Rural Gardening: Dog attack, 1 by smedgekles

smedgekles wrote:
Yesterday my daugher looked out the window and saw a dog at our little chickens pen. She ran out the door, my son ran out the door and by the time I got out there they said it went around to the front. So I went out the front and it was already down the driveway. As I was walking back my kids came around the house, my daughter in tears saying Brownie is dead. They had found a pile of feathers. And to top that off Pj was missing. Brownie is our Golden laced polish roo and PJ is our little one eyed Blue Cochin. They stay in the backyard. We found more feathers in various places but no blood and no body. I told my daughter that unless there was more than one dog that he could still be alive and hiding. We searched and searched, there were feathers in the back, in the front, out in the field towards the pond and then some towards a group of trees that has a lot of berry vines and bushes around them. We walked all over looking and looking and couldn't find Brownie or PJ. We began to think maybe a hawk got Pj or there was more than one dog. There were no PJ feathers just Brownie feathers. After a good hour I walked back into the backyard and there was PJ. What a relief! She must have been hiding really well. We continued to look for Brownie. I went back to the trees with the berry vines and looked again, I suddenly heard a chicken, I listened and looked. Our Cat Garfield, who had just been let out of the house, was out there walking and looking like he saw something. I think he had disturbed Brownies hiding place and he came out. There between vines stood a stunned, scruffed up Brownie. What a sight he was. He is missing a lot of feathers from his tail and back and his back was a little bloody, but he is alive. He seems timid and scared now and probably doesn't feel too good after running and running and loosing a ton of feathers that got yanked out by a dog, but he is alive.

Through all the chasing I don't have a clue why we heard nothing. We usually hear any commotion that goes on outside and our dog barks. I don't know what she was doing but she was just laying there in the yard as this dog was trying to get to the baby chickens after Brownie had eluded him.

What a day we had. Sorry this was so long.