Complaint letter to neighbours *Help*

I have an issue with my neighbours dog attacking my chooks.
Today was the 3rd time in 6 months.
On every occasion, it has happened in my yard and fortunatly, today I was home, last time one of the chooks was killed. I am sure that this time, it would have been all of them.
They are nice people and we dont want to create any bad blood, but this has to stop.
They are very apologetic when it happens, and they do try for the most part to keep the dog confined, but he is a young boxer and has naught but air between his ears and a lust for chasing anything he can. He has also killed plenty of local wildlife including young wallabies :(.
The next time I catch him in my yard, I am going to calll the council.
How do I write them a letter explaining my intentions so it doesnt come as a shock to them when I do it? (cause the dog WILL be back)
TIA

Just write what you did in this post..

That you appreciate that they try to keep the dog confined, however when that fails the dog is a danger to wildlife and your chooks so you will be forced to call the council. Explain that this time it was just lucky you were home to save your chooks.

If they are reasonable people they will understand..Good luck..

i kinda think writing a letter saying that you will call the Council will create more bad blood than if you just called the Council when it happened.

Nah, i don't think so.. A letter gives the neighbours a chance to rectify the situation.. JMO though :)

I think it would be better face to face if they are reasonable people..

If they are reasonable people I think a letter is good. I know I was very appreciative of the letter my neighbour left when my dog was barking all day - I was unaware as I was at work.

I would outline the situation as you have done here with emphasis that you are wanting to protect your animals. Just wondering - is there anyway to secure your yard from your side to prevent him getting in?

Good luck with it.

HOTI, I am thinking that seeing as it has happened 3 times and I havent done it yet, they are thinking I wont.
In between these incidents, we get along well, stop and say hi and have a chat, (they live over the back, so this probably only happens every couple of weeks)
I like them, I even like the dog, he is a nice dog, just a chaser.
I want to give them fair warning, maybe a chance to do something more than they are now.
Funnily enough, the reason we have a back fence is because my chooks used to go into their yard and she complained to me that they were digging up her garden. You would think she would see the irony in all of this....... :D

Ambersky, they will avoid us like the plague for the next few weeks lol. They are quite embarrased and she is really non confrontational. I think she would cry if I knocked on her door.
Black cat, we are rural. There is approx 200 mtrs of back fence. It would be quite expensive to further proof it (it is chicken wire) the only solution i see is electric tape along the bottom (he goes under the fence) and I dont want it on my side because of my child.
I really feel that any further expense need to be on their part, we paid for the whole fence ourselves in the first place

This is bad. Unfortunately if this dog has killed your chooks & wildlife he is going to keep doing it. They are going to need to go to some major measures to prevent the dog doing it.
If you can, call up your local council & ask for advise about fencing etc & then talk to them face to face. If its only a young dog then its only going to get bigger & more skilled at what its doing. Friendly, nice dog or not.. Its a killer.

I own a boxer & she is lovely. BUT I would not trust her free range chooks (and I really want chooks!) She kills snakes.

In saying that though, just because this dog kills wildlife/chooks. I don't think there is concern for it attacking people (not that anyone has said that but I know a lot of people often link the two & its simply not the case)

Is the dog going under the fence? One of ours was a digger and we got a roll of 30cm chook wire and dug down and clipped it along the bottom of the fence and then put dirt back on. Pretty cheap and not that hard to do, unless your soil is clay or another hard one. This would be their responsibility though. The chicken wire stopped our dog getting under.