A Dog Among The Chickens

*This post contains a picture of a dead bird*

Got home from work yesterday and I was greeted by the news from my wife that a neighbour had been walking his dog (there's a public footpath that runs along the top of our fields) and somehow it had got off the lead and killed three of my chickens.

 I trudged down the field a little grumpily to see what the damage was and which batch of hens had been attacked.
"Luckily" (although not for them) it had been my ex battery hens, who are kind of on the "green mile" stage of their life as a new batch are arriving in a month or so. They had lost a third of their numbers.
Our neighbour walked down the field to meet me and was very upset.
There were many ways I could of handled this whole situation and although I was annoyed I did feel sorry for the guy, it was genuine mistake. As he'd gone to go over the stile, with baby and dog, the dog saw a pheasant who bolted, the dog then chased it over two fields and ended up straight into the chicken pen. The rest is inevitable!
I do moan a bit about the dog walkers round here, as none seem to keep their dogs on a lead, even though there is a polite sign asking them to, but this guy does and is always courteous, although his dog isn't the best trained in the world.

He kept offering to pay for them, but I turned him down and told him that they weren't long for this world anyway and worth very little in money terms. We're neighbours (one of only 5 houses in our little hamlet) and so it's not something I'd want to fall out about. I made him shake my hand before he left to show no hard feelings, but he still seemed pretty shaken up about the whole thing. Like I said to him - who knows next time it might be something of mine in his garden - mistakes happen.

But...

Please keep your dog on a lead!