Just Make Sure,Your Vehicle has plenty of PRESTONE,for the Radiator this Winter!

"...the owner was warned by one of their officers that the dogs were a problem. Much better -- it avoided me getting into it with a neighbor and I was able to avoid shooting what was probably a nice dog given a more responsible owner."

The problem is that some owners don't/won't/refuse to learn.

I told my neighbors that their dogs were getting into my yard. They put up a hotwire. Dogs stayed in their yard... until they discovered the owners had turned off the hotwire, then they returned. They chased my chickens, the law said they were probably just playing. One day I came home from work and one of the dogs was in my yard, playing with my dead chicken. All the chickens were dead but one. I called Animal Control, they said it wasn't their problem. The Sheriff's Dept said it wasn't their problem, either, but they would insist that Animal Control come out and collect the dog. The dog was picked up from AC the same day by the owners, and he was in my yard the following day, trying to get to my last surviving chicken.

Fortunately, they lost their house soon after, and moved away. Now they're probably someone else's problem.

No matter where you live, there will always be people who think the rules don't apply to them. If you think that someone else will the solve the problem for you, you will probably learn different... eventually.

Sue

I've remained silent on this problem until now.

I like dogs that are well behaved and not aggressive. I've got a scar that looks like Florida, 27 stitches, from an aggressive dog. If your dog is aggressive and in my yard, I don't play. Said scar giver is now pushing up daisies, courtesy Mr. Ruger.

Where I live they have strict leash laws. I figure if you are stupid enough to not train your dog, or restrain it, you and your dog (unfortunate for the dog) suffer the consequences.

In the military I learned several ways to deal with dogs. Some work right now - as in padding an arm, letting the dog bite that arm, and using a pressure/leverage hold to break the dog's neck - to several methods that take time to work - poisoning without using an overt poison. Circumstances dictate which method I will use, but let it be said - I will deal with a dog that is destroying my property. Pooping doesn't count, let's be real here.

It's a sad commentary that the pet has to suffer for the owner's stupidity, but it is my right to protect myself and my property.

Have you considered a fully enclosed coop/run? Helps keep out natural predators too.

For discussion's sake:

There seems to be disparity across regions and states regarding the exact definition of "needed shootin". The west and the south seem to come down on the side of defending the castle at all costs, with liability assumed by the trespasser. The northeast and midwest seem to divide liability between the defender and the aggressor, permitting escalation of defensive response in response to the level of offensive threat. I believe that I have heard of trespassers suing homeowners for excessive response. Chickens are probably property/livestock. Dogs are probably family/fur babies, particularly those wearing clothing. It would be easier to defend killing a dog that was attacking a person than killing one that was destroying property.
Disclaimer: Do not rely on nursing advice offered by a lawyer: do not rely on legal conjecture offered by a nurse, particularly from one whose avatar is a dog.

The best advice IMO in many cases, provided it is both legal and reasonable.

If you know the dog's owner, you might want to be more tolerant.

The thing is that this is 100% the dog owner's fault and if he won't deal with it in a realistic way by keeping his dogs under control, the consequences are his to deal with.

But no reason to get into an unnecessary confrontation either.

I agree that the owners are to blame. The owners won't do anything about it. It's too late for the dogs. Now that the dogs have done it once and found out that it was awesome, they ABSOLUTELY will do it again. Maybe not yours, but they'll do it again given the chance.

For me, the dogs wouldn't be given the chance to do it again.

What dogs?

Pellet gun. When I used this technique I was able to train the neighborhood dogs to stay the hell away from my yard, in a way that didn't lead to unpleasant neighbor relations.

Paintball gun? Red paint? That might give the owners something to think about...

Please don't suggest using antifreeze on pets. It takes quite a while for them to die (painfully) as their body shuts down. The pets are not the problem, the owners are the problem. If you have to kill them, kill them quickly and humanely, not with a slow-die poison.

Sue