Dog is never ever outdoors when you’re not home. For the reasons CGPLady mentioned.
Second interior fence so there’s space between kid and dog.
You do realize you’re risking your dog’s life to entertain the neighbor’s child, right? Cause if he hurts her, guess what happens to him?
What possible benefit is there to you from this arrangement?
[QUOTE=CrazyGuineaPigLady;5808670]
You can’t really have it both ways. An outdoor dog (even a fenced-in one) is vulnerable to whoever comes by when you aren’t around. It could be a well meaning little girl feeding him leftover KFC bones, a thief or a real abuser. The only way to keep your dog safe from others is to keep him out of reach. This also considerably reduces your chance of lawsuit. I would lock the doggy door when you aren’t home to monitor things. Chances are, there is more going on now than you are even aware of. Why risk it if you are already concerned?[/QUOTE]
This. I sympathize that you would prefer that your dog get outdoor time during the day, but 1) CGPL makes a good point about other hazards (dog theft is on the rise) and 2) I don’t see any other solution. The adults responsible for the child are not being responsive, and the child is far too young to understand. I think you’re misguided to attempt to tell the child she can’t come into the yard when you’re not there - if the parents/grandmother won’t listen, the child is not an equal option - she’s 5, she won’t understand.
I appreciate the concern, but I’m not sure the situation is quite as dire as some people are making it out to be- I probably didn’t describe it well enough. The parents truly aren’t horrible people, they’re just inattentive. They do drink a fair amount, but like I said, I’ve never seen them drunk to the point of being completely incompetent or passed out. I’ve talked to the dad about what kind of stuff my dog can and can’t eat and he’s been respectful of that.
I know there is some risk is allowing a dog to be outside when I’m gone, but I think the benefits outweigh the risk in our case. We live in a nice quiet neighborhood, I’m not at all worried about someone trying to steal my dog or break through locks to get into my yard or something like that.
I’ve never caught the girl coming into my yard when I’m gone (nor have other neighbors ever mentioned it to me) so this is a concern of mine that is, at this point, unrealized. My landlord also has a shop in the backyard and he’s over a few days a week as well, so he’s also there to keep an eye on things. The latch on the gate is up high enough the girl has a hard time opening it anyway, with the difficult to open clip I’m fairly confidant she won’t be able to open it on her own.
I’ve left a message with my landlord so we can talk more about fencing options to see if we can make a gap between the fence-lines on that side of the yard. I think a temporary fence of some sort like a few people mentioned will be just what I need! I’ll at least start with that and keep a close eye on things, if the situation doesn’t improve then I’ll probably start to keep him inside.
Oh, and thanks Shea’sMom, she was a wonderful mare and is very missed!
Your yard is what is legally called an attractive nuisance. Meaning it’s a place where children and idiot adults might want to be when you’re not there, like a pool or a paddock. If the child is injured IN ANY WAY YOU WILL BE HELD LIABLE.
That child may not be able to reach the lock NOW but give her a month to grow and hey, presto! it’s easy peasy to open. As for it’s being difficult to open, so are pool gate locks and how many kids drown each year after beating the lock/warning/security on the gate?
I’d put a lock on the gate for sure, and give the landlord a key. If her parents aren’t the stoners you made them out to be initially, then emphatically tell them child is NOT to go into the yard, and NOT to feed the dog on the advice of your vet. (BTW our new neighbor decided to make friends with our Jacks so they wouldn’t bark at him. Unbeknownst to us he began giving them Milk Bones when he saw them. Couldn’t figure out why our dogs were getting fat. He was giving them the LARGE bones, not the minis, the ones with the Jacks on the box! He stopped when he realized that they were going to bark at him regardless. 
)
Lone-the situation can be dire. Kryswyn is exactly right. You cannot begin to conceive of the trouble a scratch or bite, even if it never happened could cause you and your dog. I feel sorry for the kid also, but I’ll feel sorrier for you when you are having to tell the insurance company, and animal control what happened, and why you shouldn’t get cited. It does happen.
