By Jessica De Nova/KTVL.com

CENTRAL POINT, Ore.-A local family seeks legal help after their dog was shot by their neighbor Monday.

The Kuykendalls said their dogs, Hercules and Caesar, father and son, got out when a door was mistakenly left open, but Caesar, who just turned a year old on Christmas, never returned home.

After searching for about an hour, the Kuykendalls decided to call the Jackson County Sheriff's Office and Animal Control to report their missing pet.

They looked for about five hours, knocking on doors, wading through deep mud and making a lot of noise. This family cannot believe their neighbor did not hear them looking for their dog.

"He's two doors down to the right of me about 100 ft. away," said Anthony Kuykendall.

They even went by the home of the accused neighbor, Donald Robinson, after a boy waved them over toward the house. The boy told them not to waste their gas driving around there, because their dog was not there.

"We start kinda thinking, we need to drive down there ... he's like 14, 13. I'm not gonna take his word for it," said Kuykendall.

Just twenty minutes later, a sheriff's deputy pulled up in front of Robinson's home. When the Kuykendalls went to the neighbor's house again to see what was going on, the deputy told them Robinson, his friend, had to defend his chickens, so he shot their dog.

"He's just a big sweetheart. That's all he was and he fired four times, shot my dog like it was a hunting expedition or something. He shot my dog on the other side of his gate. He didn't kill a chicken. He didn't hurt anyone. He didn't do anything to anyone," said Kuykendall.

The dog owner said, "He wasn't a dog, he was my son."

The Kuykendalls have only lived in this neighborhood for three months, but said they never received a warning from or have even met Robinson.

"He was looking for a reason.  He's threatened people on our street that we now know," said Kuykendall.

He added, they have yet to receive an apology or hear anything from the accused neighbor.

News 10 spoke with Jackson County Sheriff's Office, it said it cannot take on this case because it is not a criminal case, but rather, a civil case.

Jackson County Animal Control showed up at the Kuykendall's home on Tuesday to hand them a ticket for $600, witnessed by Robinson.

"Here's a fee for your dead dog, for chasing livestock, even though under Oregon law it says chickens are not livestock," said Kuydendall.

News 10 tried to speak with the accused neighbor, but he did not want to comment.

Anthony Kuykendall said the family plans to seek an attorney that will take their case pro bono, but will do whatever it needs to do to raise the funds to cover legal fees, if necessary.

Kuykendall said, anyone interested in helping them, can contact the family directly at 541-840-1985. A family wants justice after neighbor shot their dog