Neighbor's DOGS running free in season
General Topic
SO. Wanted your thoughts on how to handle this. (Please refrain from "just shoot" the dogs because we aren't going to do that).
Neighbor has German Shepard dogs that run free year round. Last year they were seen while we were hunting on numerous occasions. Last year we politely asked him to tie them up for a 10 day time frame at the beginning of November so at the very least we could have an undisturbed hunting property during that time. Well, they were free and roaming day and night again this year.
He's a farmer and not a hunter. We aren't to the point of calling in authorities or wardens or anything yet. How do you approach this while trying to keep the peace? Thanks.
Catch them, pen them up, let lose after hunting season. Lol seriously though, if he won’t honor your request, I don’t know what friendly tactic you could use. My dog runs loose but he doesn’t leave my 200 acres, most of the time not the yard. I have no respect for people that let their animals roam beyond their property. Maybe you could buy him one of those chain link pens and pour a concrete pad for him. ;)
The guy obviously doesn't give a rip about doing as you politely asked last year, so "keeping the peace" is probably not going to happen unless you don't do anything and just let the dogs keep ruining your hunting. It's against the law in most areas for a dog to run loose off the owner's property, so if that's the case with these dogs about your only alternative is to get law enforcement officials involved to take care of the situation. Short of that and/or shooting them when it's not the dogs that are at fault for just being dogs you'll just have to live with the situation.
You don't say if you have contacted him this year. It might be a stretch for a non-hunting farmer to remember that he needs to pen his dogs come November. If you haven't, you might start with a friendly reminder. It may end up being a yearly reminder, but could be better than most of the alternatives.
Back in the day, I knew a guy that had his chickens killed by his neighbors dog. Multiple times.
He talked to the dog's owner about the problem to no avail.
So one day, this guy stopped his pickup at the end of his neighbors long driveway, rolled down his window and shot that dog right off the neighbors porch.
Im not advocating shooting dogs, but there are times to put on your big boy pants and deal with the problem so it doesnt continue.
Or deal with it as it is
Sorry,, good point. yes he was reminded of it at the beginning of October.... again.
Catch the dogs and give them away to a good home at the nearest Walmart. Lol
Or find some Vietnamese that might give you a few dollars for them. ;)
Is the dog on your property Dale or is it property you have permission to hunt? If it's on your property I would catch the dog and bring it to the owner's place and politely let him know the dog was running loose on your land and the next time you catch him he's going to the pound or in the ground whichever. If it's just land you have permission on then you really don't have many options as it's likely the landowner who lets you hunt gets along well with his neighbor and isn't going to let a deer chasing dog mess that up. If that is the case then not much you can do other than talking to the neighbor again to ask him if there's anything he can do to help the situation.
Perhaps explain that you've noticed an increase in coyote numbers on the property you are hunting and will be starting an aggressive trapping program for the first two weeks of November, with dozens of traps around the property you hunt. For the safety of his dogs you recommend that he keep them leashed during that period.
Yeah there’s no reasonable solution.
What overland said. Get a trappers lisence and follow the law. Let the dog owner know you are working on predator control and would hate to snare or catch his poor pooch in a trap (MB550 are great btw). I have used that one before and worked like a charm. The dogs amazingly stay home.
I had the same problem with one of my neighbors. He has 7 German shepherds and I spoke with him several times about keeping them penned up during unless he is with them deer season which is 3 months long . He always answered "yeah I'll take care of it." His answer was to turn them loose at night so he thought I wouldn't know. I'm in my stands before daylight so I knew what he was doing and confronted him several more times. Then another neighbor visited him who was not as tactful as me and told him he was shooting them the next time he saw them on his place. He has been known to do such things and finally got his attention. Haven't seen them out without him since.
I like the option guys mentioned about predatory control. I'd also say that I do it year round. Screw the couple weeks of November gig. If you're going to go through with making a change, make a full change. A full change or a half a change are going to cause you the same grief. Might as well stop it year round. I'm sure your hunting would get better if deer aren't being run off ALL YEAR round.
Like some have said, it's not the dogs' fault. In most places dogs can't legally run free. Even if it is legal, it's not safe for the dogs, people, or wildlife and is just irresponsible as a dog owner any time of the year. We had this problem with one of our neighbors (mostly 40 acre properties). I politely asked him to control his dogs. When that didn't work, I showed him the statute that addressed free ranging dogs. This wasn't the first un-neighborly issue we had had with him, and before the dog issue went any farther, he sold the property. But I wasn't going to hesitate to call animal control if he continued to let them roam.
First, don't shoot a dog unless it's doing REAL damage to your property and/or is truly feral. Shooting a neighbor's free-running pet is a way to make an enemy for life and put your own dog or property in jeopardy. Killing a dog for messing up a hunt or inconveniencing you is just bad karma.
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Just this fall: I killed a great deer while the weather was cold, so decided to hang it for several days to age. My neighbor's 4 large free-running dogs got to the deer (in my shed) at night and basically devoured 2/3 of it. I have the pictures of the dogs on the carcass in my shed to prove it. I could have easily killed any of them. I called the dog warden and they took the appropriate action. The warden told me if the neighbor's dogs are running free (on my property) again to notify her (the warden) and she will increase the severity of the penalty. The goal is to stop the dog roaming without killing dogs or completely alienating a neighbor for life.
Trust me on one thing: People who let their dogs run loose all the time...are NOT willing to inconvenience themselves by tying or confining their dogs. I've seen this for a lot of decades and they just WON'T do it in 99% of the cases. It almost always comes down to a confrontation and threat....or a visit by the local enforcement authority. Your neighbor might choose to ignore you....but he won't be able to ignore an officer or the court. It's your decision how to proceed.
Same exact thing happening to me
Catch and take them to nearest pound
So easy to contain them with an invisible fence these days and fairly inexpensive. I feel the owner has no love for his dog if he lets them run loose. You took the right first step. Time to call the authorities.
"How do you approach this while trying to keep the peace?"
.
Go have a friendly eye-to-eye talk with him. Explain your needs. Ask him to keep them off your property. Be persuasive. Be kind. Be firm. Let him know you're a dog lover and you're trying to do the right thing. Hopefully he gets it and does the right thing, too.
If that doesn't work, you have 3 choices. Ignore the dogs and deal with it. Go get somewhat tough with the dog owner and give him a demand to keep them confined. Call your dog warden or sheriff to report.
I agree with Habitat, have them picked up by local animal control. It's obvious your neighbor has no respect for your concerns, so why should you bend and give in the name of peace, he obviously doesn't see it that way. In Colorado it's considered a form of trespassing when ones animals are on someone else's property without consent. If it were me, he's already been advised, I wouldn't be so nice about it anymore, and let him know the possible consequences for not controlling his dogs, do you know if the dogs aren't killing deer or other wildlife? Best of luck!! Remember it's your ground not his
This all depends on your state laws, but the best LAWFUL way to handle this is to call the sherrif, animal control, or whatever your local entity is. The fly in the ointment is....will they actually do anything about it ? In Texas, if you kill a dog you better have evidence that it was attacking you, your pet, or your livestock. Just being on your property won't cut it. The way I handled it was as Overland suggested, only I was actually trapping coyotes and bobcats all winter. There's a county road N of my property and several dogs at these house. I put up signs on the road letting the neighbors know what was happening and I noticed very few dogs on my game cams after that. I had seven, count 'em.....seven donkeys terrorizing my food plots, but the idiot neighbor woman finally got them out after the animal control officer scolded her. They haven't been back since. The guys who run dogs chasing hogs are a totally different deal. They tresspass on everyone as if it were their land. In ten years of owning this place, I've probably caught hog dogs on camera 6 or 8 times, mostly in spring, so it's not too bad, but I don't like it. Never caught any humans in person, only once on camera, and I'm kinda glad about that, because I would be really pissed and it would not be good.
