What can be done about people dumping off dogs or rather the dogs they leave behind?

Question

I live in a extremly rural area. Often people will drive by my neck of the woods and dump dogs at night. Many of these dogs are a serious nusiance. They destroy livestock and property. Many live wild for months because of local poultry houses have a compost bin for dead chickens. These dogs dig the chickens out of the bins and eat parts of them leaving much of the "parts" scatered around my property.
They attack livestock and have done thousands of dollars of damage to mine and neighbors farms.

I have tried taking some to shelters but they are to full and will not accept them. I have tried also to give them away free in the paper and bulitin boards in town. I have carried some to town in a cage and tried to give them away. No one wants them.

I can't handle them there is to many. There is no dog catcher in my area. I have called the sheriff and it took 8 hours to get a deputy out here just to tell me he can't do anything.

The deputy told me to "Do what you have to do to protect your property".

One of the neighbors recently was in court over this very thing. His was a little different his was about one of his neighbors has dozens of dogs causing trouble. The judge told him he has the right to protect his property.

What can be done?

I have called every animal shelter in north central Arkansas. They all say they can't do anything or they are over run.

I have called the humaine society. They were very upset over what is happening to the livestock, they are animals to.

I am a big fan of spaying and neutering. But that does not help the problem at hand.

These dogs keep me up at night and have pushed me very far. I am constantly chasing them at night, that is when it is worse.

Brother Don every chicken farm in my area is the same. 100's of chickens die each month. The dogs are mostly in my neighbors' bins for dead chickens.


Any one of these dogs under the right circumstances could have been my pet. I haven't yet seen another solution than what I have already tried. It is not an easy thing to do, what absolutly has to be done. Many of these dogs CAN NOT be caught. Some of these dogs will not let me get with in 500 - 600yards. I have been shoping for a varmit rifle instead of using my deer rifle. I have had to put a few dogs down. There are a few that I have caught attacking livestock that can't be left alone.

What about the dogs I can not catch and I have NOT seen attacking livestock. Should I shoot them too or should I let them go wild.

I will leave this open in case some else can come up with something different.

This boils down that there are to many dogs period.

I have no trouble shooting a dog that is attacking livestock. I hate shooting a simple stray. In time, I have seen it happen over and over, these strays get in packs and together they become a nusience. These are the one that need to be handled. Sooner or later they will cause trouble for all of us.

One we had someone to dump about 4 German shepards. These dogs lived for over a year in the wild, mostly because they get food from dead chickens. The turned very mean. I once was rabbit hunting when one chased after me. I shot it once and it still kept running at me. I shot it a second time when it was only about 10 feet from me.

Lenore I will check the link you gave me thanks.

Ariana - One animal a horse or cow can cost 100's of dollars. I raise white tail deer also. A newborn fawn can cost over $1,000. I woud not sacrifice one over a stray dog. As much as I'd hate to I'd rather shoot every stray over loosing one of my own animals. Since they are my big concern to start with.

I have considered droping them off at shelters but they have secruity cameras and if I get caught it is a big fine. Not to mention most of them I can't catch.

IF SOMEONE READS THIS AFTER I CLOSE THIS AND HAS AN IDEA PLEASE EMAIL ME.

for the record I did not give anyone a thumbs down.

Answer 1

Sounds like you got two options.
1.Shoot some dogs.
2.Do away with their source of food.


Make that three
3.Load them up and take them to a place where there is a dog catcher.

Answer 2

In all honesty, I know what your going through, it sucks but if you have no other resources and it sounds like you've done what you could. Try setting up with a local vet to have them humanely euthanized. Shooting them is probably illegal and unless your an ace shooter and can hit your mark every single time inhumane, poisoning them is a dangerous option if you have livestock and other pets. If you call around to vets in your area I'm sure they'll understand the situation and will probably help you out for a reasonable price. I know I'm getting a thumbs down for this but when so many people dump dogs near your property there isn't much that can be done for them when you don't have a real shelter. You might even want to look up the legalities of disposal and offer to dispose of them after the vet euthanizes them. That is usually a big part of the cost of euthanizing an animal.

Hate me if you want but I'm from the country (originally) too, and I've seen this happen, my grandfather deals with it on a daily basis and since the nearest town (15 miles vs 60) has a population of 262 people, no police, sheriffs office or animal control, he and a few others in town worked out a pool so that they can pay for these animals to be euthanized by a traveling vet that comes once a week. They still post flyers just in case, but I think he's had MAYBE one response. If you get any purebreds, call that purebred rescue and ask if they have any resources for those dogs. Otherwise good luck, it's a crappy situation and you sound like you've done the best you could under the circumstances, but sometimes there are few options.

