The rural/suburban interface contains no end of potential conflicts for the humans who choose to live there and the animals they own, and perhaps no animals are more commonly at the center of neighbor disputes than conflicts involving uncontained dogs and livestock. Many people like living on large lots, but fencing is costly, so loose dogs are a frequent concern in areas where people keep chickens, rabbits, goats, sheep, and other animals.
A friend forwarded a January 3, 2023, article to me from a newspaper that serves the semi-rural community where I went to high school. The article tells the story of a tragic event that occurred in mid-September 2022, about a family whose dog was accidently let loose by the owners’ grandchildren, who tried in vain to call the dog back. Within minutes, the dog wandered to the unfenced yard of a next-door neighbor, where he began chasing the neighbor’s chickens, catching and killing two of them.
As the dog raced about, chasing the squawking chickens, one of the dog’s owners, a woman in her 70s, pursued the dog with a leash, calling his name – and then, seeing him actually grab one of the chickens, began screaming at the dog in horror. She has limited mobility, however (she had hip replacement surgery the previous month), and fell at several points in pursuit of the dog. Hearing the hubbub, one of the owners of the chickens ran outside and began screaming at the dog’s owner in anger – and was quickly joined by her husband, an off-duty police officer, who emerged from his house with a gun and began chasing the dog, yelling. The owner of the dog manages to grab him, and fasten a leash to his collar, but he was still fixated on the chickens and managed to pull away from her, and she fell hard on the ground again.
At that point, the couple that owned the chickens were both screaming, with the wife yelling at her husband, “Shoot it! Shoot the f***ing dog!” With the dog’s owner still on the ground, and the dog about 20 feet away, the husband shot the dog three times, angrily yelling, “That’s my right! That’s the law! F*** this!” as the dog’s owner sobbed.
All of this was captured by the chickens’ owners’ home security cameras, and submitted to the newspaper by the chickens’ owners. The newspaper released the footage in a link. (Warning: Though you hear but do not see the dog get shot, the footage is extremely upsetting.)
As the newspaper article said, “Not surprisingly, the [families involved] don’t agree on what happened before, during or after the shooting.” The shooter claimed that the dog had previously menaced him on other occasions when it was loose, and that the dog turned and lunged toward him. The dog’s owners say the dog never moved toward the shooter, and was shot in the back, and that the shooter’s children had played with the dog previously. Whatever the facts are, the most indisputable is that the dog is dead. His dog’s owners transported him to a veterinarian, where they made the decision to have him euthanized due to his extensive injuries.
To make tensions between the neighbors even higher, two weeks later, the owners of the chickens set up a macabre “Halloween” scene in their front yard approximately where their neighbor’s dog was shot: a plastic skeleton of a dog sitting up, in a howling-at-the-moon pose, and a plastic human skeleton lying the ground next to the dog, with a leash in its hand, in their front yard. Woof.
Lessons, but only for those who will learn them
I’m sorry for everyone involved here: the dog, his owners, their grandchildren, the chickens, and even the chicken owners, despite the violence of their act and the needless and insensitive display in their yard. The anger and bitterness between all the surviving parties is sure to last years – and it was all avoidable. Here’s how:
- If a dog has escaped his enclosure even once, serious steps must be made to prevent this from happening again. This is especially true if there is livestock in the area and/or if the dog has shown any interest in chasing birds or other animals in the past – or if the dog has ever chased a human or another dog with aggression. The dog owners had a fenced yard where the dog is ordinarily secure, but something happened when the grandchildren were outside with the dog. Keep gates securely locked – like, with a padlock – if there is anyone present who may be unable to prevent the dog from slipping out, or is not 100% able to manage the gate. Or install an “airlock” – a system of two gates that prevents an accidental escape. If the dog climbs or jumps over, or digs under, fences, he needs to be secured in a small covered pen on concrete when he’s not on leash.
- Train your dog! In my opinion, teaching a dog a reliable recall, “proofed” under conditions that are made progressively more difficult for the dog as he learns and succeeds, should be the responsibility of every dog owner. No dog is perfect under all conditions, but a decent recall saves lives.
- If someone (especially someone you know) is chasing their loose dog in obvious distress, help them catch their dog or chase it away! It’s highly upsetting to lose your chickens or any other pet or livestock, but the lack of empathy shown to the dog’s owner (shooting her dog in front of her, while obviously injured, she sobbed helpless on the ground) in favor of protecting the chickens, is absolutely inhumane. Once the loose-dog incident was over – had the owner of the chickens helped the dog owner catch or chase away the dog – all of the humans could have made a plan to keep everyone safe in the future. Surely, a peaceable relationship your next-door neighbor is more important than acting rashly on your righteous anger.
It’s much better to prevent dog-related disasters than to deal with their aftermath. Owners need to take full responsibility for damage inflicted by their loose dogs – and this can involve far more than dead chickens. Any rancher in California will tell you that they lose more sheep, goats, and even cattle to loose dogs than to coyotes or mountain lions. I read one account where a human lost their life in a car accident, swerving to avoid hitting a loose dog. Please, do everything in your power to contain and train your dogs!
I am a Sonoma County resident, and poultry owner, who has been following the media circus about the Novato officer, who (as a private citizen) shot the predatory dog on his property in Petaluma. I do not know either party. But those of us with livestock and poultry depend on the California Laws that allow us to protect them. I had a neighbor’s predatory dog breach pig wire fencing to kill a chicken, so fencing is irrelevant. And most livestock in this county is contained with 3 or 4 strings of barbed wire, so the law resides with dog owners to control their dogs.
