I just got back from a friend's house- 3 dogs were seen attacking their 2 day old calf this morning. A Neopolitan Mastiff pup, and 2 pit mixes. They were chased off by a passing neighbor, but they had savaged its' ears and legs, and the calf went into shock and the "I'll give up and die" stage of a prey animal.

I brought my foal blanket and a heated lap throw, and we warmed the little guy up and rubbed him real well in an attempt to get blood flow to his body and legs- his mouth was like ice, and he was so cold! He was also given electrolytes and a Nutri-cal type product meant for foals.

He was alive when I left, but died pretty much as soon as I'd left their property.

The owner of the dogs is known, and he already paid for the calf, but doesn't want to do the right thing with his dogs. He went to town to buy fencing to keep them in- good luck with that- these dogs are known to roam. A cow was found recently run into a fence with the same types of injuries, and she was also in the give-up-and-die stage and had to be shot. We think the dogs are responsible for her as well.

The guy is lucky it is my friend's calf that got attacked- any other rancher around here would have just shot the dogs and left them for the ravens. I can guarantee that once word of this is known among them, if those dogs ever get out again they will be shot on sight.

What really gets us is the dogs owner told my friend that it serves her right for letting her cows roam the mountain. This is free range country, and this guy is a recent city transplant. He should be thankful he lives out here- if he was still in the city that would have been someone's kid.

Even though this was a free range calf, they had a special affection for him because they witnessed his actual birth. That doesn't happen often with range cattle. His name was Gunner.

I would have shot my own dogs if they did something like that to someone else's animals. For me, a dog that can't be trusted with livestock is not a pet I want. I have chickens, and my GSD killed several of them right in front of me. I bought a shock collar, and two weeks after that, he never touched another chicken that I didn't give to him. He just ran past one that hopped out of the coup while I was feeding them, he never even looked at it.

You were lucky to nip that in the bud immediately. Usually once they kill something they never stop.

Yes, he is the one dog I have only taken sheep herding once, just once, five years ago. He was asked not to return because he was too mouthy. I either had to break him in or put him down, because I plan to one day soon, live on a farm, and I can't live with a thrill killer.

I used a shock collar on my great dane bitch when I got some lambs. She would go over to them and start gently chewing on their heads and necks, but they would lay down flat out and I was worried they would just lay there and die if she kept it up. It was pretty hilarious when I put the collar on her- she thought the sheep were doing it, and would raise her lip in a snarl in their direction.

I agree with sky...if my dog did that I would be the one putting it down. Unacceptable.

Most people here would take care of the problem themselves, but these are recent transplants from the city. It is a bit of a learning curve when you move to the country.

The cows are all calving, and the horses will be dropping foals too, so I hope those dogs don't get loose again. I have a mare about to foal myself (day 340 is Feb. 6th!), and I'll tell you right now, between myself and the mare, if any dogs tried that here they wouldn't get out alive.

That poor little calf- his ears were all torn up, slashes on his legs and face... nothing that was severe enough to cause him to die, so he was literally scared to death. It was really sad. My friends have grown their herd from one cow to about 6 now, and they were looking forward to the money this steer would bring at auction, and the $500 they got now is nothing compared to what they could have gotten.

The money isn't the important thing though- that poor little calf would have had a nice life on the mountain, and he only got 2 days. It just isn't right.

My husband had a flock of sheep (when he was a kid) decimated by roving dogs. They killed some, but the other ship all had their wool literally just fall out and they stopped eating. They had to put them all down.

Some pet owners are just clueless.

Stray and wild dogs really are the worst because they have no fear of humans and no sense of what they can and can't kill for food. They just attack everything in sight for fun. We had a problem with someone bringing a pack of northern sled dogs down who might have had some wolf in them. They sure looked it and acted it. They howled outside my window a few times. They tried shock collars but then we just saw dogs running around with orange collars. I had foals at the time and we kept them corralled by the barn every night until the dogs disappeared. Not sure if they found a way to confine them, got rid of them, or the neighbor with sheep finally took his gun to them.

Usually I don't have to worry too much having large livestock or a good sturdy building for the rest like rabbits. We did have free range chickens for a few years and ended a few dogs. My own had to wear a shock collar for awhile too since she's a hunting breeding but there's plenty of guarding instinct in there so it didn't take much to tell her chickens belonged here before she'd ignore them to hunt wildlife and she never bothered the neighbors' livestock. She did wander though so I had to talk with the neighbors that she was not harmful to even small livestock and I would probably be shortly behind her trying to capture her again. Things get shot quickly around here. Wandering dogs generally don't live more than 2-3months unless everyone knows they are harmless which there were a few around that are harmless like the one neighbor's chow mix who just likes to follow the horses without doing anything and an aussie who was attracted to our chickens but never ran after them. She just liked to watch and keep them in sight. I did usually throw her in our dog yard though if I wasn't out to supervise until her owner came for her just in case.

We had some city woman move too the country she said her dogs wouldnt hurt a fly.they were both shot runnning down and killing deer.

So sorry to hear this...we still have not seen the dogs that killed Big Daddy again. I kind of wish they WOULD come back we can take care of the problem once and for all. I hate to think of them being out there, killing other people's animals....

I can never forget the time a college student, renting a trailer next door, had a pit/lab cross that she let run loose. That dog chased my 85 year old MIL back into her house. Being the reserved person that i am... i chased that critter back to the trailer he came from...only to be screamed at by the female that "Dogs have rights too!".... errrr not when they chase an elderly lady...No. Fortunately they soon were evicted.

I, personally, would have shot the dogs. The tolerance on our property for things like that is nil. The neighbor's dog made quick work of our layer flock awhile back, he came back for our turkeys and, well, the world is minus one medium sized black dog now.

The ignorance of some people is spectacular. City people *shake my head*...

I wouldn't say it's all city people... I mean, I'm a city person, and I know better than to let my dog roam, even when we're out in the country. It's nothing to do with where the person came from, but more about their level of ignorance and self absorption. I just find it very sad that so many breeds have bad names because the people who own them can't be bothered to give them any sort of training.

Sorry to hear of the loss, it was just of him to pay for the calf.

Dogs will be dogs and ignorant owners as well. and the code of the country will apply if you allow your dogs learn this unacceptable behavior...

Code of the country = Good neighbors are still good neighbors even if they have to shoot your dog.

Some folks who didn't grow up in the country have a hard time understanding the culture that seems to exist when your closest neighbor is more than a mile away. We need each other out here; dog or not.

Show the neighbor some forgiveness and eventually he will learn

Hopefully no more calves will die needlessly.