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Post by pollycrystal on May 25, 2012 16:06:16 GMT
My husband rang me at lunchtime just as I was leaving work to say our terrier had somehow escaped from the garden and run off, as I got home a strange man was delivering him home and told me that he had killed a neighbours guinea pigs , which had been in a run in their front garden! Oh my god I am so embarrassed and sorry, I love guinea pigs, I went to the house to apologise and the young woman ( who I don't know really ) was so upset she couldn't speak. I didn't know what to say, I felt like an irresponsible owner who just lets their dog roam about, but nothing could be further from the truth, he is like Houdini, and will find a space anywhere. I am sending her some flowers, and going to reinforce all fencing. Now dreading the irate husband coming round later, hope he doesn't, I don't know what else to do to say sorry  |
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Post by brindlerainbow on May 25, 2012 16:20:41 GMT
My neighbours terrier got in and killed 1 of my bantams and I have to say I was absolutely livid as it was my young daughters pet and she witnessed it being killed. It too could escape from anywhere and had been left unsupervised. I would say if the dog is a Houdini then it should not be left unsupervised as terriers do have the instinct to kill small animals and now that it's done it once it will do it again.Shortly after it killed my bantam it got into another neighbours property and killed 1 of her chickens too.If I were you I would get the fencing sorted before the dog is allowed out again
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Post by judyh on May 25, 2012 16:26:04 GMT
I had this happen many years ago. To a terrier these were rats!!!
I know this won't help, all you can do is make sure there is no way he can get out again. Keep calm and remind him if necessary that if they were in the garden then this should have been securely fenced to keep your and other dogs out.
I have had to put up a 6' fence to stop my neighbour's hens flying over into my terriers, they refused to keep them in!!!
Has saved a lot of trouble.
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Post by lisadundee on May 25, 2012 16:27:54 GMT
My two Lhasa apsos used to escape all the time, I've had to have a yard made for them with 5ft fencing round! There's no getting out of that!
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Post by jeanslater on May 25, 2012 17:39:20 GMT
That is the nature of the beast, I can sympathise for both parties but there is nothing you can do. If a terrier got to them a fox would have if there are any in the area. All you can do is apologise and think to yourself that its natural for your terrier to hunt and to kill, its instinct bred in to it for just this purpose, you will not stop it, all you can do is try to prevent any incidents from happening again, its not the terriers fault, you can not punish it after the event , its one of those things to look back on and learn from, Terriers have to be broken to stock to respect them and boundaries set at an early age, there was nothing you could do , all the best .
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Post by pollycrystal on May 25, 2012 18:05:10 GMT
Yes I am certainly going to look at all the fences again, we put in as many measures as possible to contain him, or so we thought, he won't just be allowed in the back now till we have reinforced everything. My husband is doing it in the morning, still feel sad though
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kayjayem
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Post by kayjayem on May 25, 2012 18:53:49 GMT
you could always get a baskerville basket muzzle for him for when he is left alone, besides upgrading your fencing, then IF he managed to escape he wouldn't be able to do any harm. Won't put right the damage already done though.
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Post by B_31 on May 28, 2012 12:27:55 GMT
you could always get a baskerville basket muzzle for him for when he is left alone, besides upgrading your fencing, then IF he managed to escape he wouldn't be able to do any harm. Won't put right the damage already done though. i dont agree tbh i think this is worse just reinforce fencing and that would be beter - or if needby crate train.... i dont like muzzles unless the dog is aggresive and needs one  |
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sarahp
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Post by sarahp on May 28, 2012 16:21:41 GMT
I must admit I wouldn't go out and leave our dogs loose in the garden with no-one in anyway.
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Post by rubydoo on May 28, 2012 17:05:20 GMT
my cairn terrier is an escape artist so if im out she is in the kitchen shes not getting out of there ! its my responsiblity to make sure she is safe and other animals are safe from her.
i would maybe take a peace offering round in a day or two, and assure them measures are being taken to prevent this happening again.
you cant do anymore than appologise .
its nice that you care ,some people where i live just leave their dogs to roam the street .
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Post by pollycrystal on May 28, 2012 17:51:34 GMT
Actually my husband was in, he had just let them into the garden while he was having lunch, I would never leave them outside if there was no-one in. We thought we had blocked every exit, I have no idea where he managed to escape from, but now we have reinforced the gates with higher sheep netting, hope this does the trick. Believe me, no-one feels more sorry than I am, if there was a way to make it better I would.