Mr. Frey’s occupation as a police officer is irrelevant, as he has equal rights as a private citizen under the CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL CODE: Dog killing livestock and poultry 31102, to protect his poultry. I applaud that Mr. Frey actually allowed Anna Henry the opportunity to leash her dog even after it had killed 2 chickens. He only shot the dog after it proved itself to be uncontrollable and intent on killing again.
It is an outrage that the community is calling for his disciplining and firing, despite CA Ag Code 31102 specifically stating: No action, civil or criminal, shall be maintained for the killing of any such dog. Not only is California law clear that Mr. Frey was entirely within his legal rights, as a private citizen, to shoot the dog on his property, but Sonoma County Ordinance 2413 Sec. 19.A-5. allows someone to discharge a weapon near inhabited buildings or roads for protection of livestock and poultry.
The responsibility for this incident is entirely with the dog owners, who are legally required to keep their dogs from attacking livestock or poultry. What neither the Press Democrat, KGO ITeam, nor Pacific Sun addressed was that the Henry’s dog had already killed their own chickens and bit someone. In the video, Frey can be heard telling Anna that he had warned her for a year about the aggressive dog’s behavior. Toward the end of the video, he even told Anna “this is really sad”. The Henry’s knew his behavior was an issue and did NOT take ample care to secure their predatory dog. So they alone are accountable for the death of their dog and the death of the Frey’s chickens. The only people who violated the law were the Henry’s (§ 5-115. Dogs at large prohibited).
The Henry’s were told by Sonoma County Animal Control and Sonoma County Sheriff that Mr. Frey was within his legal rights to shoot the dog. Furthermore, they cannot claim they were unaware of the law because there is a County Sign on Skillman Ln, a few hundred feet from the private lane to their home: SONOMA COUNTY LEASH LAWS ENFORCED; DOGS MOLESTING/KILLING LIVESTOCK MAY BE SHOT.
But in their unwillingness to accept responsibility for not controlling their aggressive dog, the Henry’s are now on a witchhunt to stir up public sympathy and defame the reputation of a police officer. Why are they engaging the media for sympathy and pursuing officer complaints against Mr. Frey? Phil Henry states his agenda clearly: “Phil Henry tells the I-Team, “I’d like for him to feel some pain.”
I guarantee that if this story was about a Pit Bull, with the same aggressive history, everyone would be condemning the dog owners and not the poultry owners. Why isn’t more focus given about how Black Mouth Curs are high maintenance dogs, protective watchdogs, and can become aggressive without proper training? And this would never have made it to the news, if it was just a local rancher or poultry owner who shot the dog. Instead, the focus is entirely on the fact that this involved someone who happens to also be a police officer.
I agree with the commenter who feels that if even one owner takes preventative action, the article was worthwhile. I am a little less in agreement with the fact taking issue that the occupation of the shooter had any impact on the outcome “an off-duty police officer” as plenty of my neighbors have livestock, from cows and calves, horses sheep and goats, and yes, chickens, to know that my dogs could and likely would, suffer the same fate as this dog if chasing them. And not one is a police officer. I agree this man certainly acted inappropriately and in a juvenile, reprehensible manner thereafter. Firearms are rampant in the U.S. regardless of occupation. It is the responsibility of the dog owner to keep their animals in control, and recognizing that accidents will and can occur, the livestock owner is (still) in the right. The legal right anyway, if not a moral right in every case. A number of States will mandate the euthanasia of a dog who kills another domestic animal. And it is not the weight of providing predator proof enclosures that is the responsibility of the livestock owner, nor should it. I no longer have free roaming cats on my farm. When I did however, a neighbor allowed their roaming Pitty dogs to come onto my farm in spite of telling them repeatedly they were hunting my cats and chasing my horses. I was also menaced, surrounded, and suffered punctures to my hands when I tried to intervene to save my own animals. I do not in any way feel it was my responsibility to fence my property from roaming packs of dogs threatening my animals and myself. We (several neighbors and myself) used the legal route and court appearances to deal with the issue and the dogs no longer exist on that property, all were re-homed from all accounts. Again however, it was not THEIR fault. This situation is different in some very important ways of course. Inherent though, as a thread through comments, is the placement of some greater “value” on the life of the dog as opposed to the chickens. The chickens should also have safety in their own home On their own Property without viciously torn apart for entertainment by dogs, regardless of how unintended. The life of the chicken was as valuable to them, and the pain and terror as valid, as the dog’s was to the dog. While not me, I know Some people love and value their chickens as pets and family members.
I have been thinking about this article since it was posted. I’ve lived in this house since March 2010. The day I signed the contract to buy the house I found a fence contractor to build a secure fence. I moved here with 4 older well-behaved dogs. My new neighbor came to visit….and left the front door open……one of my Goldens ran out the door with me running after her. Daisy had never been a door darter and had a good recall…..but I was worried because both neighbors had horses and dogs. Daisy ran to the pond on our property and went for a swim…..I think she had been planning this because the dogs can see the pond from the fenced yard. She came right to me and into the fenced yard but it could have turned out very differently if she had run into the neighbors pastures. I have not opened the front door for anyone in almost 13 years ….without all of the dogs safely secured. Lesson learned ……this could happen to anyone.
I concur that this is important information and thank you to WDJ for sharing this story. Horrible things happen in life and if even if one owner takes preventative action because of this article, it has succeeded.
What a disturbing story! That person has no business on the police force. He is clearly mentally disturbed in everYthing he did, from shooting the dog to his Halloween display. Who in their right mind would let defensiveless animals (chickens) run freely to be attacked by other animals. I wouldn’t want to live any where near that so called police officer. What a menace he is.
This is important information….thank you for posting.