Seeking advice on neighbor with off-leash dogs

[DustBunny02]

Contacting animal control is really the best bet here. I agree with the poster who said to phrase the phone call as “what do I do about this” and not a complaint.

Pepper spray, wasp spray, BB guns, baiting a dog with milk bones to hit an electric fence etc etc are all well and good but I think you need to be REALLY careful about that. Unless you have it on camera biting and then you immediately retaliating with those things I worry about it becoming a “look what this neighbor did to my dog for no reason”. And I actually think baiting dogs with milk bones is illegal depending where you are.

I’m not defending the neighbor, as someone who regularly deals with dogs coming over and attacking mine, going after my chickens and horses etc, I am all for OP stopping the dog from coming over. We’ve had animal control out, had them talk to the neighbors, and had them tell us we are in every right to shoot the dogs if they come back. But I feel better doing what I need to do after animal control has talked to, fined, and warned my neighbor.

[candyappy]

@DownYonder

I am not sure I understand this reasoning. The OP should not have to spend her money to put up a fence to keep out dogs that belong to someone else. The onus is on the dog owner to ensure that her dogs are not being a nuisance to the neighbors.

And if the dog owner won’t take proper steps to do that, then the OP is within her rights to contact AC and/or take other means to dissuade the dogs from coming onto HER property (such as using a bug zapper racket like I suggested earlier, or other devices or means suggested by others).

Because it sounds like the neighbor is one of those owners who will not do anything and I have my doubts that police or AC will make much difference. Look at all the threads on here already about owners who won’t control their dogs. Not much gets done about it.

Life is too short to take months or years fighting with a neighbor and having nothing but bad feelings to show for it and most likely being harassed by these dogs daily.

If OP has or wants a dog of their own then they will have a safe place to keep it in the future and a fenced yard will add value.

[trubandloki]

@candyappy

Not much gets done about it.

I think the OP should start by trying animal control before deciding they are going to do nothing about it, give it a try and see if they will.

Then, if nothing is done, installing a fence might be an option. But there really is no reason to assume that this animal control is useless before they are given a chance.

[candyappy]

@trubandloki

I think the OP should start by trying animal control before deciding they are going to do nothing about it, give it a try and see if they will.

Then, if nothing is done, installing a fence might be an option. But there really is no reason to assume that this animal control is useless before they are given a chance.

What law enforcement will do is region specific so yes, I think OP should try that by all means. Wether this neighbor will comply is another matter.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

Even if the HOA is relatively (too) chill, if none of the houses have fences, the OP would have to confirm she could even put up a fence that could meaningfully contain a dog. Another reason AC is probably a best first option. (And yes, sturdy versus ornamental fences are expensive!)

I hate to say it, but even if nothing is done initially, if the dogs do eventually hurt someone, it’s good to have a complaint “in the system” so they owners can’t claim this is a one-time thing. Usually it takes a truly chronic problem for any action against problem dogs, in my experience.

[DownYonder]

@candyappy

Because it sounds like the neighbor is one of those owners who will not do anything and I have my doubts that police or AC will make much difference.

So let me get this straight. OP is to spend her own money to essentially enable the neighbor to continue her irresponsible behavior? That is like allowing the neighborhood brat to keep breaking your car windows just so he isn’t inconvenienced by having to change his behavior. Irresponsible people don’t learn to become responsible by just looking the other way and letting them go their merry way when they have stepped over the line. Let’s don’t forget that the OP is the victim here - not the “I don’t give a damn about anyone else” neighbor.

As for the police or AC not making much difference - she doesn’t know until she tries. She needs to find out what the local ordinances are about leashes and nuisance animals by contacting AC and/or the police and maybe even her city council / county commission representative. It may take only one visit by an officer to make Irresponsible Neighbor (IN for short) wake up.

OP also needs to carry some kind of repellent whenever she or other family members are outside and display it prominently any time she sees the neighbor coming down the street with her uncontrolled dogs. The bug zapper racket mentioned previously is big enough to see from a distance and makes a scary noise when in operation, so it may be enough for IN to get the message.

And honestly, I would try the bug zapper racket method before calling AC. It may be all the deterrent she needs and she can avoid riling up IN further by an AC visit.

I know OP doesn’t want to cause a ruckus in the neighborhood but she has a right to feel safe on her own property.

[candyappy]

@DownYonder

Irresponsible people don’t learn to become responsible by just looking the other way and letting them go their merry way when they have stepped over the line. Let’s don’t forget that the OP is the victim here - not the “I don’t give a damn about anyone else” neighbor.

As for the police or AC not making much difference - she doesn’t know until she tries. She needs to find out what the local ordinances are about leashes and nuisance animals by contacting AC and/or the police and maybe even her city council / county commission representative. It may take only one visit by an officer to make Irresponsible Neighbor (IN for short) wake up.

I said in my other post she should try AC or police by all means. Since the HOA the OP belongs to seems to favor letting all dogs run amok it may be the easiest solution in the long run.

Irresponsible people usually tend to stay that way even when the authorities are involved. They just get sneaky about it.

@DownYonder

And honestly, I would try the bug zapper racket method before calling AC. It may be all the deterrent she needs and she can avoid riling up IN further by an AC visit.

I have no idea what this is but maybe it will work. So glad I do not live in town.

[sophie]

@chestnutmarebeware

I live alone and have a big mutt who’s basically a marshmallow puff that loves everyone, but when someone I don’t know pulls up, I yell the opposite. “Hang on! Let me put him inside so you’re safe!”

I tried to convince Mom, when she was living alone in the city, to NOT tell people coming to the door “She’s friendly” about her dog. Let strangers think she isn’t friendly and a good guard dog for her 90 year old owner. The dog looks the part (looks like a grey wolf) and will bark at the door.
Good thing Mom now lives with my sister, in the country, and now has 3 dogs to protect her

[SusanO]

I had Cujo living across the street. I HAVE a fence that is pretty darn dog proof. But silly me - I had to go through the gate to drive to work to pay my bills. AND I had to go through the gate to get to my mail box. Everyone of those actions was met by a snarling Cujo racing across the 30 acres next door to my car door or to my mailbox. He came after anybody who came to do work on my farm too. Even the dog lovers who said they didn’t trust him. “Oh he’s just curious”. Neighbors refused to do anything even after the sheriff left them a note that they had to contain their dogs. Wasp spray, pepper spray did nothing. Cujo had an accident. I was fed up after a year and a half.

Some dogs are just aggressive and territorial. Putting a fence up doesn’t work because eventually you have to enter/ exit the fence. Cujo would run up to my gate snarling every time he saw me in my yard. And every time I had to open or shut the gate.

[candyappy]

@SusanO In a rural setting like yours and with the dog you describe ( different than OP is dealing with) many dogs like that have " accidents" and it is acceptable and needed.

You put up with it way longer than we would under those circumstances .

[atlatl]

@candyappy

@SusanO In a rural setting like yours and with the dog you describe ( different than OP is dealing with) many dogs like that have " accidents" and it is acceptable and needed.

You put up with it way longer than we would under those circumstances .

Or as old Uncle Earl the Swede said upon returning from taking his daughter’s very unsocialized and dangerous large dog on a walk in the woods after the dog bit someone for the 2nd time, (insert Swedish chef accent), “the darndest thing, that dog all of a sudden got lead poisoning!”