On September 27th we lost our best friend and a source of income for us due to the senseless act of a neighbor who thought he “might” attack his geese, and so shot him. He was sitting at the corner of his house, by the neighbor’s own report...not hurting anyone or anything. Not only did he kill him, he then hid his body in the bottom of his garbage can, covered in chicken guts (the neighbor butchers chickens), and refused to return him to us.

Our French Pointing Wire-haired Griffon, Remi, had made an escape from our yard when we let him out to pee. We live in the country. It’s open-range, but that protection only extends to livestock. Had our horse gone over to tell our neighbor hello, it would have been illegal for him to shoot the horse. Horses can certainly trample geese. Why are dogs treated any differently under the law?

While we completely understand the potential damage dogs can cause to livestock (we’ve had many chickens killed by dogs, and cattle and horses harassed), most dogs nowadays are considered family. They can be equally important as livestock as sources of income.

The “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality MUST change, as times have changed. The current open range law is outdated and dogs should be protected like livestock are. We will present this petition to the Bingham County, Idaho commissioners as well as the Idaho state representatives to address state law.