Is "a dog running wildlife" illegal in your state....in many states it is. If it is tell the Warden he was running deer. Maybe lightening his pocketbook will wake him up. I would never even consider it but in my area they will shoot a dog in a heartbeat....if they`re not seeing deer they just might shoot it in his own yard just because they`re bored.
There's ways to Haze the dogs like they do bears and other wildlife without killing them. Make it unpleasant for them in your area. #8 shot in the ass from some distance would work well!
#8 shot misplaced can blind them. Rubber bullets for shotguns are readily available. I still doubt it’d work and it’d take a whole lot of “dog hunting.”
My kid’s have 2 labs and they bark when no one’s home. A neighbor told us and my neighbor that he was gonna kill our dogs if he kept hearing barking. All our dogs now live inside when no one’s home. I don’t know if he’d do it, but I wasn’t taking the chance.
That's why you shoot em in the ass Ike and from a good distance
Pound if he has name tags...we have to pay to get them back here
Come on guys, many ridiculous responses. If you shoot the dogs, you shoot to kill, period. Why would you purposely wound any animal.
As an owner of a pack of German Shepherds (fenced, not running loose), you are not going to "catch" them unless you resort to traps. "That dog will bite you"... Haha.
The best response has been letting the dog owner know you are running traps for coyote (i.e. rogue German Shepherds, etc.).
Best of luck.
It's not any fault of the dogs. Perhaps you should redirect your shot in the ass to the dog owner.
I called the local dog guy and he gave a choice of a ticket or penning. Chose penning. Problem solved.
I would never shoot somebody’s dog. In Pa it’s legal to shoot a dog if it’s chasing deer. I still wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t call the law either. Your hunt will be over by the time they do anything which would be slap the guy on thecwrist. I’m a diy guy. Lol I’d catch the dogs and put them in crates. I’d keep them nice and cozy and well fed. And turn them loose when I was done hunting. No harm done to the dogs. No harm done to your relationship with the neighbor. And no harm done to your hunting. I’d just make darn sure he didn’t find out.
I truly do not know why any grown man would have to come to the internet to ask what others think about something like this. Come on man, do you want sympathy or are you truly confused how to communicate with your neighbor?
You've been nice. Now, be very clear that you will see his dogs stay off your land. Let him figure out the details. You don't own them, they aren't your problem to deal with, and neither is he. But, confront him and tell him what your problem is, what you expect out of him since he owns them, and that this isn't the first time you've requested it. Make sure he understands you aren't joking and will see this through. Remember this isn't the first time. Act accordingly and fix it.
If that doesn't work, contact the proper agency. If that doesn't work, get creative. Just be proactive.
I tell my neighbours when I had a dog if he goes to your place shoot him cause he’s no good to me there, u can’t have dogs running around the country most often there chasing everything in site.
Had the same problem a few years ago. The 2 dogs were friendly but the owner wasn't. My solution after several attempts to try and get the guy to be responsible and reasonable was to douse both dogs with skunk scent. Never saw them after that!
Not offering a solution to this problem but just wanted to pass along my experience. I've been trapping coyotes on my farm for the last 10+ years. The first couple of years some of the neighbors' dogs stepped in the traps. Different neighbors and different dogs every time. I called Animal Control to help remove them from the traps.
Every single dog owner said that it couldn't be their dog because their dog wouldn't travel that far from home. Hahahahaha!!! The owners of loose dogs simply will not take responsibility for their dogs as a couple of folks have already stated above.
It is worth noting that not a single dog ever stepped in a trap a second time.
Generally, the foothold traps don't hurt an animal's foot (but sometimes they do).
