Benjammin: "Here in Baghdad, dogs are not pets, they are a menace."

They are here, too, sport, they are here too, as you aknowledge in you post. I don't mind you being wrong, but please be consistent.

Ok guys, I think the horse is dead. I think everyone has been able to make their point.

Maybe we could keep this limited from here on out to constructive suggestions for Benjammin on how he could deal with his problems or suggestions for Devildog305 on how he could deal with his issue?

-john

You still haven't answered my question, what else am I supposed to do?

It is the essence of irresponsible legislation that forces me to take actions I might otherwise avoid.

From a survival standpoint, I cannot rely on the good intentions or promised actions of others to secure the welfare of myself or my family, so I take matters into my own hands to the extent the law allows and my own conscience will tolerate. The welfare of others comes secondary to that. Sorry if that sounds uncharitable, but I cannot afford to be sympathetic to others at the expense of my own. The disparity in the vested interest is too great.

I would offer this, being prepared to deal with vicious dogs will mitigate the chance you will be attacked and suffer injury. I would not use my lack of preparedness to deal with a known threat to inculpate someone else's defensive actions of same.

You would have me just let the neighbors' dogs come and go from my property whenever their owners decide not to be responsible? I would prefer there was an alternative for me, but I have not heard a viable one yet.

No John, it is not dead. The more I think about it the angrier it makes me. How about, Benjammin, you were with me the day I came up on the 6 feral dogs that had the newborn calf hemmed up in the corner of the pen with its mother going nuts? This within sght of a barn, within 5 miles of a town? With the calf potentially worth $10,000.00? After the little batards had killed 3 the previous week? Change your mind any? Yes/no?

How about sueing the owners? Could be as simple as small claims court. Certainly seems feasable if they are repeat offenders.

-john

benjammin,

If your animal control authorities are ineffective, then document it, complain to their departmental manager, the political authorities who run the department or governmental entity, and publicize it in your local newspaper/radio/TV station. Fix your problems; don't dump them on others. Your approach not only leaves the scofflaw owners unpunished, but you are also enabling the laziness or ineffectualiy of your animal control authorities on whom you are wasting your tax dollars. You might also be able take civil and criminal legal action against the owner depending on the circumstances.

You need to do some serious rethinking.

Let's analyze your present approach: When you have a problem with trespassing vicious dogs, you trap them and take them out of your neighborhood in order to dump them on new victims in a different area. Thus you do not eliminate predatory animals. You enable them to find unsuspecting fresh victims. You ignore the owner's responsibility. So in addition to the harm you inflict on the innocent, you surreptitiously steal the dog and leave the abusive owner unpunished and free to get more dogs to prey on his neighbors.

Besides the moral and practical obnoxiousness of your approach, you commit theft, you abuse and abandon animals of which you have control or custody, and you endanger the public (as well as livestock) by setting dangerous animals loose on it.

Incidentally, I was not unprepared when I repelled the 2 dogs attacking my son. I prevailed over them. My son and I sustained only superficial leg wounds. Afterwards I took legal action against the owner for allowing such dangerous animals to attack us. In contrast to your approach: I directly resolved the problem; I did not shift it to innocent victims; and I turned the consequences of the irresponsible behavior back on the owner.

John

As a father of three young girls, I feel for you. It seems like these owners and there dogs have more rights than you or I do on our own property. There's a family down the street from me who bred "pit bulls" for money. These dogs haven't eaten any children, yet; but one of them killed my cat a year ago. Also last month one of them grabbed the little dog across the street and ripped its back side out. Animal control say's they can't do anything until they caught the dog "out of its yard". The pit bull owner said her welfare check won’t cover the Vet. bill so the little dogs own is out $1000.dollars.
How many nice people and there animals need to suffer for delinquent pet owner before something is done.
I bet if the governor or mayor had there child torn up or there pet eaten, they would past some new laws.

I myself don't like taking the law into my own hand but it seem like the people who believe in the law and the rights of others, many times have no rights. Does anyone no what steps to take to get some laws made.
Or maybe it’s time for a “Gopher Go” sandwich over the fence.

KICK ASS John, my hats off to you.

"I bet if the governor or mayor had there child torn up or there pet eaten, they would past some new laws."

Usually, the laws are already there, they just aren't enforcing them. Sad to say, but law enforcement agencies only enforce the laws they want to enforce.

Sue

benjammin,

Can you give me a few general details as to your location? Are you in an urban, suburban, or rural area and which county in Washiington are you located?

As a pass president of a ranchers association in the State of Washington, there are legal options for taking action depending on your location, open range area or not.

We had a real problem with people relocating from the city and letting their dogs, some very expensive and beautiful dogs, run loose and harrassing live stock. After checking with the county attorney, we had a number of options. Some of those options let the ranchers take the matter in their own hands. One variant was rather gruesome but humane. Afterward, everyone knew what happened to the dogs, where it happened, and who did it. At the same time, this action proved the guilt of the owner in letting the dog run loose and protected the ranchers from liability. This action also put the burden of proof on the owner that his dog was not guilty. If the owner did take legal action, they ended paying the rancher damages. This action takes balls but to this day, no one lets their dogs run loose in that part of Klickitat County.

Again, I am a long time dog lover and trainer. Try dealing with the owner. If that does not work, once you know your legal options, you can inform him of the consequences to his dog if he does not take corrective action.