Goats Need Taller Fence

[firefighter ontheside]

Last Sunday morning we woke to the sound of dogs barking behind our house, which is not normal.  I knew right away that the deadbeat neighbors down the road were missing their 3 dogs and they were out there bothering my goats.  I ran out in my underwear in the rain and saw that the dogs were in the goat pen.  I went back and got a gun, but didnt end up shooting the dogs. I was able to let my goats out and the dogs were trapped in the pen.  I had animal control come out and pick up the dogs.   After I took the goats to the vet on Monday and they found all the injuries that the goats sustained, I was kicking myself for not shooting the dogs.  My black goat got about a dozen pretty bad punctures and skin tears on his neck and a 3" laceration on his jaw.  The white goat got 4 punctures on his neck.  The people paid $600 in fines and will get the dogs back after a 10 day quarantine.  We will be suing the people for damages and my goal is to have the court order the dogs destroyed.  If they come again it may be my kid that gets mauled.  I will shoot on sight if they come on my property again.

Well, this weekend I started working on the goat fence to make it taller.  For the last 7 years the fence has been a 4' woven wire fence with two strands of barbed wire above that going up to 6'.  I decided to add 2' of woven wire and leave a strand of barbed wire at the top.  I found some dog hair in one of the strands of wire.  The tractor sure was helpful with tensioning the wire.

 

 

 

 

[gspren]

Get a standard sized donkey and keep him with the goats, he will stomp dogs or coyotes to death.

[WDH]

Upsetting to hear this.  Very upsetting.  I sure hope the goats recover well. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Aw stink, that sucks. It would have been hard for me to 'shoot on sight' too. But those dogs are victims of their idiot owners and the training they've gotten (or not). Better to shoot the idiot owners, but I won't say that here.
 Sorry you've got to deal with that and sorry for what the goats are going through. Who is paying the vet bills? Do you see any of that $600 fine? I assume that's why you have to sue them and pay a lawyer and go to court, all because they are idiots. Really sorry man, that just sucks all around.

[Nebraska]

Put a hot wire(or tape) around the dog side of the fence with extended insulators  then put a 20 mile fencer on it. Use the metal  screw it  type the last pretty well.  Dogs will respect it. Maybe 2 wires knee high and up higher. That will fix them and the goats too if they get to reaching through too much.  

[thecfarm]

I had the "neighbors" dogs kill my turkeys, 3 or 4 of them. Took me a while to find out whose dogs they were. One run out, but one was still in the pen.
When I finally got the right house, she asked me how did I know it was her dogs that did the killing? Easy, I said, one is still in the pen.
 They were not supposed to be let out. They came through the woods about a half mile to do the killing. Boyfriend let the dogs out. That cost her $100.

[firefighter ontheside]

These people have a long history of being irresponsible with dogs.  They used to have a border collie that would come out and chase our vehicles on the road.  One time I think I ran over its toes, because I heard a yelp and it ran away.  The dog stopped chasing cars when my good neighbor, a sheriff deputy, ran over the dog and killed it.  The people came out yelling at him and then when they learned he was a deputy they suddenly were quiet about it.  A shame for the poor dogs that they are not taught or put in a decent fence.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Sorry for you and your goats. I'd keep up with all the new fence improvement costs (Time, travel and material) and include that in your law suit. If you can show proof from past incidents that should help justify your expense.

   I am not a fan of law suits in general because I see so much abuse of them but there is a place for them and this looks like it. Be sure to keep up with all your time and mileage taking your goats to treatment and doctoring them and I'd want compensation for that too.

   Good luck.

[firefighter ontheside]

I'm not a fan of lawsuits either.  If the people would have surrendered the dogs, as the animal control agent suggested they do, we would not be looking for damages.  Building, mending, improving fences is the cost of having animals like this.  I accept it.  They, on the other hand, can't afford to have such fences and therefore shouldn't have the animals they have and especially not in the number they have.  I believe they have as many as 10 dogs.

[rusticretreater]

I try to take what I call the "reasonable approach."  Yeah, you lay it on heavy, haul them into court, scare the hell out of them.  Then after you make your case and show the judge what costs and expenses you incurred, back peddle a bit.  