A friend years ago was threatened with a lawsuit over her tiny, ancient poodle because a kid claimed (coached by her parents) the dog nipped her. There were reports to animal control, and the only reason it went away was the owner showed the AC person that the dog had no teeth and couldn’t have nipped the kid. It was obviously a scam for insurance payoffs, and extortion, but it was still tried. Apparently, the entire family did phony claims constantly for insurance payoffs, and I understand that the parents couldn’t even shop at the local supermarkets because of their history of staged falls (those video cameras in the store in the produce section and inside the front door aren’t there for nothing-security tape tells a lot).
Definitely padlock the gate. Give landlord the key or combination. What if child lets dog out of the yard? What if dog gets out to the road? What if child chases after dog and also ends up in the road?
It won’t kill the dog to be confined to the house when you are not there. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
[QUOTE=Lone;5809193]
I appreciate the concern, but I’m not sure the situation is quite as dire as some people are making it out to be- I probably didn’t describe it well enough. The parents truly aren’t horrible people, they’re just inattentive. [/QUOTE]
I think you’re fooling yourself by not considering how this situation could escalate at some point. You can’t rely on the parents, the school year, winter or repeated warnings to keep her away from your dog. The secondary fence might work for a while but, most likely, she’ll eventually be in your yard or he’ll be let out of it. An unsupervised child and someone else’s unsupervised dog is a bad combination. Children are very resourceful so I bet she’ll find some work-arounds if you only make things a little more difficult for her to get to him.
You’ve already mentioned things like pestering him, tying a rope on his collar :eek: and coming over even after you say no. I would count my lucky stars that’s all that’s happened (so far) and keep the dog in the house.
I agree. I live 5 miles outside of East Jesus, and I have a fenced yard, but my dogs are indoors when I’m not home.
Crazy things can happen even when no one means any harm. Like the time I discovered the hands were intentionally discarding cooked chicken bones in my yard, thinking the dogs would like them.:eek:
I apologize that I have not read every reply and might be repeating myself.
If that were me, I would not think twice about calling Children’s Services. Not the stupid poh-leese department but Children’s Services.
Nothing gets a parents’ attention faster than being turned into Children’s services.
BUT before I did that, getting the child on video while she was trying to hang your Lab thru the fence would have been great evidence.
If there are anymore opportunities to video her misbehavior, especially including a sweep of her yard to show her parents are nowhere around, I would do that too.
This is the type of kid that will shove a ball point pen down the dog’s ear, then gets bit, then the poh-leese want to put your VICIOUS dog to sleep and the child’s parents will sue you out the Wahzoo for everything you have.
That actually happened years and years ago to a St. Bernard breeder. They were ordered to put the dog down and it was at the vet’s for that purpose.
The vet noticed the dog would not quit shaking it’s head, so checked its ears and by the Great Good Lord found the ball point pen the kid had shoved in there. Dog lived, lawsuit dropped and parents quietly slunked away. They wouldn’t have slunked away had that been my dog because I would have beat the living s**t out of the mom and given them something to really sue me over.
In case you can’t tell, I’ve got no use for these kinds of antics. At this point in the child’s life, it isn’t her fault but it will be as she gets older if she isn’t taught how to respect the neighbor’s property and animals.
Get videos — call Children’s Services and file a formal complaint — every single time something happens. CYA and CYDA (your dog’s awrse).
[QUOTE=walkinthewalk;5811514]
They wouldn’t have slunked away had that been my dog because I would have beat the living s**t out of the mom and given them something to really sue me over.
In case you can’t tell, I’ve got no use for these kinds of antics. At this point in the child’s life, it isn’t her fault but it will be as she gets older if she isn’t taught how to respect the neighbor’s property and animals.
Get videos — call Children’s Services and file a formal complaint — every single time something happens. CYA and CYDA (your dog’s awrse).[/QUOTE]
What good is a revenge beat down if your unsupervised dog has already been harmed? The best thing to do is keep them protected in the first place!
