OT: loose Dogs

Our approach here, and we are rich with rude neighbors, is to contact the neighbor in person. We do it in a friendly and casual way and only get pointed if the neighbor starts to react badly.
Additional neighbor contacts are only made if the neighbor is still being "neighborly". If the problem occurs again we contain the animal in a building or pen (easy to trick them into these) and call animal control to pick up. 90% of the time the situation is solved without us ending up with a hostile neighbor situation. We rarely have damage to livestock because our fences are good and the dogs can't get in, you should check into same. An occasional dead chicken is a part of life, not a call to war. I may be being a little harsh, but a lot of innocent pets get killed each year unjustifiably.

Frankly, if you believed in what you were doing you would have signed the letter.

However, to get serious for a second, you'd better let your local law enforcers handle this problem. In most places after a ticket or two, if he doesn't control his dog a judge will do it for him.

Why get yourself in the middle of it? All this talk about using guns, etc. may sound manly right now, but it won't be when the two of you come to blows and get hauled to the slammer! This is a job for the cops!

I sympathize with you. Here, (I'm out in the sticks) there's no "animal control" except that which humans enforce. You've done your civic duty...warned them about the dog. Next step is yours. On my property, they get one warning and then they vaporize...quietly. (Dogs that is, not owners.) Cats get no warning....

If I could have given myself advice back when my wonderful neighbors moved in... keep a written log and photograph (with date and time) every single offense from them. Let the evidence accumulate in your favor for a while. Then seek a competent atty. and slam it to 'em. You are a law abiding citizen. Judicial action with support from law enforcement may be required to ultimately put the matter to rest.

When I was about 8-10 yr. old neighbor drove into our yard and when he got out of the car he had his 12 guage with him. He told Dad some dogs had been running his cows and he wasnt sure but thought one of them looked like ours. Dad reached for the gun and shot our dog. Wasnt going to argue or say no our dog wouldnt do that. Dog was a Heinz 57.