Tell the judge you don't want to be reimbursed for your fence upgrade as the incident showed the need for a higher, more secure  fence as any wild dog could have done the same thing.  Like you said, you accept it. Chalk it up to experience.  Also, tell the judge you don't want to make any enemies, but you are concerned about the behavior of the dogs and safety of your property and kin.  Then leave it all in the judges hands.

The people will be angry still, but also realize you aren't really an enemy.  The judge will certainly like your less emotional approach.  You will be respected all around.

[Ricker]

In general in I like dogs better than people. Dogs, like kids, are often a product of their upbringing and environment.  I'd advocate to the judge to have the dogs get surrendered to a shelter and maybe they get adopted out to someone who can put them on the right path.  But in the end if they are dangerous dogs and too far gone to be helped they got to take a dirt nap.

[doc henderson]

Sorry about your troubles.  you hate to have neighbors that you feel you cannot trust and have to watch out for.  Especially if you feel they might retaliate in some dumb way.

[Walnut Beast]

Accidents happen. Your goats will heal up. They got 600 in fines. Wanting the dogs destroyed is a little out of line. Put the shoe on the other foot about the dogs getting out if it was your kids dogs. 

[doc henderson]

yes, but no one really needs 10 out of control companions.  dogs can be like family for sure.  but you got to take responsibility.  If they let them roam and raise havoc, the responsibility is on the owners.  I have had dogs cause problems, and I take care of it, as if it were one of my kids.

[21incher]

Sorry to hear this. If it were me I would  contact my insurance  company and see what they say. Insurance  companies  take dog attacks very seriously and may be able to fight it out with the dog owners insurance  company without  you having to get involved  with the idiots. The dog owners insurance  company should have contacted  you by now if he reported the incident with information about the medical claims caused by the attack. Hope your children  weren't  around to see it. Those dogs should  definitely  be put down now that they have the taste of livestock.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Speaking from experience the dogs will be back. "Neighbor" from 3 miles away was walking his dog when it got off the leash and killed one of my chickens before he got it under control. 2 weeks later the dog got out of his house and from following the tracks in the snow it ran straight to my farm and killed 15 chickens before I got a gun and put it down. A dog with a taste for blood will be back.

[Southside]

Do what Nebraska said on the electric fence, but add a ground wire also.  Basically you will have two wires for each set, keep them 4" apart so the dog hits both the hot and the ground wire at the same time.  You tie the ground wire back into the ground rods, use three and have them at least 10' apart and tied together in series, which is then tied to the ground side of the charger, use high tensile wire and make it drum tight.  When the dog hits both wires it will be like licking an outlet while standing in a puddle, it will light them up hard and they won't push through it.  I have built miles of cattle fence with this system and I have zero issues with 1,000 lb cows testing my fences.  Electric fences fail almost always because of poor grounding. One rod driven 3' into the dirt with a wire wrapped around it does not cut it when it counts.  

[barbender]

I'm on a silty sand, and when I drove one ground rod my fencer didn't shock very hard. If I had something I really needed kept in, I had to run the seperate ground wire. We had horses for a couple of years, they got out once and I knew I needed a better solution. So I went and bought the biggest fencer I could find in the local farm and fleet store. They were rated with little emblems of a pig, goat, cow...I finally found that one that had the aforementioned critters plus a big angry bull😁 Then I got 3, 8' ground rods. Drove those in about 10' apart, wired together.   Now that fence, with just a hot wire, would light your butt up!

Once when we had the 4H club activity at our home, one teenaged boy was messing with the fence. My daughter told him to leave it alone more than once. He didn't listen...we all heard the SNAP! when it got him, and the poor kid got to cry in front of everyone too😬 He was cured of screwing with the fence though😂

Anyways, use multiple ground rods. A well laid electric fence will keep the critters on which side of the fence they belong.

[chevytaHOE5674]

My heeler pup will go thru the hottest electric fence you can have and will let out a yelp and keep right on going when I need her too. Just depends how determined they are. Lol

[firefighter ontheside]

Update on the neighbors dogs.  It looks like they have put up some barbed wire above their fence to try and keep their dogs in.  I guess they are feeling cocky and put up a funny sign that says "Pupkatraz" suggesting there is no chance their dogs will get out.  I have information that neighbors nearer than us have killed one of the dogs, as it was going after their chickens.  


 

[WDH]

I hope it works for the owner's sake and the farm animal's sake.