In addition to saying the parents aren’t “attentive”, the OP has also said…
I’ve debated calling CPS or something, but the parents aren’t bad I don’t think, just not attentive. They do drink a fair amount, but I’ve never seen them drunk to the point of being completely incompetent or passed out (they spend the majority of their time in their backyard- so I’m quite aware of things over there!) and I’ve never seen or heard any signs of them abusing the kids. The grandma also lives there off and on and I’ve never seen her drinking, but as long as the kids aren’t actively trying to burn the house down she lets them do what they want. Is that kind of environment bad enough I should report them?
Drinking a “fair amount”, while spending the majority of your time in the back yard (with your child/children?) is not a crime. This sounds more like a how-do-I-get-my-annoying-and-not-dog-educated-neighbors-to-go-away question than how-do-I-protect-my-dog issue. Keeping the dog safe inside the house is a lot easier than training or trying to get rid of the neighbors.
If you are concerned for the welfare of a child, please do call CPS, but don’t make it about a dog you are equally not attentive to.
I can’t believe some people can sleep at night knowing there are LAWYERS out there just WAITING to take everything they own!! :eek::eek:
And I guess Dennis the Menace was just lucky that Mr. Wilson didn’t call CPS on him…
Gawd, people, little kids have been pestering the neighbors since the beginning of time. I am constantly amazed at the way so many people hide behind lawyers, insurance and social services to have actual conversations with humans.
OP-since you can’t be there to moniter the situation all the time, put in an interior fence to keep your dog just out of reach of the perimeter. A little portable electric fence with some plastic tape for horses will keep him away from the fence and out of the child’s reach; probably cost you $75. (think of the attorney fees you just saved) When you’re in the mood, engage with the kid and share the dog but when you’re not in the mood or it’s time it’s over, look her in her eyes and firmly tell her it was nice to see her but she has to go home now. If you look her in her eyes and have her attention AND you’re reasonably kind to her she will listen. I have a neighbor kid exactly the same as yours, to the letter, and odds are good that she will listen to you. Be blunt but kind-kids speak blunt.
OP it doesn’t sound like you’re headed this way, but if you would like to make enemies of your neighbors you could call CPS on them, I’m sure that would make you, your property and your dog ever so much safer. CPS is going to ask what the parents are doing wrong and you’re going to say “they let their kid TAALLKK to me and pet my dog!! :no::no:”
gads, people.
Gawd, people, little kids have been pestering the neighbors since the beginning of time. I am constantly amazed at the way so many people hide behind lawyers, insurance and social services to have actual conversations with humans.
It’s when you DO have conversations with the parents and pretty soon THEY get P.O.'d because they don’t see that little Johnny or Jane are doing anything wrong, that something more aggressive needs to be done – like mentioning Children’s Services.
I was raised on a dairy farm, which means all my neighbor’s were farmers and they had children. When we were five years old, we were gathering eggs, throwing hay to the cows, cleaning up dog p**p in the yard that didn’t cleaned up but our parents wanted to teach us ethics. There was no climbing fences or sticking our hands thru same – if we did, we were risking losing life or limb to the Boar or the Bull.
The St. Bernard I was talking about was at a breeder’s and the family in question was looking to buy a puppy. I’m sure everyone got involved in oogling the cute puppies and forgot to pay the required 210% attention to the child that shoved the ball point pen in the dog’s ear.
There’s degrees of patience and then there’s degrees of patience. Mine ends at the “three strikes and you’re out Missy”. Keep track of your child and teach it respect, just like I did mine, or I will call Children’s Services.
In this day and age there is no other recourse. We have reached an Era of “expectations” and “you owe me’s”. I am an early Babyboomer and sorry but lack of discipline and respect do not cut it with me.
