Cousins of Sorrywatch were new to rural Montana. Their neighbors had chickens, including a rackety rooster.
One day the chicken owners came by and told my cousins that their dog – call her Nickel – had come over and killed 11 of their chickens. Horrified, my cousins apologized profusely. They would make sure Nickel didn’t get a chance to do that again.
We hear good fences make good neighbors.
Nickel was a very good dog, but like many otherwise good dogs, she did not think chickens should be allowed to live. Wrong, Nickel, wrong.
The next day my cousins went over to apologize again, bringing a gift of chocolate truffles. “What can we do to make it right?” they asked. “Don’t worry about it,” said the chicken fanciers. “As soon as you said it was your dog, we were fine.” Apparently the neighbors on the other side had a dog who had also dropped by and attacked chickens. But when told about this (and asked to keep the dog under control), they said “No. Not our dog.” Forget about your eyewitnesses.
Chickens want to be free! What possible good is this fence?
Because ‘our dog’ would magically know not to chase strange chickens? Oh please.
The chicken raisers told my cousins they understood how dogs can be, even good dogs. They’d once acquired 50 chicks, and put them in an empty kiddie pool in the back yard. While they were doing something else their own dog had gone over, picked each chick out of the pool, bitten it once, and stacked it next to the pool. She had made an efficient pile of 50 dead chicks before this was discovered.
Future chicks had been kept safe from their own dog, so if the neighbors could just keep their dogs at home, that would help.
They even confided that one of the chickens the neighbors’ dogs had killed had been that rackety rooster, whose voice they had been getting tired of anyway.
Reverend Br’er Fox seeks followers/dinner guests.
Foxes also happened to the flock. There’s no one to talk to when a fox gets one of your chickens. Leaving a carefully-phrased note for foxes never works.
My cousins’ apologies were good. Their efforts to compensate the chicken proprietors were appreciated. But most of all, the lack of cover-up was appreciated.
Who didn’t accept the apology? Chickens. Who saw no need for an apology? Dogs.
I might know these cousins of yours and their forthrightness does not surprise me.
Close, but different cigar.
Aaaaaaaaah! You have many fine cousins, then.
I can’t remember where I read the following story: new person A arrives with in rural area with fragile wildlife, longtime local resident B’s dog kills a few. A goes over to discuss it with B, who asks, “should i take care of it, or you?” A is puzzled. Meeting ends inconclusively. 20 minutes later a gunshot: B has killed his dog. A is shocked and goes back to B, who asks “well, why did you come over if you didn’t want me to do something about it?”
Confused! Is wildlife local, or brought by A? If the latter, is it wild?
Also, what is the penalty for not getting it?
A brought twenty cute little newly hatched chickens, say. They might have been hens.
Ah! Got it, thanks.
Hahahaha, humans.
“MY dog? My dog would never…” be a total carnivore and eat things he chases down and/or barks at like he wants to end them…??
Right.
Funny how the knee-jerk IS to deny, deny, deny. Nothing of ours is ever ill-behaved. WE and US and OURS are always Good As Gold. GREAT, even. <=== behold, the explanation for jingoism as well.
I have had a various friends keeping chickens and sheep since the early 80’s. Each of them has heard, more than once, “Oh, our dog is good s/he would never do that.”
These owners have not seen their dog, either alone or in the company of other dogs allowed to run loose give way to their natural prey instinct .
Friends have lost chicken, ducks, and sheep to dogs. In fact one couple of friends when first keeping sheep were advised by a veteran shepherd, “Get a gun! [for the dogs.]”
My first dog was, in fact, a murderous creature, if you happened to be a small, furry mammal (or a bird). At different times, we took various beasts to wildlife rescue. She once badly wounded an opossum and killed several of her…kits? We took her and the surviving juveniles to a wildlife rescue, where we also made a nice donation. Then she wounded another opossum; we took it to the rescue and made a nice donation….