Dogs, Chickens, and Hateful Neighbors

Well, what a week I've had.

I posted about the lady behind us running a bird rescue and taking our two crippled chicks. Her sister lives next door to her and also has chickens.

We've had an ongoing problem with the dogs that I have also posted about before - trying [and succeeding once] to kill chickens. I've been working *really* hard with them to try to teach them not to do this. They know all their "regular" obedience, and I thought after 6 months of work that I was making headway on "desensitizing" them to the chickens and teaching them that the chickens are NOT for them. I was wrong.

We are always very careful to put the dogs inside in their crates when we are feeding and watering the chickens.

Well, Monday, one of the 8 week old chicks slipped out while we were watering them and we didn't realize it - she must have been hiding in some brush because we check every time after we water them. A few minutes later we let the dogs out [once we *thought* the chickens were secure in their run - a 6 foot chain link run]. The lab mix found the hiding chicken and was chasing her - I saw him and was able to catch her before he did and put her up safe, but I realized we had a problem still...

Then yesterday afternoon I was in the living room reading to the kids and I get this angry knock at our door. It was the sister of the bird rescue woman behind us and she said "Your dogs have your chickens in their mouths. Maybe you should get back there and do something about that!!". I can't even explain how MEAN she was about it - she was so hateful to me - you would think I had been back there throwing the chicks to the dogs to eat or something. :( :(

Well, that upset me AND the kids horribly and we ran to the backyard to find that the stupid collie had gotten one of the 3 week olds - who were in another enclosure altogether and look secure to me still - I can't figure out how she did it. I found her *chewing* on the poor little thing, torturing it - she was enjoying torturing it. I wrestled with her to get the chick out of her mouth and then the stinking lab mix ran over and took it and ran with it while I was trying to keep the collie off [of course this happened while my husband was at work and no one could help me!].

AMAZINGLY, the chick survived. It was pretty pathetic looking - the collie ate most of its feathers off - but after a couple of hours it perked right up and now it is strutting around the brooder box like nothing happened [it just LOOKS weird and kinda plucked and chewed up].

We have decided the dogs have to go - I just can't stand an animal that tortures other animals for fun. Killing something to eat is one thing, torturing something because you like the sound of it crying is something totally different.

And despite our precautions [and spending several HUNDRED dollars at this point buying MDF to re-enforce the hen house the dog chewed through, a 6 foot dog proof fence for the run, etc to try to keep the dogs away from the chickens], we are apparently unable to keep the dogs away from the chickens. And I think it is obvious that "training" is not going to work - I'm not going to undo their natural prey drive.

I can't stand to lose another chicken and I never want to pull a poor chewed up baby out of a dog's mouth again. *sigh*

We are returning our dogs to the Rescues where we adopted them if they will take them back. If not, I don't know what we will do.

I'm really upset about the whole thing. I really love the lab mix [the collie is a completely different matter of course...]. I don't think it is responsible to keep the dogs and the chickens at this point - at some point, another chicken is going to die. And while I have a responsibility to the dogs, I *also* have a responsibility to my chickens to keep them safe and to my family to be financially responsible and to realize when I have wasted enough money on something [like these dogs]. Personally, I don't think a dog is more valuable than the dozen or more chickens he or she might kill for fun..though I know others might disagree. But, in all honesty, chickens are a FAR more useful animal than any dog [except that rare prodigy dog maybe LOL!].

The kids are all upset, but I gave them the choice that we could keep the chickens or the dogs but not both, and I explained why. They decided to keep the chickens [which I think was smart]. I can't imagine HOW MUCH MORE traumatic this would have been if it was one of their 6 pet hens that the dogs got...fortunately it was "just" one of the unnamed babies.

I am also upset [and frankly, wigged out] by the horrible neighbor behind us. The woman was SO MEAN to me - I am honestly not used to people speaking to me like that or being so hateful - I can't remember the last time someone spoke to me in such a manner. It really hurt my feelings!

And it bothers me a LOT that she is obviously spying on us [it was kind of odd that they knew we had a crippled chicken anyway - we have a 6 foot privacy fence around our whole back yard, they had to go to some pretty serious effort to see that....]. BUT, yesterday, the collie had a 3 week old chick in its mouth - *I* couldn't even see what it was when I first came out [it is about the size of a tennis ball] - for her to have been spying THAT closely to see what the dog had... I don't know, it just gives me the willies.

My husband said that he has heard her back there before making really mean, nasty comments about us - I have let my 3yo go into the backyard before partially or totally naked because I didn't believe anyone could see her AND it was one of those battles I just chose not to fight. [I never let her go out the front door like that -except that one time she ran away LOL! and I certainly don't take her out in public like that!]. She was in the privacy of our own backyard. But my DH said this woman was making really loud, rude comments about my child being back there without clothes on and apparently she thinks we are some sort of horrible, neglectful parents who don't care for our children. :( :(

That really bothered me - I mean, I guess all homeschoolers are a little afraid someone will call DFACS on them, just by virtue of being homeschoolers. But to know we have a neighbor who is A) that nosey and is constantly spying on us THROUGH the privacy fence and B) who is so mean and nasty that she MIGHT just call DFACS just to be horrid... gosh, it makes me feel so uncomfortable. Like, I want to sell the house and move away from her uncomfortable.

ugh.

So, that was my week so far. Hope yours has been better!!!!