Children need to be taught where ALL the boundaries are and if there’s a fence - even a single wire, that means you do NOT stick your hands over it, you do not crawl over, under, or on top of it. If the parents don’t know how to handle their child then they need some lessons ------ from Children’s Services:)
I had a temporary neighbor (rental house 12 feet from my woven wire fence) who thought it was cute that her three yr old daughter tried to climb the fence.
I had my horses in the that side yard for a few days and this woman just got out of Veterinary Assistant school – should’ve known some THING about fences, wouldn’t you think?
You have no idea how fast I put the slams to that “thought” and that was only 4 years ago.
Yeah, kids need to be supervised and given boundaries but if you called me at children services and said you want to report a 5 year old hanging out in her own backyard, attempting to pet your dog, and not having the manners ‘you would expect’ I wouldn’t give you the time of day. Children are suffering from much more serious problems than lack of discipline. Especially when the parents are at least semi-understanding. Children services is already strung out enough chasing down more neglectful and abusive parents.
OP the child is five, you can expect certain things from some five yr olds, but not of all of them. Some of them are very bold! A lot of fantastic parents let their 5 year olds out and keep an eye on them through the back window, most kids think they can do whatever they want if no one is there to tell them no, they are kids after all. I would leave the dog inside when you weren’t home, or if there wasn’t someone to supervise the dog because there are things other than your neighbor that could come to harm your dog when you aren’t home :[. My neighbors used to leave their dog unattended in the backyard when they weren’t home and came home to find her dead one day :[. The were convinced a grump old neighbor had poisoned her but they are kind of out there. A number of things can happen to your dog if you aren’t around to keep an eye on them.
I’m not sure you understand what CPS (Children’s Services?) is. It’s Child Protective Services. They are in place to PROTECT children, not discipline them. If that were the case, I might have called them a few times on my own kids. :lol: In the absence of neglect, abuse, living in filth or other crimes of the parents, they won’t get involved in a child reaching through the fence from their own back yard. But, they might just take notice of an unsupervised dog and contact AC to ensure all the local laws are being followed.
Not saying you shouldn’t contact CPS for fear of retaliation, just that you should only contact them for the right reasons and make sure all your ducks are in a row, too.
And, before you say that I have one of “those” children or I’m a lenient parent that thinks the world revolves around us, let me assure you I’d be neither the dog owner or the neighbors in this equation.
Even though everyone has pretty much said the same thing I have to chime in bc I have the same experience, but with a friend’s child.
Child LOVES my dog( don’t know why, she has her own dog) and whenever she is over she WILL NOT LEAVE HIM ALONE. Ever. At all. Has to be touching him constantly.
My dog while VERY good with children, does not enjoy their attention and whenever they are over, I am constantly on alert for any issues between her and my dog. My dog will literally stay glued to my side the entire time they are over bc he HATES interacting with this one child.
The mother is totally clueless at all times and let’s the child run up and pet any dog any time, right in the face. I have tried to tell her that I am afraid that Reilly might at some point, hurt her daughter and she laughs it off and says " Oh, it’s just Reilly - he’s fine".
So what do I do now? I either leave him outside if it’s cool enough - or I have to set a timer in the house - and tell the child she cannot touch the dog until the timer goes off( and I usually set it at about 40 minutes at a time.)
He would go and hide from her, but he’s afraid she’ll come after him( I think) and corner him somewhere. The other issue is that she plays with all his toys which distresses him to no end - he LOVES his toys and he won’t snatch them from her but when she drops one he will run over and move it.
It’s gotten so bad I only invite them over when I am socially obligated and I always protect my dog first.
My friend had a similar situation where she was letting a neighbor boy come over and play with her GSD supervised in her yard. One day they were playing ball and her dog and the boy collided and the dog’s tooth got caught on the boy’s leg and caused enough damage for stitches. That dog NOW has a bite record. Ridiculous.
It’s not worth the possibility of harm to your dog or that child( or your wallet).
If you report these people to Child Protective Services, you better be ready to pack your bags up and start looking for a new home. They will be madder than hell that they now have a record because of YOU. Believe me, you do NOT want to live next door to that.
