Predatory Invasive Specie Down.

[twins]

So what do you do when a pet continually prefers your yard to leave surprises? Shoot them?

Many pets do not have an "owners tag". The tag or license is not required in my state. Guess you shoot those too?

I suspect we would not get along.

To answer your questions:
On the topic of pet surprises. If I talked to the owners and they disregard my concerns and not keep their pets indoor or leashed, yes, the pet will be worm food. I have the right to keep my property to my standard. The owners have the right to keep their pets on their property and the right to follow the law.

On the topic of owners tag. If a pet without owners tag comes on my property and is menacing (threatening to my kids or wildlife or leave surprises), same answer as above. If they're not menacing (ie, passing through), welcome.

On the topic of getting along. Just as long as you follow the laws and be a responsible pet owner, I see no problem why we can't get a long. If an owner cannot control their pet(s), they should not keep the pet(s).

+1 to Art & hogdogs responses

 

[hogdogs]

As for "cats vs. dogs"... I have seen far more starving stray dogs so I am convinced they ain't the best hunters... Also, I have different laws regarding dogs. They are considered to be private property (unlike loose cats) of the owner. If one threatens, people, dogs or "livestock", I will treat them the same as I do the feral cats which do not have such restrictions on them.

Currently, there is a male stray curr dog that has been living (noticed) on my place for 4-5 days... he hasn't opted to live on his own so now I have to decide if I rather put another "cull" thrown away deer huntin' dog on the public dole.

Brent

 

[22-rimfire]

Tis how feuds get started along with many other reasons. In the end, nobody is really right but what happens is that everybody ends up with a lot of dead dogs and cats by whatever means necessary to get the job done. Nobody is happy. I believe one has to be respectful of other people's property and feelings. You need to bend a little at times even if you don't really like the neighbor's dog, hanging out in your yard because you have other pets, the grass is greener, or they simply like the view better.

This type of thing does not apply only to pets, it also applies to chickens, ducks, pigs, cattle, and any other creature that wanders or flys onto somebody else's property. They don't know about property lines. The whole scenario can get rather testy between neighbors who otherwise have a civil and often friendly relationship.

But truly feral cats and dogs, I have no pity for.

 

[treg]

Hogdogs, your pics make me guilty on two counts of jealousy.

A) No tee-shirts and shorts yet, we still have snow on the ground.

B) It's illegal to kill stray / feral cats here.

 

[shortwave]

We took care of our pets and didn't worry about others.

Just think, if everyone had that attitude, there would never be a thread such as this.

For someone to get any pet and let it randomly run loose shows zero consideration/respect for their neighbors. Period! Doesn't matter to me if its a cat, dog, horse or bull.
I live in a very rural area and my thoughts and the way I deal with this whole situation mirrors Arts thoughts to a tee. I've had neighbors dogs get loose in which I've caught and taken home. Had one neighbors coon dog that broke its chain, got deep down in the woods and got the chain he was dragging wrapped around a tree. He bayed all day long in 90degree + weather, driving my dogs crazy all day long. When I got home from work, the wife was "on tilt"(she kept our dogs in the house all day but had to listen to them all day)..
I found the dog and as I approached him, it was evident this dog was dehydrated but had more than enough left in him to snarl and snap at me. After a couple minutes of talking to him I was able to get him untangled. We went to the garage,got a chain repair link and walked to where he lived. Nobody home so I re-chained him at his doghouse ,got him some water and left. Called neighbor later that evening informing him he needed to replace the old chain.

On the flip side of the coin, like many rural areas, this is a perfect area for inconsiderate, self centered, irresponsible, cowardly morons to dump their pets. The newness of their pet has worn off(like a little kid after Christmas that the newness of their present wears off and they throw the toy in the corner) and they dump them. These people aren't smart enough to realize and consider the years of responsibility of having a pet and don't have the guts to either find a good home for the unwanted pet, take it to a shelter or humanely/quickly kill it.
Soooo.... Being the POS they are they take this now unwanted pet out and drop it off for someone else to deal with :barf:

Again, not only is this animal abuse in its highest form cause the animal now has to fend for itself and in many cases in the winter, suffers a lengthy, torturous death of literally starving/freezing to death. What a way to go huh.

I've spoken to Animal Control several times at length about this and their response has always been "although they know there's a big problem out here, this is to vast an area to effectively control the problem".
They(AC) do the best they can do and I understand what they're saying.
I also understand what I was instructed to do and that was to shoot them.

It upsets me tremendously when I have to kill a stray but I'll continue till another solution comes along.

