BUMP: neighbors first mentioned in the post moved out (across the street and seem to be taking better care of the dogs–it’s just one guy now, which may be why). Everything was quiet for a while.
New set of neighbors in the house next door. First they had one dog, then two. Not a big deal–they were little yappers but not threatening. Then they got a shepherd puppy. With no attention or training (outside 24/7), she turned into a nightmare. Even the lazy owners were fed up, so of course instead of working with her, they “found her a new home.”
Then they got a Lab/pit puppy. There were some skirmishes at the fence, but since she grew up next to my dogs, they all seemed to have worked things out. She’s not a barker and as the largest dog, she disciplines the little ones. Everything is good, I heave a big sigh of relief.
Fast forward to last week. They already have three 24/7 outside dogs they ignore, so now they get a fourth, a full pit. At first she’s quiet because she’s new. But this weekend, as she’s grown more comfortable with her yard, she’s started charging the fence every time my dogs are in the yard. All their other dogs join in and start barking. My dogs aren’t angels and will ignore it for a while but eventually join in. All the training I’ve been doing about ignoring this or that goes out the window for my toughest dog when she gets in that zone. She’s not at all food motivated, so that doesn’t work.
The new neighbors are definitely stoners, and I think they’re dealers (I’ve seen them going out at weird hours with other neighbors who are definitely dealing, all the cars in a procession). They know the dogs are fighting and don’t care. They leave their gate open when they’re stoned and don’t care that their dogs get loose (before I knew what they were like, I used to round up the dogs for them, thinking I was doing a good deed).
One of their little dogs got in my yard this summer (got through a gap in the fence) and was cornered by my dogs who were ready to fight him, and the wife just shrugged (stoned). She said if it happened again and her dog got hurt, she wouldn’t care. Of course, what would happen is my dogs would injure their dog while they’re not home, and I’d be stuck taking their dog to the vet, which they wouldn’t pay for. Gap repaired.
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Moving is simply not an option. I’m self-employed with 4 pets and a very limited budget right now.
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Our mutual landlady doesn’t want to deal with it. I don’t know if she knows about all the drug activity going on in the neighborhood or if she’s even in on it. Any problems raised to her make ME the troublemaker. With my lease coming up for renewal, I can’t chance it. Also, I’m afraid of retaliation from the neighbors. Same problem with calling any authorities.
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Since I rent, I cannot put up a real fence (landlady doesn’t want it, and I don’t want to make that level of capital improvement to someone else’s property–the yard is a long, thin acre, so it would be thousands).
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We have vicious winds here, so screening would have to be replaced several times per year. Not a great option but a maybe if I can find affordable wind-resistant screening with ventilation holes.
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Keeping them leashed all the time isn’t an option because they need to run. That’s why I rented a large property to begin with. I can’t walk them outside the property because of all the dealers who leave their dogs loose in front of their properties. There are also coyotes walking down the street in the middle of the day sometimes.
I’m thinking of trying an air horn next, although I’m sure other neighbors won’t like it. I think I can use a phone app for it and even do it from the window, so the dogs think it’s coming out of nowhere.
Next step is getting a longer hose and blasting all the parties involved, although technically it’s illegal, apparently, to even use water on other people’s dogs. I suppose I could say I was spraying my dogs, and theirs were hit because they were in the vicinity and no one was there to control them. IDK
If going out 100% with my dogs works for a while, great, but that’s not a long-term solution. It means my dogs have to hold it first thing in the morning while I dress, and I can’t ever put them out when I have company or a phone meeting (I work from home).
Meanwhile, the nasty people on the other side of me have their horses standing pastern deep in their own waste, the entire paddocks covered in manure, which is not a reportable offense…
And since I wrote this, I’m back to add that those horse-owning neighbors have let their dogs out, and they are now barking across my yard at the other neighbors dogs, who are barking back. If they would just finish the fence on their side, this wouldn’t be a problem, but like everything in their yard and house, it’s only half finished. I can’t put screening up on that fence because they own it, and I’m not allowed to touch it. They think I called animal control on them about an underweight horse, so they have been retaliating ever since.
I hate inland Southern California. It’s just a giant rural slum. Thanks for letting me vent.
