Unsecure chicken perches

[newcountrygirl]

I was really upset this evening. I was in the house with our Border Terrier Ziggy and OH was outside. He shouted through the window not to let Ziggy out cos there was a stay dog in the garden. We live on a road that is 3 miles long with fields all around and I'd never seen this dog before. I shut Ziggy in and went out to look. There was this great big mongrel - painfully thin and with a nasty lump on its side, but with a collar on. As i went out it jumped over our 5ft gate and shot off up the road. When it got about a quarter of a mile up the road i saw a woman talking to it and scolding it - obviously the owner. The thing which worried me was that our nearest neighbour came round cos she had seen it and said that the woman has been warned it is not allowed off it lead as it is dangerous. I'm really worried now cos normally Ziggy is outside in the garden minding her own business. Also my hens are in another part of the garden in in a WIR but never the less it could have tried to get them. I was all for ringing the police but OH said not to as it was the first time we'd seen it. Feel worried now.

[The Dogmother]

If it is on the road and a danger to traffic (and itself) then you need to call the police. Otherwise, ring the local dog warden immediately.

 

There are a lot of stray dogs around at the moment, the ones in this area are mostly bull types which have been abandoned after being bred from. A friend who is a dog breeder has rescued two in the last fortnight - left to run amongst the traffic on the dual carriageway outside her house. She has caught them, crated them up and called the DW.

[newcountrygirl]

Thanks Claret. Apparently this dog is known to the police already - and is on a warning not to be let out unless on a lead. However, we only know that from our neighbour who is 87 and a bit forgetful so we have to take it a bit more carefully. Any sign of it again and i will definately report it.

[The Dogmother]

I would be inclined to report it each and every time you see it out and off lead, the more reports they have the more inclined they will be to see to it.

[newcountrygirl]

Thanks Claret - don't worry I intend to from now on.

[Eggasperated]

Just about to start a thread about loose dogs when I saw this one - Walking my lab this afternoon along farm roads and as I went towards one of the farm houses 2 dogs came running at me, I know they have been seen loose before and I do sometimes meet them being walked, however, as one is a Rottie I was a bit worried. The other one is a small mongrel which has followed me home once before so I wasn't overly surprised when they both started to follow me.

The Rottie eventually gave up and went off but the mongrel followed me for a long way and was still with me when I got to the main road, I couldn't read the phone number on his collar without my reading glasses so once again he came home with me - I eventually put him on my spare lead as I didn't want to feel responsible for him getting run over.

Once home I tried to contact the owners but both phones went to message service, so I rang the police to get the dog warden number, but the dog wardens had finished for the day so the police said they would leave a message for the owners to get in touch. After 2 hours I still hadn't heard anything so I rang the owners myself, this time they were in and came to get the dog.

My big gripe is the woman just kept saying 'thank you for looking after him', I explained that I wasn't very happy with the dog following me or the Rottie being loose, but that's virtually all she said which made me feel I was being unreasonable by complaining and by contacting the police.

I'm sure I did do the right thing and I can't imagine she would want to see her dog run over, I know it's a farm road they live on and there is not really any passing traffic but i'm sure it still can't be right for her dogs to be running loose.

Sorry long rant but wanted some reassurance that I did the right thing

[The Dogmother]

Again the subject of 'being in control' of your dogs; if one of them had caused an accident they would be liable for any damage or injury, not to mention the inconvenience to you sorting it all out and making phone calls. If ever passing motorist called the DW about the wandering dogs, something might get done.

 

There's a pub just off our market place, the landlord there used to just open the door and let his JRT out to wander around the area, fouling the pavements. On a couple of occasions this dog has gone for my two (pretty daft thing to do as they are both about 5 times its size) this happened one time too many and I reported it to the DW; turns out that they'd had a few complaints from market stall holders and this one was the straw. haven't see the dog out since.

[newcountrygirl]

I have to say I now feel on edge every time I let Ziggy out to play i our garden in case this one is lurking anywhere. The other tales on here remind me of something which happened to me about 15 years ago. I had finished work at lunchtime cos I was performing at the theatre that week. Going up the dual carriageway i say a puppy dodging the traffic. I pulled in and managed to catch it. I took it home then called the police to report it. They then rang me back and said a woman down the road had reported it missing. They had rung her and she had asked them if I would deliver it home but not for a couple of hours! I left it half an hour then turned up at her house. She came running out, scooped up the dog and said something along the line of "Oh i was so worried - I thought she had been stolen " No thanks you or nothing - just shut the gate and went in! The thing that worried me was the gates had a foot high gap underneath so the puppy could get out whenever. Some people aren't fit to own animals.