KittenSlayer: EXCELLENT idea, even if he doesn't actually shoot them, which may actually be illegal (some states are funny about the circumstances etc, and ARs will go nuts over it if they find out)

Answer 3

I imagine the sheriff means you can shoot them if need be. Please dont do that, you are in a pretty crappy situation but there must be something else that can be done. Try contacting an animal shelter or dog catcher from another city, there has to be someone out there that can help you or at least point you in the right direction. How often are these dogs being dumped? Its such a sad situation, I cant believe people do that. Maybe you should consider getting one of those spy cams and putting it on your mailbox by the road or something so maybe you can catch the culprits. Goodluck!

I actually think kittenslayer might be on to something. Putting up signs stating that abandoned animals will be shot, this might discourage people from abandoning their animals (even though you might not have intentions of shooting them). On the other hand, it might not as these people clearly do not care about these dogs if they are abandoning them on the side of the road.

Answer 4

Obviously the deputy was hinting that you shoot them. I grew up in a rural area with the same problem with both cats and dogs, but there was an anomal shelter that was always willing to take in any sort of critters. Aside from finding a shelter that can take them or finding homes, the only thing you really can do is shoot them, unless you're willing to take them in yourself. I don't advocate shooting animals--especially "pets"--but there's nothing else to be done if you aren't willing to take them in and keep them fed well enough to keep them out of the trash. When I was a child, my dad shot several cats that strayed onto our property and fought with our cats. Like I said, I don't like the idea, but it's about protecting your property.

Or I guess you could catch them and go drop the off elsewhere, so they're someone else's problem, but that's not really a great idea, either.

Answer 5

To solve the problem you have to change the mentality of the people. Not a small task. You can only take so many in, and if law enforcement and animal control won't help...well, it's a problem.

Does your county/state have animal control you can contact? Or do they just say "shelter's full, sorry"? By saying "do what you have to do" he's saying shoot them. Which for a person like you and me isn't a solution. The dogs didn't ask to be dumped! It's the HUMANS who have the problem.

Contact the ASPCA in your area too. They may know of private refuges that could help.

Answer 6

I am sorry to hear about your problem, I am a dog lover so I don't want you to hurt them but I'm sure it is frustrating to have them around destroying things. It's wrong where you live will not take care of the problem, I would call or write your state officials and explain the problem with your local government. Also call around to several shelters even if they are not close. Maybe a rescue group can pick the dogs up and take them or you can transport them and they will take them for you, either way good luck!

Answer 7

A solution for the livestock, you may have to sacrifice one of your animals but it should work unless these dogs are really really stupid. This was done as a test by scientists to try to prevent coyotes and wolves from eating farmers animals. They would take one of the animals kill it keep its hide and make "noxious burgers" which were the animals meat with a substance (like ipecac or something similar that makes animals throw up) and put in the hide and spread in places around the property. The animals would eat the gross meat get sick from it and associate the animal with sickness. Some of the coyotes they did this to had such a strong aversion to the (in their case) sheep that they would actually start vomiting when captured and placed in the same room as one, not a single coyote that ate the spoiled meat ever killed a sheep again. It was extremely effective but most farmers didnt want to kill one of their livestock to solve the problem.
Hopefully you try this before you try shooting, like I said unless these dogs are really really stupid their natural instincts should kick in and tell them to not get sick.

Answer 8

It's sad, but abandoned dogs running loose usually suffer quite a bit before they die. If they cannot be gotten into a good home, it is better to euthanize them.

In many places, farmers have the right to shoot dogs that are interfering with livestock. While this sounds mean, I feel that it is kinder than letting the dog starve to death, or be killed by preedators, or poisoned, or hit by a car and left to die at the side of the road. It also prevents the needless deaths of the livestock animals.

People that abandon pets deserve a special place in hell.

Answer 9

Check your local phone book or on line to find a humane society and/or rescue league near you. They will set humane traps for the dogs, get them medical help, spay or neuter, and try to find homes for them. If they cannot find a home, they will be kept at the shelter. This will cost you nothing and save the lives of the dogs.

Answer 10

Sounds like they are indirectly telling you to shoot them, which really is sad. Just a sad situation all around. Wish I had more to offer, maybe just keep the complaints up in your area so that you can get the government to step in and help everyone out.