Stray dogs and their owners

[Alex]

Yesterday I spotted what I thought was a coyote in our back woods. It was a sort of pale tannish color w/some grey wash on its back. I went out to chase it away because the geese were loose and didn't have their electric fence for protection. Turns out, when I got closer I could see it was a dog. It was racing around in my woodland and was obviously HUNTING whatever it had scented. It had a collar on but seemed to have no tags so I assumed it was a stray and I returned to the house to get it some food and water. I came out and started calling to it and it approached me up until I tripped over the tail attachment of a garden cart and almost did a face plant. After that scare which I'm sure seemed like an aggressive move on my klutzy part, the dog shot off into the woods and I walked in pursuit.

I went down the road to the entrance to the Federal Waterfowl Preserve yelling "Here, dog" all the while and, lo and behold, a car is parked there and the guy is furiously loading up as fast as he can go. He'd obviously heard me using my voice and my whistle because he looked away when I asked him if he'd seen a stray dog. Initially, he didn't say anything but then THE DOG popped his head out the door and I said, "Oh, that's the dog I was looking for. I thought it was lost and I wanted to give it some food." He then apologized and said the dog had "gotten away from him" because he was unbuckling his two children's car seats. I told him I had horses and a huge flock of Toulouse geese on my farm, neither of which would tolerate chasing. I suggested that the dog is the last thing he should be letting out of the car so that he could manage it. I asked him what breed the dog was as a parting remark. He said, "Oh, it's a black mouth cur like from that film "Old Yeller." He said it as if I should be fine w/having Old Yeller coming onto my farm and chasing whatever it took a mind to chasing. I'm hoping I never have to reprimand this guy again. If I'm recalling correctly, the very same thing happened once last year as well as a few times a couple of years ago.

[WheresMyWhite]

Be aware that feral dogs are far more dangerous than a pack of coyotes as the dogs often will hunt for fun; coyotes typically don't.

[texsuze]

Did you see any kids in those car seats? Wondering what the dude was doing at the FWP? I have mixed feelings about dogs roaming where they shouldn't be. The dogs don't understand boundaries, fence lines, but their human "keepers" should. Thankfully, we've been able to replace lots of old perimeter fencing on our property, in addition to putting up 5' no-climb horsefence around my 'barnyard' so chooks can free-range with (slightly) less predator access. It provides some sense of relief from roaming dog encounters, especially with all the 'country' dog folk coming into the area.

Once, when I was riding in my arena (it is well off the beaten path, nearly 1/2 mile from our gate), my gelding and I saw a small, brown critter trotting up the trail and into my arena. We looked at each other, like, "Wha-a-a-t?" It was an old, small, deaf, nearly blind chi/terrier/mutt. This little thing would've kept right on going past us had I not picked it up. Sweet, well-mannered, house-broken doggie. Signs posted, vets contacted, and I found its owner, who lived about 2 miles away. Dog's name was "Nipper". Sadly, the owners really couldn't be bothered keeping this little guy in a secure setting.

[Valerie]

I've decided people pretty much suck when it comes to caring for their pets.

[Alex]

Yes, Where's My White, that's kind of why I went after the animal to figure out what it was. I didn't want a stray dog or even an unknown neighbor dog learning that it could hunt for fun on my farm. I'm very careful w/my temperament assessment as I get close to a stray dog. I don't put myself in harm's way without having a plan. But I've managed to get several dogs home to their families and that is something that gets you hooked on the whole process. Recognizing and returning an elderly stray collie to his family when his Vietnam veteran 20-year old owner was due home the following day has made me consider this a lifelong mission. (That's also the event that had me consider there might be something very weird about dog's sensitivities. This collie had walked over 35 miles toward Boston Logan Airport from his home to meet his owner's flight that was coming in the next morning. How did this dog know that his young owner was coming home from the Vietnam War? Did the boy's parents say something about their son coming home or asking the dog where their son was and so they got the dog thinking about going off to find his owner? Something triggered this dog to walk that huge distance and cross many busy highways... And how did the dog manage to get himself headed in the RIGHT DIRECTION?? That was the truly mystifying and fascinating part of this particular story.)

[Figgy]

stray dog story that you may find disturbing, but since when has that stopped me?

Any of you watch that show Heartbeat? the English show? an older show? You know the character Greengrass from Heartbeat? bit of a crook, bit dodgy, always got a deal going on? I've got an uncle just like Greengrass, always onto the latest money making scam but never making any money. Unsuccessful farmer on the family farm.

When those Italian Sheepdogs (Marmermas?) were first introduced here they were worth a fortune, thousands of dollars.

Anyway, further up the valley from our farm are new hobby farm estates, 5-10 acre lots, people who work in town but want the 'rural' lifestyle. Dump their dogs ALL. THE. Time. Annoying. Especially when their dumped dogs hunt up the back of our family farm in the bush, harassing the young calves and taking our chooks. Here, the bush law is a stray dog hunting livestock is a dead dog. Shoot them.

Then there was this one lot, breeding these big white dogs, keeping them half the time with the sheep but treating them like pets as well, so the dogs didn't bond properly with their sheep and started ranging up and down the valley. Irresponsible dog owners.

So that's okay, uncle goes up the back of the family farm one day and spots these two large white fluffy dogs hunting through the scrub and woods in the breeding paddock. Chasing cows, harassing calves. Goes chasing them, they get away. Spots the next evening, this time calls them, leaves a bit of food for them. Third day he goes up there with his gun, calls them to him. Shoots both dogs as they are coming up, clean kills.
Visits our place, bitching about these bloody big dogs and stupid townies up the valley who don't know that the first rule of rural lifestyle is that you must keep your dogs on your property and not let them stray.

Then, next week, in the paper, reward of $1000 each for missing big white Mamerema dogs, someone must know who stole these dogs.

Uncle likes to have a beer down at the local pub of an afternoon, been doing that most of his life. His mates took great delight in reading the paper to him, reading the wanted ad, pointing out the owner and then loudly exclaiming, wow, what happened to those stray dogs? wonder if anyone could have caught them? poor owner, lost dogs, some cruel b*stard must have shot them.

[texsuze]

Figs, your uncle would make a great character on one of those reality TV shows! Just think of all the money he could rake in simply being himself....!