corral escaped horses, donkeys, cows and goats. I'm still lacking in any real hands-on experience with pigs, though, as none of our closest neighbors have pigs.

Oh, and it does aggravate me when people do not slow down when they see horses or cows out in the roadway. It totally is a safety issue. A collision between a horse or cow and a vehicle often ends just as badly for the human being inside the car as it does for the horse or cow they hit. It is a terrible thing to witness and a terrible tragedy for all involved. I'm so glad y'all got them safely back into a fenced-in area.

Dawn

This must be the week for animal parades. I went outside a little after 6 this morning (in my pajamas) to see feathers all over my yard and two dogs with a chicken on the ground. As I started to run them off, I spotted another dog inside the chicken house. Our chicken house has a run on the bottom part which has chicken wire on it and they go through that small run, up a ramp to get to the roosting area and we close them up at night, but they have access to both the upper and lower part until we let them into the larger run.

I think there may have been 4 dogs at first, but if so, one took off fast. The smaller dog broke through another side of the pen that opens into the big run. Two of the dogs that were outside, came back to try to get the chicken that was on the ground and I was probably within 3 feet of them. I finally got a shovel after them and managed to get the injured chicken to a safe place. Even with me out there the little dog (penned up) was still chasing the chickens. I finally got the chickens and dog separated and locked the smaller dog in a pen and kept the chickens penned up. After several phone calls and a drive around the neighborhood, my neighbors and I finally figured out that all of the dogs belong to the same person. I have seen them all before just out running around.

Because I don't live in the city limits, we have no animal control available at all. The Sheriff's office said I could file a report, but I haven't done that, and I didn't know how much damage I was going to have. Several chickens have feathers ripped out, the one they had on the ground does not look good so I don't know if she will live. Two were missing, but one has since come home and the other was still alive last time I saw here run through the neighborhood. I didn't get a good look at her but from the grey feathers in the yard I suspect she is also injured. She was well enough to still run away from me, so if I find her before the dogs do maybe I can catch her. Both of the ones that were out and still moving were EasterEggers and they are kind of flighty and quick moving, so that is probably what saved them.

I got up early so I could weed-eat, but so much for that. Instead I have chased chickens, beat dogs, located dog owners, and put a temporary patch on the chicken house so I could finally get the chickens and ducks out of captivity.

I told my husband to call me later to make sure I am awake because I have to be in Joplin later. I hope I can take a nap because I have already done a days work.....and not the fun kind.

Carol, What a horrible day for you and the chickens! I hope the little injured one survives and that the scared one roaming the neighborhood comes home before something else gets it.

Stray dogs (of unknown origin, not the neighbors' pets) that get after our chickens don't make the same mistake twice. You don't have to shoot them....just fire into the ground near them and that usually scares them off for a good long time, if not forever. I also have run off stray dogs and cats that are after our chickens or chicks with a Super Soaker Water gun. Most of them do not appreciate being blasted with a strong stream of water. Our neighbors don't let their dogs roam, so we don't usually have a problem unless someone has dumped dogs in the country, an all-too-common occurrence. Most dumped dogs meet a sad end. No none here will shoot them the first time they kill a lamb, foal or calf....or chickens, ducks, turkeys or geese...but they might shoot them the second time after calling around to all the nearby neighbors and making sure they do not belong to anyone here in the area. Feral dogs, starving, running in packs.....attacking livestock (or pet dogs or cats).....tend to meet a sad fate.

I won't say our neighbors' dogs or cats never come to visit us or that our dogs or cats don't go visit them, but it is friendly visitation, not with the chasing of or killing of livestock involved. We once had three stray dogs get into our original chicken coop and chicken run and kill our entire flock not long after we moved here. We lost about 40 chickens, turkeys and ducks in one brutal afternoon. The dogs were still inside the chicken run (they'd dug under the fence to get in) when we got home and Tim dispatched them with extreme prejudice. My mild-manner, easy-going husband was as mad as I've ever see him. We now have concrete running about 6" down into the ground where the chicken run fencing meets the ground and it has, so far, kept coons, skunks and dogs from digging into the enclosed chicken runs.

You're a better person than me. I might have located the chickens, chased the dogs and then beaten the owners. Well, I'm just kidding about that as I am a non-violent person, but I would have been madder than a wet hen and the dog owners would have known in no uncertain terms just how upset I was. If a dog that belongs to a neighbor is so much as standing on our property watching our poultry, Tim immediately calls the owner and tells them to come get their dogs off our property or he'll shoot the dogs. He doesn't have to do it often because they come right away to get their dogs. They know Tim means business.

The people in our neighborhood who had 35 dogs they let roam freely moved away about 5 or 6 years ago and everyone in this neighbor was relieved/overjoyed to see them and their dogs go. There was more trouble over those roaming dogs than you'd believe as they often killed poultry, foals and calves. Calling the owners was no good---they just said "if the dogs are bothering your animals, shoot them", and they said that knowing that everyone in our neighborhood tends to be soft-hearted dog lovers who do not want to shoot any dog. They were the most irresponsible people we've ever had the misfortune to live close to. Except for them, we've never had a bad neighbor, but even great neighbors can have dogs that just won't leave poultry alone.

