After the rain had stopped, the kids had gone outside to play and had ended up in the backyard helping their brother take care of the chickens. I hear screams of glee as one of the kids runs in to tell me that there is a white dog playing with them. I encouraged the kids to leave him alone and let him be on his way. Within five minutes, their screams of glee became screams of terror.
I bolted out the back door to complete chaos. The kids were screaming and crying and several of them were trying to tell me what was going on at the same time. My oldest daughter made it outside before I did and was able to figure out the situation quickly. The dog had gotten into our chicken coop and was killing the chickens. Oh, my.
As I charged out to the chicken coop, my biggest fear was having the dog turn on me or one of the children. I envisioned us helplessly watching as the dog tore our chickens apart. The chickens aren't as dumb as they look. As they jumped and flew around trying to evade the snapping jaws, several of them took off into their coop. With feathers flying all over, the dog followed and was just small enough to fit into the door. Because of the rain, the chicken yard was full of mud and I hesitated for a moment to try and come up with a plan.
I threw the chicken door open and out flew several chickens, with the dog hot on their tails. My nerves were quite jangled as I tried to grab for the dog's collar, praying that he wouldn't bite me. I missed and he tore into the coop again. I went in after him and brought him out by his collar. You cannot imagine how badly I was shaking as my children continued screaming and crying and the dog was whining and the chickens were making the loudest racket of all. The dog calmed down quickly, but his guilt was dangling from his mouth as feathers clung to him.
The dog calmed down as soon as the chickens were beyond his reach. He whined and whimpered a bit, but did not fight against me holding on to him. He had a collar with his name and a phone number on it. Huck was the source of our drama. My daughter handed me the phone, but I was shaking too badly to dial the number correctly. Dear Daughter dialed the number and I quickly told the owner what his dog had done and that he needed to come and get him. I was surprised by how badly I was shaking, but moms have to take charge and appear as calm as possible.
I stood next to the coop holding the dog by his collar while we all waited for the owner to show up. With my permission, my braver children even started loving on the dog. He was super sweet and I was perplexed by his aggression towards the chickens. A friend of Huck's owner showed up and shed a little bit of light on the situation. The owner has been out of town for several weeks and the person that had been taking care of the dog had been evicted and so he wasn't sure anyone had been caring for the dog. He must have been quite hungry to force himself into the chicken yard in search of a meal. I encouraged the young man to take care of the dog and get him fed. I'm hoping he does. Such a sweet dog in such a terrible situation.
Thankfully, none of the chickens were killed. Two of them lost quite a few feathers and I wasn't sure if the stress would end up killing them. It took them quite awhile to quit making a ruckus and so far none of them have died.
Several of us were quite muddy and I took a bath. Thankfully, after a long hot soak, I calmed down and peace had returned to my home. I hope we will get to meet Huck again under better circumstances.
Have a blessed day.
Oh Denisa what a story. I remember when our children were little and we lived in the country critters would try to get the chickens and it was always some kind of drama. You were in control even though you were scared for your children. Great post. Hope you don't loose any chickens.
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