If it were me, I would:
Keep the dog inside when I am not home
Establish limits with the kid/dog interaction and enforce it kindly but firmly. While technically and legally it may not be your responsibility to improve the life of a neighbor kid, I do believe we all have somewhat of a moral obligation to ease suffering and pain wherever we find it. This poor kid obviously feels neglected, lonely, sad…fill in the blank…she is finding happiness and fulfillment in you and your dog. This creature shows her some love that she probably does not get otherwise.
You can add some joy to this kid’s life while maintaining your boundaries and rules. Make a pact with the girl - “You are allowed to come over and pet Boomer ONLY on Saturdays at noon. If you aren’t sure what day is Saturday or what time Noon is, I will hang a sign on my fence when it’s time for you to come over. When you see the sign, you come over and wait for me to let you in. You can then play with Boomer for 1 hour. When that hour is up, I will let you know you need to go home now.”
Make her a deal and have her shake on it. Ask her to keep her promise to you that she will not bother Boomer except for that one time per week. Explain to her that Boomer could get crabby and that he doesn’t like to be petted every single day. BE FIRM. If she comes over any time excet the agreed upon time when the sign is posted on the fence, show her the gate and tell her to come back on Saturday at Noon when the sign is hung out. Take Boomer and go in the house. After a few repetitions she will learn that you mean it. When you ask her to go home, she must go home or Boomer goes in the house. Do NOT let her come in and pet Boomer anyway. Do NOT slack on your rules and your pact.
I live in a neighborhood with kids. Now teens, but when they were growing up, they would ride their bikes here so they could “do barn chores and ride the horses.” If we were having a family cookout, they would come over and invite themselves to a hamburger.
We had to be REALLY firm with them. We set dates and times when they were allowed to come over and that was FINAL. If we had called CPS on them when their kids were pestering the crap out of us, we wouldn’t have been able to borrow their lawn mower 2 weeks ago when ours broke down 
If you can handle it just between you and kid, you are much better off. In our case, the parents let the kids run wild in the neighborhood and never had a clue or a care what neighbor they were bugging.
You really need to think long and hard before you report any of your neighbors to the officials for any reason. Make sure they are doing something horrible, ilegal and dangerous before you take that step. Just letting their kid bug the crap out of you and your dog is NOT reason to call and I would NOT go there if it were me.
When my family insists on bringing ill-behaved kiddies over to my place I quietly crate the dogs in a room with a shut and locked door.
For dealing with randomly-encountered neighbors and strangers who feel they have some right to touch/harrass your dog, a dog who will bark in response to a subtle hand signal is very useful. “Oh he’s not friendly” dog barks and you march on by. This also comes in handy if you encounter someone who is making you feel uneasy/scared.
Sorry. I haven’t read all the replies. My response to this kind of crap would be 1) lock on the gate with key/combo to landlord, 2) step-in post at chest level to dog with electric to keep him arm length off the exterior fence and 3) a registered letter to neighbors outlining your concern. Top that off with a firm “stay away!” to the kid (but then, I don’t like kids so I’m a big meany).
I find this very sad! The poor kid needs a friend and what better friend then a dog…then again I understand the OP’s concern. Loved the suggestion about making a deal with the kid and bet it could work out well for everyone.
neighbor kid
I’d notify the parents via certified return receipt letter to stop the problem from their side. I’d also notify CPS in writing (same way), if it persist and I’d notify the local police—again—in writing-----that you have asked them to rectify the situation from heir side. You have the right to use your yard, your dog use your yard, without being worried about an “incident”. Because if there is an incident, your homeowners will automatically pay out and then will cut you off unless you sign a waiver saying you don’t have that dog or any dog listed on the “top 10 biter list”-----I believe Labs are on that list. You could also run a solar line around your fence----your side—to keep your dog off the fence even if she calls him. It sucks having to deal with this and worry about it. I love kids and work with kids but we don’t have to be tormented by them. Don’t get me started on the screaming ones at a restaurant!
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