Stray Dogs

A dear blogger friend, Journey in your Dreams recently went through a devastating ordeal involving stray dogs, probably belonging to her neighbors. The dogs had killed and maimed her animals before, but this time were there to kill and injure her goats and chickens, and even her sweet cat, until they grew tired and bored. It was all so heart-wrenching to read about and realize what poor Kayte and her family had to go through upon finding the carnage left behind all so mindlessly and needlessly. It broke my heart and terrified me to the bone.
It could happen to any of us who own animals. I fear stray dogs more than I fear any other predator. They usually don't kill for food. They kill for the sport, for the excitement and for no reason at all.

When we first moved into this house last October, we had a house warming party. During the party, a stray dog showed up and our guests fed it hot dogs, chips and cookies.
A little later that same dog snuck up into our barn, tore apart our bunny hutch and dragged our poor sweet bunny all across our pasture, by the neck, until she was dead.
We were devastated.

That dog's belly was stuffed full of hot dogs and junk food, but it still savagely attacked and killed our innocent, caged rabbit.

So, imagine my terror at waking up early in the morning for a visit to the restroom, and peeking out the window to check on our 'woolies' up at the barn, as I always do.

A single grey and black dog was standing beside our barn.

I didn't recognize the dog and had no idea how it had gotten into our, what I believed, fortress of a pasture.
Our goats and sheep looked terrified, but our llamas were on alert. And our horse was snorting and screaming.
So, I hastily threw on some clothes from my dirty clothes pile (yeh, gross, but when it's life and death, wearing dirty clothes is a non-issue) and ran outside and up to the barn, my heart racing!

First I let the llamas out of their pen, as I knew they would run-off or destroy any canine that showed up in their pasture.
Then I chased the stray dog, who seemed frantic to get out, but couldn't figure out how.
Finally, the mangy creature slithered under a gap under the fence in the horse paddock.....a spot I thought I had reinforced with concrete blocks and dirt piled up a few months ago. Darn!

A bit later, after checking on the safety of our woolies, I noticed this dog at our neighbor's house and realized it was THEIR DOG! It had somehow gotten free of it's chain. It was growling at me and I wanted to just kill it with a large rock...and almost did, too!

John said he would talk to the owners, who are actually pretty nice, and let them know that their dog might be a liability if it gets loose again and hurts or kills any of our animals, or children. I also want him to let them know that if their dog is on our property that we won't hesitate to capture it and turn it into Animal Control, or shoot it if we find it hurting our animals or children.

Like I said I fear stray dogs more than any other predator. Unlike a wild animal, who's life depends upon protecting their body from injury and not taking any risks that might render them unable to hunt, stray dogs aren't concerned about that.
They know that they'll have no trouble finding food from humans. They kill and injure animals, not for food, but because they instictually enjoy it.