Again, a duty left to me by some idiot of society(putting it lightly).

 

[MLeake]

I understand about livestock...

... as we have a few horses ourselves (Holsteiners, big ones, and on the expensive side too).

If a dog were molesting the horses, ideally I'd be able to figure out who owned it, and get the owner to deal with it up front. In a more acute case...
I have the luxury of not having any foals at the moment. A dog that gets too stupid with one of our 16 to 18 hand horses will probably get its head kicked off.

But, before that happened, I'd try to catch the dog. Odds are I'd have a gun on my hip, as I normally do, but my first line weapon would be a leash and slip collar; the gun would be a last resort.

I've caught loose dogs ranging from coon-hounds to pit bulls to mastiffs. Most weren't in our paddocks, but you get the idea. If it's feral, you won't get close enough to catch it. If it's a pet, in most cases, it will allow the approach. That's one tip-off.

As noted, I've had dogs get loose before. Not all that often, and despite my measures taken against it. (On one occasion, a neighbor let my dog out of his enclosure to play with her kid, while I was at work...) But my dogs are not deliberately allowed to run loose, nor are most of the dogs beloging to people I know.

In one case, a neighbor had an "underground fence." His dog was a large, unusually aggressive chocolate lab. That dog scared quite a few folks who didn't know about the underground fence, as he'd sprint right up to the property line, but he never posed an actual threat. Another neighbor had a 130lb German Shepherd who was so extremely-well trained that he would not step outside of the yard. "Charlie" used to run around his yard, unleashed and unfenced, all day. Luckily, nobody in our neighborhood back then was afraid of dogs.

I did have one neighbor who kept letting her dog run loose, in a rural neighborhood; it was smallish, maybe 30lbs, but high energy. For some reason, it kept wanting to get into our paddock. I let the neighbor know, but she insisted on letting the dog run loose. She and her husband both acknowledged that a horse might kill the dog, and if so, they'd be out of luck. Happily, that never happened.

So, yes, there are some dog owners out there who make me scratch my head. But there are a lot of cases of dogs that just manage to tunnel under or climb over fences, or slip through doors, etc. Anybody who has owned a pet (or for that matter raised a kid) knows that they can, on occasion, get past the best-laid barriers and plans.

 

[HeroHog]

I love my cats and they live INSIDE ONLY. They have collars, tags and shots and are spayed/neutered. I also have no problem killing feral kittens. We had some get in the roof of the building were staying and a few fell in between the walls. When I figured out where they were and cut the drywall and got them out, I took them outside and dispatched them. It would be more cruel to let them struggle to survive on their own than to put them down as far as I am concerned so I did what I think is best. If I caught the momma, she would have gone as well!

 

[markj]

I will say this with all seriousness... if you shot one of my pets, I would want to hurt you.

Everyone that loves animals feels this way, so to better protect them, please keep them off my place. I use a electric buried wire fencer to keep my pets in my 5 acres of land set aside just for their use. I have had other animals get on the place and try to harm mine or get at the livestock. under Iowa law I am able to shoot these animals with no legal repurcussions. So if a person gets their animal killed by letting it run about, well I for one would be ****** off to the max that someone let their animal loose and I had to deal with it.

2 sides to every story. lov the pet, keep it home and no worries. Last cat I shot was deep into the garbage bin, owner shoulda fed the thing and kept it home.

 

[cornbush]

Here, if your animal is caught killing livestock and shot because of it, The pet owner not only loses his pet, but has to pay for the livestock the pet killed PLUS the offspring the livestock would have produced in 2 or 3 years. That can get very expensive.

This also goes for wild game in most places, YOU are liable.
I shot a german shorthair one day while it was running a cow and calf elk, cow had to be shot later, calf died while the game warden and county sheriff were talking.
I could see the owner laughing with his buddy at what was going on.....so I stopped it. When he called the sheriff after threatening me, I waited and explained what happened. I also showed him the calf which had collapsed from blood loss due to bites from the dog and about a 3 foot loop of intestine hanging out. The cow was about 200 yards away laying down with less severe wounds but totally exhausted. About this time the game warden showed up. The dogs owner was ranting and raving about having me arrested. The warden went and talked with the sheriff and looked over the critters, the calf had died. They came back and told the owner he could pick up his dead dog and leave quietly, or keep making a scene and be arrested. The charges he would be facing were 1 count poaching, 2 counts harassment of wildlife, 2 counts wanton destruction of wildlife, and animal at large.
Sounds pretty harsh, but people's loose animals, strays and true ferals are a big problem in that area.