Dawn

And once they start killing things, they don't seem to stop. I don't know these people, but one of my neighbors had complained to them about a dog and he just told them to shoot it. She told me today that they were going to shoot one of these anyway. I wanted to tell her that maybe one wasn't enough. I had it penned in a six foot tall pen, but I told her I couldn't keep it there very long and if she didn't come get it, I would shoot it. I didn't want to, but I was just about one chicken short of changing my mind. Two of the chickens have all of the feathers pulled out in about a 2 inch circle on their backs and I noticed the others trying to peck at them. They are up moving around though. One chicken has been on the roost all day, so I would say she is still spooked. After I got them away from the dogs, but before the woman came and retrieved the dog, I opened the nest box and there were five chickens in three nests. One of them was the 'not so tough' rooster that was trying to hide. I am hoping the other chicken will come home when it is time to roost, and maybe my neighbor can let it in the pen if I am not back home by then. I haven't seen the dogs since she took that one home, so maybe they penned them up.

Digging under the chicken house wouldn't do them any good because it has vinyl coated wire on the bottom, but the sides just had chicken wire and it has been there a while so was probably a little rusty, but it couldn't have been broken and pushed up without a lot of effort. We are still making changes to the poultry pens, but they are 6 feet tall dog kennel panels with a cover over them. Digging under would still be possible but they are only in that area during the day. The ducks are caged at night, and the chickens have always been secure in their little house, but it was enclosed by another fence until we recently moved it. I was planning to change the wire, but just hadn't gotten it done. We may have to fence the entire yard, and if that happens I better not find a dog inside the fenced part. It's bad enough to fight the neighbor's cats who think raised beds are all cat boxes.

Don't even get me started on people dumping dogs. We have a terrible problem with it here. I says its stems from our throw away attitude, it gets a little of work just toss it. I've seen them dump a puppy with a bag of dog food to ease their guilt. The coyotes will love the dog food right after they kill the pup. I am so soft hearted I can't just walk away. I have adapted out and kept soooooo many dogs it's scary.

soonergrandmom, sorry to here about your chickens, strays are maddening but it's the owners I would like to get my hands on.

Dawn, I bet you were hilarious looking with your animal parade,floppy hat and rake. I think a gun shot would be preferable to death by coyote, but I hate to do it when the animal had no choice in the matter.

Now a pack of strays bent on destruction and death are a different matter all together.

Carol, That is so true. Once they start killing, they don't stop. In fact, it often escalates.

I do feel bad for feral, abandoned dogs dumped "in the country" by people whose cold-heartedness stuns me, but it is a sad fact of life that desperately hungry dogs become desperately dangerous dogs. Our small run had hardware cloth on the bottom when we built it a dozen years ago. I haven't dug through the soil that lies atop the hardware cloth to see if it is still there or if it has rusted through, but no animal has ever dug under the small run and come up inside of it, so maybe it still is okay. With the larger run, it was so big that Tim didn't want to run hardware cloth underneath it---hence the concrete.

I mostly have broken all our cats of using raised beds, but it took forever and sometimes I wonder if they only behave when I'm around. However, with the taller fence and a tall screen door as a gate, the garden usually is closed up and off limits to them if I'm not out there in it, and that limits their access to it. Some of our neighbors' cats come here early and late in the day hunting rabbits and wild birds (do they not have their own wildlife at their own homes?) but they usually don't mess around in the flower beds. Maybe it is because we have wild open acres of land all around so they can "go" wherever they choose.

Stockergal, We've adopted many dogs and many cats for the same reason. I always say "well, it looks hungry so we'll feed it, but we aren't keeping it!", which is garbage because even I know that once I feed a cat or dog, it is ours forever. Sometimes it seems like we're spending a fortune on pet food, but I always feel like these throwaway animals deserve a second chance and someone to take care of them and love them. We don't adopt pit bulls or other aggressive dogs. Every neighbor around also has adopted tons of stray cats and dogs, but even with everyone doing that, so many animals get dumped that it is crazy. Our county doesn't have an animal shelter, and it costs a lot of money to leave an animal at the nearest shelter in another county so people just abandon them out here. It is sad.

Every animal we've taken in and adopted has been loving and loyal. I'm glad they ended up here with someone who won't let them down.

Dawn

Stockergal you are a very good friend we all need friends like you.

Carol what a way to wake up!!! Hope they take care of their dogs.

Sorie6, well thank you. Not sure what I did but thanks

I think it is unlikely that they will get rid of the dogs. I was firm, but not mean today, but it had better not happen twice. I have them all back inside minus a lot of feathers, but two of them are looking pretty bad. One of them has been squatted down each time I saw her, and she is moving from place to place but I have not seen her walk. She is the one they had down on the ground and I was afraid her leg was broken when I picked her up. I decided they had had more than enough stress for one day, so I didn't try to examine her. It looked like she was bleeding earlier and the other one that I am concerned about has a large laceration. If they make it until morning, I will try to move them out away from the other chickens. By the time I got home from Joplin and got my car unloaded, I didn't have time to be a chicken doctor.

These dogs are not stray animals and they all belong to the same family.

Dogs with bad or uncaring owners are often worse than strays. I hope the chicks all make it.