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Post by lucynlizzysmum on May 28, 2012 18:37:06 GMT
Actually my husband was in, he had just let them into the garden while he was having lunch, I would never leave them outside if there was no-one in. We thought we had blocked every exit, I have no idea where he managed to escape from, but now we have reinforced the gates with higher sheep netting, hope this does the trick. Believe me, no-one feels more sorry than I am, if there was a way to make it better I would. Pollycrystal I know how you feel - unfortunately sometimes these things happen - my jrt butchered some birds belonging to a neighbour up the road. Whilst a dreadful thing to happen, accidents do happen and it does not make you irresponsible - slightly neurotic about it happening again, but not a bad person. We ended up with ours having to have her tied up outside on three lengths of lunge line which gave her the full run of the garden but she couldn't disappear! Big hugs, I know how you feel x |
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sarahp
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Post by sarahp on May 28, 2012 18:43:46 GMT
My apologies, it sounded from your post that no-one was home.
A lungeline wouldn't do for our chap, he knows very well how to turn his head to chew through anything like that, only a chain will do.
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Post by lucynlizzysmum on May 28, 2012 21:09:41 GMT
My apologies, it sounded from your post that no-one was home. A lungeline wouldn't do for our chap, he knows very well how to turn his head to chew through anything like that, only a chain will do. We have always been lucky with ours from that point of view having said that she never ever tried to escape from being tied up - she always knew how far the end of the line was!!! |
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Post by browbands.co.uk on May 28, 2012 21:22:48 GMT
I am sorry but unfortunately these things happen animals will be animals at the end of the day if it wasn't your dog it could have been a fox or a cat! I think you are doing the right thing tying to make amends by sending flowers i also think you should get the fence fixed as soon as you can. You should maby offer when they are ready to replace the Guinea pigs to pay for the new ones. Sending you a cuddle coz you will be shook up too  |
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kayjayem
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Post by kayjayem on May 28, 2012 22:00:26 GMT
you could always get a baskerville basket muzzle for him for when he is left alone, besides upgrading your fencing, then IF he managed to escape he wouldn't be able to do any harm. Won't put right the damage already done though. i dont agree tbh i think this is worse just reinforce fencing and that would be beter - or if needby crate train.... i dont like muzzles unless the dog is aggresive and needs one Worse than what? The basket muzzles are totally harmless, they have full air flow and are able to bark, drink etc. Surely being free with a muzzle on would be better than stuck in a crate  Obviously in the situation he got himself in he was aggressive(I'm sure the guinea pig and neighbours thought so)! OP I can also sympathise as I have an escape artist who could get through a keyhole if she felt inclined but fortunately she wouldn't do any harm but if I thought she would I wouldn't hesitate to put a baskerville on her! |
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Post by shellywell on Aug 22, 2012 13:10:41 GMT
Mine caught a neighbours rabbit recently, she has a cottage backing onto our farm. I had ridden out earlier in the week and seen that she was letting the rabbit run loose, he spooked me by shooting away from their front wall when we passed - horses were fine - and I thought then that she was risking it, asides from my pack who hunt daily, the neighbouring farm also has terriers that hunt and besides which we have foxes and red kites who like a rabbit meal.
Well 3 days later I was out walking the dogs in the 5 acres behind her house, before bedtime and across the field came my terrier with mr bunny in his mouth, he dropped it when I shouted and the rabbit died in my arms, all very distressing. This was at 9.45pm at night, I was so cross that the owner had been so irresponsible, I still am - why didn't she lock it up earlier? I was cross with my terrier aswell - he shoul dknow the difference between a grey bunny and a dwarf lop, but its not my terriers fault, he was doing what he has been bred to do, but I still feel awful, I should have called in to warn her about having her rabbit loose.
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Post by gillwales on Aug 22, 2012 14:09:14 GMT
fair play to you shellywell if you can teach any dog the difference between a wild and a tame rabbit! Pollycrystal I think you did all that you could, I would advise burying chicken wire from the bottom of the fence to prevent digging out from underneath.
Keep getting this tune running through my head dada da da da dada, dada dada da da .. a cross bewteen the great escape and colditz.......
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Post by pollycrystal on Aug 22, 2012 16:14:50 GMT
I haven't heard any more from the guinea pigs owners, I told a mutual friend to tell her that I would gladly replace them if that was what she wanted, I'm afraid I'm too much of a coward to face her myself . Anyway the dog hasn't escaped again, thank goodness, we seem to have trapped him! |
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Post by gillwales on Aug 22, 2012 16:23:08 GMT
so he has been sentenced and sent to alcatraz!
well done for making your garden terrier proof. You really have done everything you could now stop beating yourself up.
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Obviously in the situation he got himself in he was aggressive(I'm sure the guinea pig and neighbours thought so)! 
