Chat with county dog catcher

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member
I was talking to our county animal control officer. I called him a dog catcher. He corrected me, he's a dog chaser, not a catcher. He's also a very large man. We both got a chuckle out of it.

So I asked him if a tenant doesn't have homeowners insurance, their dog bites someone who will pay? His answer, the owner of the property.

I asked him this question because last night on our 4 mile bicycle ride a dog came within inches of removing my leg.
geo.
 
I would like to have an 18 inch shot gun. I know better. Firing a gun while I'm on a road, killing a dog is a sure way to make the early news.
 
No, I don't want to get that close to a crazy dog.

The dog catcher said he has talked to the woman for the last time about her dogs. Not sure what that means. We have leash laws against letting dogs run loose. Her dogs have killed neighbors chickens.

Hope this puts a stop to it. I may need to have a chat with her landlord.
 
Search "miniature Louisville slugger" on Ebay. They make 18 inch souvenier bats. I keep a couple around for various odd jobs. Stunning fish is one.
 
To bad you couldn't get the neighbor that lost the chicken to shoot it the next time its in his yard.
 
I carry a Attwood Bellow air horn. It's really loud. When you blow it at a chasing dog they're stunned (confused) for a second or two. Long enough to get away.
 
I'm not sure how good legal advice is from cops or dog catchers. Or from laypersons like me.

From a practical point of view, an attorney is going to go after a landlord for damages anytime a tenant's actions cause injury. Not because the landlord is necessarily at fault, but rather because you can't get blood out of a turnip. Very few renters carry insurance or have significant assets.

Also, most insurance companies will settle such a claim out of court, because the risk of going to court isn't worth the 50K they would have to pay out to settle. But should the case go to court, it's an uphill battle for a plaintiff to prove negligence on the part of the landlord. In the case of a dogbite, the plaintiff would need to prove the landlord knew about the dog, knew it was dangerous and didn't do anything about it.
 
I think many people neighbors would like to shoot thrm. We may hate them, yet want to respect animal more than owners.

Cops say the is the last time getting complaints. What ever that means.
George
 
Lease law is pretty much worthless. I've tried the legal way for problem dogs and never got anywhere and the dogs keep coming. Only true way is still the 3 S's ! You can't even drop off stray cats at the human society anymore. They never would come pick up dogs unless you had them penned up and then only during m-F 9 to 3 or something like that. Why the heck are they even around collecting tax dollars ? They don't seem to be able to do anything.
 
The budgets may be slim enough that that is all they can do on $1.29. It seems that for every person saying the government needs to do something there is another person saying the government should get off my back.
 
I think if they get enough complaints and the owner won't do anything about it they can take the dog. As you know your dog is not allowed to run free in Indiana.
 
Our county Sheriff states as a matter of policy his department does not deal with stray animals in general, and dogs in particular, unless there is a liability issue such as a bite. In other words, if you see a stray dog approaching your livestock, handle it your own way. (Wink, wink).

Several years ago, I put down a couple of stray dogs 'cause they were terrorizing our tenant's kids. I grabbed the first thing handy, a 9mm pistol. When I mentioned the incident over coffee to the Sheriff a couple of weeks later, his only comment was, "Man, if you can put down stray dogs with a 9mm, I ought to make you a Reserve Deputy".
 
I live on a major highway and have seen deer hit and just break a leg and can't get up. The county Sheriff come out to put it down and he empties his service side arm and still has to go to car and get shotgun to do job and he is shooting point blank at deer. At point blank range one shot should have did the job.
 
Most states do allow land owners to protect their chickens and other critters with lethal force. Most dog control officers will tell you to shoot them when you catch em damaging your stock, because it is near impossible for the officer to get there in time. You don't really need the officers permission here in NY, but having his blessing helps cover yer butt, since "But my little Poopsey would never kill a chicken". Having said that, our local dog pound has turned wimpy-weeny on us, too. Not too sure how much help they would be in those situations anymore. I believe our laws state that dogs must be confined, or under your control, or wording to that effect. A car or a bike chaser is a pinta and in my experience very difficult to break of the habit short of cranial injection of lead. Sounds like your DC guy is trying to keep the lid on this dog and has warned the owner. My guess would be his next move will be to take legal action against the owner, and if that fails to get her attention, the dog will be taken from her and made dead by whatever means is legal to him.


Now on the other hand, as a landowner myself and with the crackhead/doper situation the way it is, you can hardly blame someone for keeping dogs around that are willing to take a hunk outta someone. The trick is to make sure they take a hunk of meat from the right ones.
 
A few years ago our county went from a "dog catcher" that operated out of an old cinder block building and an old pick up truck cast off from the county road crews to a brand new multi-million dollar "animal shelter" complete with a secretary, a brand new Ford Explorer XLT 4x4 with lights ans siren and a brand new tin badge for the dog catcher that says animal control officer. Now guess what? In this weeks paper they is all sad and whining because they spent all this money and now nobody drops off any animals for them to take care of?? suppose it has anything to do with them jacking the rates up by 4X to pay for all the extravagances??? go figure?
 
You can always get some ground beef and make a small ball full of alki Seltzer's and feed it to the dog.
 
The dog in question wouldn't happen to belong to the folks whose house you were lying in the weeds spying and taking pictures of their metal roof that you posted the other day, was it? Did they sick the dog on you as a warning not to do that or come around again?

Mark
 
Mark - IN,
Come on, as some would say I've have beaten that horse to death. My ex girlfriend may have started that roomer first, after I dumped her. She posting on social media I whipped my horse to death. She is lying, my stallion is alive and well. I would never beat it. It's so gentle, girlfriend could ride it without a saddle. Not to mention, I have to remember to close my barn door or my horse will get out. Hate it when that happens.

I was riding a 3 wheel iron horse, 3 wheel bicycle, in the country when dog came within inches of taking a chunk out of my let . Don't laugh, 3 wheel bicycles with a saddle seat is the only way to get some exercise. The seat doesn't give you a split personality.
Geo
 
A high quality mace with some yellow or purple dye tends to make them a bit less aggressive. My 81 year old mother opened her garage door and walked to the driver's door of her car to find a dog standing in her garage like he owned the place. She said it was the first time she had ever used the mace I had mounted on her key ring and was surprised by how quick he ran out of the place with his tail between his legs.....

Video on how it works on large dogs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBMWgMn52I
 

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