[ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Man Faces Felonies in Deaths of 2 Dogs
- From: "Liz" <RockyLizard@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ValleSaladoGSD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Showgsd-L@Freelists. Org" <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 21:07:36 -0600
You wrote: "Do we really want to have such a zero tolerance attitude.
What's wrong with calling the dog and confining him till the owner was
found, or calling the local shelter or rescue. or just chasing him off and
finding out who owns him and giving them warning ."
Please allow me to explain where I, as a livestock owner, am coming from. I
am certainly no gun fiend just looking for an excuse to "lock n' load" on
any dog I see or that happens on my land. I grew up here in the West and
was introduced to guns and their safety rules from the time I was a kid. As
an adult, I am a graduate of police firearms training. I am very aware that
there could easily be other things (like the dog's owner or his/her child)
out there with a trespassing dog, and I never have my finger on the trigger
until my sights are on the target--and I am absolutely, positively 100%
unquestionably aware of my target and what's around and behind it.
HOWEVER...when you have a $250-$300+ ewe, pregnant with triplets (fully 1/3
of my ewes raised triplets this year) and some dog is "just" chasing them,
the ewe WILL abort...depending on how pregnant she is and how harassed she
was and how hot it is and so forth she also may easily die. Same with my
dairy goats--I get about $300 apiece for just-weaned dairy goat kids. They
were triplets this year, too. So let's give a best-case scenario and say
only 2 ewes and 1 goat with triplets abort because some dog was chasing them
for a few minutes, and only one ewe breaks a leg and dies. $300 x 3 = $900
for the goat kids. $100 (for just-weaned lambs) x 6 = $600 for the lambs.
Ewe is--we'll give the low estimate--$250. We won't even count calling out
the vet for injuries or illness caused by this same episode. (Did you know
sheep and goats can bloat and die from stress and exercise on a full
stomach, just like dogs?)
That's $1750 in loss to me for one 5 minute episode of a "friendly" dog
"just" making my sheep and goats run--not even attacking them. That's my
hay money for the winter.
If I go chase that dog, trying to catch him (ever try to "call to you" a dog
that thinks running after sheep is FUN?) all it does is explode the problem
even bigger and my loss will be exponentially larger. If I wait for "the
local shelter or rescue" to show up I can kiss my sheep, lambs, goats, and
kids goodbye. And if I just "chase him off", IF he will "chase off" at all,
he'll be right back the second I walk away.
If it was MY dogs that were chasing sheep...well...I'd be heartbroken, but I
couldn't blame anyone for shooting them. I am very careful with my dogs
though--they are in the house with us most of the time, or locked in the
kennel while we're gone, so the chances of that happening are very, very
slim.
So, dogs off leash and at large are annoying but not a "lock n' load"
problem.
Dogs chasing my sheep, are. I have no choice if they are to survive, and if
I want my family to have meat in our freezer and our livestock to have hay
this winter.
I hope you can understand a little better now where I'm coming from.
Liz in Utah
----- Original Message -----
From: "Connie" <ValleSaladoGSD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Showgsd-l" <Showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 12:22 PM
Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Man Faces Felonies in Deaths of 2 Dogs
> While I have a real problem with people letting their dogs run loose .I
> don't think that the dog should suffer and die for what their owner should
> take the blame for . There are also times that something could happen and
> a dog was lost through no fault of their owner . I could think of many
> scenarios where a dog could be out of its yard like kids leaving the gate
> open or lost from a car accident or stolen and dumped . What if your dog
> was out of his yard for some reason by accident , would you think he
> should be shot? Do we really want to have such a zero tolerance attitude .
> What's wrong with calling the dog and confining him till the owner was
> found , or calling the local shelter or rescue . or just chasing him off
> and finding out who owns him and giving them warning . For a good bit of
> my adult life up until recent years I have had Thoroughbred horses and I
> have yet to kill someone's dog.
> Connie Palmer Williams - Executive Director
> German Shepherd Rescue of Central Colorado Inc.
> ..."I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep"...Robert Frost
> www.GSDRColorado.com
============================================================================
POST is Copyrighted 2007. All material remains the property of the original
author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind
are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the
Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY
MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS
PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY
FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE
PROSECUTED.
For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx
VISIT OUR WEBSITE - www.showgsd.org
============================================================================
Other related posts:
