Dog: a dangerous predator

[Backyardherder]

BYH'r - do you have your goats in fences or do they run loose on your property? I do agree that if your animals are staying on your property that you should be able to do what you want but I am a firm believer in good fences make good neighbors. Of course walking around with a shotgun when the neighbor is out with his dog may help your situation. Fire off a couple of practice shots while you are at it (not at the neighbor or course )

We have no fences, as our property doesn't border anyone else's (you have to cross the road and walk a bit to get to our nearest neighbours). Furthermore, putting fences around our house would be problematic because our area is very, very rocky and uneven (goats love to climb the rocks - me, not so much!), and we have wild boar around who are extremely strong and can easily break almost any fence.

We have two does. Generally we do the following: I tether one of the does in a place where we have overgrowth of unwanted vegetation (we are overrun with wild bushes, brambles and weeds), and change locations every day. The other doe remains loose, but she always stays close to her friend. At the time the aforementioned accident happened, our does were right near the house, and in fact when I caught the dog and goat, they were right at the corner of the balcony/verandah.

So, yep, we should probably get a gun.

 

[greybeard]

IF you are going to get a firearm to deal with these problems, get a small bore shotgun. Reason being, you have a variety of loads to use in it. Light birdshot (small BBs) will pepper an animal, without killing it outright. If you are a good marksman, I believe they still sell ratshot for a .22. They normally will hightail it for home yelping but not seriously injured--and most of the time, won't return. That, is for 1st offenders. If he returns, didn't learn, pop in some bigger buckshot and bye bye puppy dog. (make sure you have a lan regarding what you intend to do after the deed is done, and I reccomend you not kill an animal within sight of it's owner--the legalities can be problematic) In my county, even here in the boondocks, it is illegal to shoot strays-period. You may be justified, but you may well have to go to court to defend your actions and it can be costly--win or lose.

 

[Tiss]

I'm a firm believer in SSS (Shoot, shovel and shut up) and I'm hoping when he grows up our new LGD will protect the herd when I can't.

 

[Backyardherder]

I'm a firm believer in SSS (Shoot, shovel and shut up) and I'm hoping when he grows up our new LGD will protect the herd when I can't.

That's another thing... we have a dog who isn't a herd guardian breed (she is a German Shepherd/Malinois cross), but she feels very affectionate and protective towards the goats because she's been raised together with them since she was a small puppy, and recognized them as part of her pack. The problem is, she is on a run line, so if an invader is out of her reach all she can do is bark. Obviously we won't let her run loose. But now every little bark gets me jumping up as though I tried to sit on a hedgehog (usually it turns out there's just a stray cat outside, and they won't mess with my roosters...)