Few people are as irresponsible as dog owners living in the country. Broad brush? Yep. My neighbor has 4 dogs including a white sheep dog that thinks it owns the entire county. It's a fairly aggressive/scary animal too. Probably 150 pounds...
Numerous talks with them about the problem has yielded nothing but hard feelings on both sides. 'Many' dog owners simply don't give a crap.
My bro in law lets his dogs run free. They end up in the pound every couple weeks. It costs him $20 to get them back. He is surrounded by public hunting land and our gun season starts this Saturday. I’m willing to bet money that his dogs don’t make it to the pound next week.
I would never kill a stray but a lot of guys will. Especially if the dog is screwing up a hunt.
Kodiak mentioned aggressive and scary loose dogs. I've heard of bike riders carrying either bear spray or wasp spray to deter loose dogs from chasing them on bikes. Both have a 20-30' range and are non lethal.
Animal control first, and if that doesn’t work the dog disappears. Those of you who say don’t hurt the dog it doesn’t know it’s behavior is bad are completely right on the latter, but once a dog chases deer it’s tough to break the habit. Growing up in farm country, stray dogs = SSS. Still works if the animal control doesn’t.
If it's your ground or you have a lease then it's time to call animal control or the sheriff.
My neighbor and I have had a similar relationship, Although I communicate with him frequently and we are on good terms.
He lets his dogs follow him out the driveway, to the pavement, then they wander back home on their own. Good exercise for the dogs, but it takes them most of the day to wander back to his place. Which means they are wandering on my place most of the day. Yappy Jack russells. the two miles of driveway is mostly though my land, and they will irritate the grouse, rabbits, all small game and any big game they can get near.
He refuses to stop the practice, so I inform him before hunting season that I am bringing in a coyote trapper, and he will stay through the wolf trapping season. My land is recreational for me I don't live there like he does so I do not know if he stops completely but I don't see the dogs as often Aug. through Dec. He knows the risks, one of them has been run over, they have been taken to the pound a couple of times.
Usually takes a stern stop it to get him to listen. Had a similar issue this fall, I had stacked all the tree tops in 8 foot lengths from my summer logging project. I had them stacked on the edge of the road as I had done for several years. Come next summer I sell them to a neighbor for firewood. This summer he cut them up and took them home. I got on him and said that wasn't ok. He offered to pay, but I'm a good neighbor and I usually take him firewood anyways, so now I don't have to. But I let him know it was not ok and he needed to cut wood somewhere else than on my property. A couple of weeks later I come up on him felling a tree out on my place. Again, dude, not acceptable, or you will pay for the wood.
To the best of my knowledge he has quit, cutting wood for the fall, and I have not seen the dogs, this hunting season, but it takes consistent communication with him, "when he is sober helps".
oz
WV Mountaineer- Are you serious? This is a discussion forum and I clearly asked for opinions on how to handle it,, basically what others have had luck with.. Based on what I can see there are 10 different ways to handle It and a number of those I didn't think of prior to posting the question. You are going to question my manhood for posting this question? LOL. yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Thanks to the rest of you for responding with ideas and solutions. Much appreciated!
Mule Power, only a Game Commission Officer can shoot a dog in PA for chasing deer. It must be attacking for the average Joe to kill it, and you better have a way to prove it.
§ 2384. Declaring dogs public nuisances.
Any dog pursuing or following upon the track of any big game animal in such close pursuit as to endanger the big game animal or to be in the act of attacking the big game animal at any time is hereby declared to be a public nuisance and may be destroyed as provided in this title.
Cross References. Section 2384 is referred to in section 2385 of this title; section 5561 of Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses).
§ 2385. Destruction of dogs declared public nuisances.
(a) General rule.--A dog declared a public nuisance pursuant to section 2384 (relating to declaring dogs public nuisances) may be killed by any commission officer at any time or by any person when the dog is found to be in the act of attacking a big game animal.
Wow BigOz, sounds like a classy neighbor. Either you are an extremely patient guy or your neighbor must be a big fella.