Would I have shot it if the owner was making an attempt to remedy the situation.....no. Would I do it again..... yes. I would also not hold any ill will if it was my dog doing the damage and someone else did the same thing.

 

[Old Grump]

In the middle of farm country and neighbors have young stock in the spring. Coyotes are bad enough but when a dog pack goes after lambs, kids and piglets they kill for the killing, not for the food. They get shot on sight.

I trained my dogs not to leave the property and when we were off the property they were trained not to chase livestock or deer. If you can't train your dog to do that you shouldn't be allowed to have a dog.

 

[shortwave]

cornbush,

That dog owner would have been paying me for a calf and any vet bills I might have incurred with the cow.

One thing I've learned is if you get in a moronic dog owner's pocket such as the one laughing about his dog attacking livestock, even if he gets another dog he'll usually keep it at home.

Granted, the best of trained dogs can/sometimes will leave their compound. If I see my neighbors dog chasing my livestock, I'll do my best to stop him or catch him and take him home. The owner and I are going to have a hopefully peaceful talk about dogs running livestock. I and my livestock won't take a steady diet of this and if the dogs got a hold of a cow then he won't get a second chance. If I don't recognize the aggressively chasing dog, well he doesn't get a second chance either.

If my dog is chasing neighbors livestock, I can't be mad if the dog is shot.

I live in the middle of the woods and the yard is about 5acres. The shephard we have doesn't care for other dogs except our pomeranian. She rules the roost..

The shephard stays mostly in the house unless he's out with me in the yard. If I let him out to do his business he goes no further than 5-10ft into the woods, does his business , returns to the deck and will sit by the front door till he's let in. He will NOT leave that deck. But just in case he would, he wears a shock collar. The collar has a vibrate/shock mode in which if you want to get his attention you hit the vibrate mode and if he's getting into trouble you can hit the shock mode. Distance on the collar is either 3 or 5mi. Can't remember which.
I've spent alot of time and $'s training him to stay at his own home. He's become part of the family. I don't want strays here passing Parvo and such to my animals. I don't want vet bills when a stray comes in the yard and my dog does his job of protecting his home. I don't want to go out in my yard and step in a present a stray has left, I wouldn't have spent the time training mine to go in the woods.

Again,

If

We took care of our pets and didn't worry about others

,
this thread wouldn't exist.

 

[Deerhunter]

My buddies uncle owned a small farm. People always dropped off cats there. One of the deals was that we could hunt the whole property as long as we shot every cat we saw.

I now have a couple running in my neighborhood. Seems like it is time to get a new pellet rifle. How come you have to have your dog on a leash or in a fenced yard and registered but you can let your cats run free. People should not be allowed to let their cats run outside free. Fine if they do as long as they don't come into my yard.

I hate cats. My finance has one. I hate the thing. It decided to start peeing in my bar room. I told her it would have to go if she didn't fix it. We got these 9volt battery operated electric shock mats for the floor. Man that cat wont go near them things. I turned on one high and put him on it so he got the idea and he about went through the ceiling.

 

[hogdogs]

How come you have to have your dog on a leash or in a fenced yard and registered but you can let your cats run free. People should not be allowed to let their cats run outside free.

I don't know if it is a state law or just by local jurisdiction but I know of no place in florida where it is legal to allow cats to run free.

But I do know that there is NO enforcement in any area I have lived. Many locales will put out live traps or loan them to you but they come pick up the stray and stick it in a pound so we can spend the $25 per day in expenses.

Brent

 

[egor20]

Deerhunter

I own a small farm in Northern Virginia, don't shoot at my cats please, they work for a living.

 

[hogdogs]

don't shoot at my cats please, they work for a living.

But then the shooter would be trespassin'...

Brent

 

[Deerhunter]

I live in a neighborhood, not out in the country. I have a whole 1/3 of an acre. I have no problem shooting a cat that keeps hanging on my property.

I had a rabbit when I was a kid and my sister had them a few years later that the cats would get after. This was up in PA. I put a BB or pellet in every cat I saw in my parent's yard.

If you don't want me shooting your pet cat keep the thing in the house where it belongs. If you want to take it outside put it on a leash. Trust me my fiancee does in the summer with her cat.

 

[egor20]

hogdogs

Was just joking with Deerhunter, but yeh, trespass, and the cats might just figure out how to use the scoped Galil in my safe.

 

[markj]

Cats just dont care who owns the land they walk on, well cept for the ones in my area, cross my land them dogs get free meat.

 

[Art Eatman]

This thread sorta looks like it has run its course.

Don't despair; the subject will undoubtedly reappear...