Only trouble I have is the neighbor across the county road has cattle that won’t stay in. A few months ago he was calling them in at midnight with a police siren. I text him the next morning that the next time I’m not holding my pregnant wife back. He got the picture.
Link He's my only neighbor within a couple of miles, I don't make it to the property (cabin) but once a week, or at times once a month. Therefore I choose to put up with some crap.
no he is tiny, barely over 5 ft, and 140 lbs at most. ornery little drunk though. He can't make it in society, he chooses to live remote so that he stays out of trouble, for the most part. He needs the dogs for companionship, so again I put up with alot. We have a local celebration called cabin fever days, after watching him through the winter, cabin fever is a real thing. He gets weird after talking to himself all winter, real weird. So I try to be his connection to reality at times.
oz
anyways not to hi-jack the thread, my solution communicate, communicate, communicate. let him know in conversation what a pain it is to have dogs running, let him know you don't let your own dog run. let him know there are reasons.
If simple discussion fails, always contact the sheriff or warden. Never take the law into your own hands, especially over a dumb deer or hunting issue.
in reality there is nothing you can do about it.
If it's that big of a problem call the authorities and let them handle it. But if the dogs run loose year round the deer know how to avoid them and I can't see how it will ruin your hunts. Occasionally it might happen but I can deal with a little inconvenience to keep it peaceful with my neighbor.
Pump the breaks brother. I admit, my charm is often not stated well. I try to do the best I can. Which is lacking still yet. So, now I have the time and the awareness, I’ll do better.
First, your exact words are precisely one reason I stated that. You are going to get A bunch of responses from people just assuming, three or four from people who have actually did it, three or four telling you to shoot the dogs, three or four stating how anyone that would shoot a dog is breaking the law and should be hung from the galley, and a bunch more with varaiations mixed in. That’s reason number one.
Reason number two, is if you go along the lines of dealing with the dogs in any manner suggested here, it could come back to haunt you. Whether you did or didn’t kill them, break the law, etc... Pissing off the owner or, doing something that allows him to question your motives or actions will lead to a direct interview with your local law enforcement. And, at that point, your forced to prove your innocence. With proof you were willing to entertain any suggestions from strangers, that could be harder then not. Go to goggle and type in “dealing with your neighbors dogs” and see where a link to this thread pops up.
Third reason is you are first hand involved here. Every single situation is different. And only you will know how to handle it. If you were totally out of ideas, I understand your thoughts of posting being a good thing. But, understand my previous two points to understand my response regardless.
This is the World Wide Web. EVERYONE who has access now owns the reality that you hit a problem with your neighbors dogs. And have received every conceivable way on how to deal with. That’s not good man. Especially if something happened to the dogs.
I love dogs. More so then some people. I value a good dog very highly. Whether I own him or not. I truly love them. But, life see’s everyone in weird and hard situations. And it sometimes calls for discretion in how you are going to deal with it. I’m unfortunately talking from experience on this one. So, Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do and wander about the rest. This is one of those times. Regardless of what you intend to do.
Since you asked, I gave you the advice I’ve learned as the only alternative once you express your opinion to anyone. Including the owner.
I wish you the best of luck. And, I’m dead serious about that too.
Had a neighbor dog killing my chickens several times. Neighbors would do nothing. Said they would move if their dog couldn’t do as it pleased. Believe it or not, they moved! Another chicken killer showed up.... I got a large cage coyote trap. Caught the killer a couple days later. He is now residing in another county. You have to do something. The will kill chickens, and will kill fawns.
Yep, my problem was a chicken killing dog. The issues irresponsible dog owners present to other people should be criminal.
We killed many dogs last year running deer on our property. If the neighbor won’t keep them on his land then eliminate them.
If you got a paint ball gun and his dogs started coming home with paint splotches on them, he'd get the idea real quick and you won't hurt the animals. TMBB
