[Jollyrogers]

I have been struggling with our new neighbors' dogs since they have moved in a while back and I feel we are coming to a breaking point.  They have a yorkie and a doxie.  Neither are kept on a lead when outside, nor are they inside a fence.  Both roam freely.   The dogs constantly come into our yard, deposit "items" & bark @ my dogs.  They have approached my daughter when she was walking the girls on lead in our yard.  They barked & growled.  The girls thought they were playing and wiggled.  The neighbor dogs then attempted to nip my daughter.  Jazz and Gretchen stopped wiggling and went on full alert.  They barked, hackles raised, and tried to defend my daughter.  Jazz eventually flipped the yorkie onto its back and placed a BIG boxer paw in its chest and stared at it.  She did not growl, bite, bark, etc at this dog.  She just contained it.  Gretchen continued to bark at the doxie in an attempt to ? move it away from my daughter?  When I got to them, I told Jazz to leave it, and she backed up and off of the yorkie and sat down, looking at me.  I told Gretchen quiet & leave it and she did the same.  My daughter brought my girls in the house w/o further incident.  Later that evening the doxie nipped my husband while he was working on his equipment.  They have also harrassed my collie thru our fence, and even come to my screened porch where the boxers like to lay in the afternoon, and harrassed them.  The doxie is so bold that it will come & place its nose on my screen and bark and growl at my dogs.  When I shoo the dog out of the yard, it doesn't back up, but approaches closer and with more aggressive barking.  I have spoken with the neighbors and they don't see the problem, as all three of my dogs outweigh theirs by 60+ lbs.  The county animal contol is lax in the situation as well. The idea of boxers and a collie being harrassed by a yorkie and doxie seemed to amuse them.   With all of the bad press that so called "vicious" breeds get, and boxers being mistaken/mislabeled as a vicious breed, I do not want to get into a dog war with these people.  I have a feeling that my girls would get the short end of the stick.  I am also worried that eventually my dogs- the collie inculded - will eventually have enough of the harrassment by these dogs, and may wind up injuring them or worse.  My dogs are not agressive toward other dogs at all, and have had no problems with our many other neighborhood dogs, nor any dogs they have met.

What can I do?? It is not fair for my animals to be subjected to harrasment & I am keeping my on lead when they are out, or behind my 5 1/2 ft wood and steel fence (None of mine are jumpers).  It is also not the neighbors dog's fault that they have not been properly trained or cared for.  Does anyone have any advice???????

 

[Guest]

my husband says to kick the little dogs...if the neighbor doesn't care enough to keep their dogs out of your yard, a swift kick a few times should teach them...

 

[ChloeAndBrodisMa]

Do you know if there is a leash law where you live? My father is also an animal control officer and I know where I live you would be able to file a dangerous dog complaint against them. If you are getting nowhere with animal control, I would call the A.C's supervisor and complain. No one should have to live like that. Also if you don't want problems with your irresponsible neighbors you should be able to put a complaint in anonymous. I know that's how my dad does it to keep the feuds at bay. They would still have to appear in court and the only one who would see your name on the complaint is the judge. But I would definitely follow up and find out the person in charge of your AC and wouldn't stop complaining until something was done.  Good Luck!!

 

[Amy20]

Yeah I would maybe try an empty coffee can with coins in it. We would shake it at our Aussie when he would bark and the sound hurts their ears and he learned to stop barking pretty quickly! You just put like 10 pennies or a small hand full coins and shake it near them. Or the good old fashioned hose I guess. Good luck!!

 

[Zhanna]

Wow.
Our neighbors all have dogs and nobody has any fences.  We live out in the country, so nobody seems to mind free range dogs.  Well, we do!  Especially since the neighbors dogs would come into our yard to fight, poop, etc.  The two little weenies next door would get into pack mentality and come after us in our own yard!  As if! :lol:
Anyways, we put up a fence around the whole yard, not just the back.  Henry has plenty of room to roam and can see everything that's going on, and the neighbors dogs can't get in.
We had to threaten the neighbors across the street.  They went after my son on his bike one day. :no:  You don't mess with mine!  I called the sherrif to report dangerous dogs.  They just told the guy to keep his dogs in his own yard.  Well it happened again.  I went over there and told the guy if his dogs came after my boy again, I would kill them.  No more probs there.
OK, I guess I said all that for nothing, cause I don't know what to tell you.

 

[southerngirls]

Oh wow! i am glad that we have yards where i am at!! I would go above the animal control officer that you are dealing with. I mean if the dog niped your husband they should do somthing about it-that is part of their job. I never see ANYONE walking animals or see any animals period in my neighborhood other than the stray cats. I hear the area dogs from time to time-i have yet to see any though and i have lived there a year!!

 

[amberto]

it is crazy to me how ppl allow their dogs to roam around like this.  a friend of mine has a shared/unfenced backyard with a neighbor whose dog continually comes into their yard and takes huge dumps, even though their dog has been attacked by my friend's dog.  i was there when it happened and it was scary. yet the guy still walks over with his dog and lets his dog do whatever it wants.  im gonna try the coffee can thing at their house and see if it works.  good luck!!!

 

[Shint]

get a cheap paintball gun at walmart, and when they come into the yard add a few colors to their life. It will work in two different ways. First, it will tell the dog it isnt welcome in your yard, and secondly after your  neighbors get tired of bathing the dogs every few hours, they will keep a better handle on their animals.

 

[boxerlove]

We have a very similar problem with out neighbors, we live in the country and EVERYONE seems to think that it gives their dog free roaming rights.  There are only two of us in this area that controls our dogs and doesn't let them roam free.  Two dogs have already been hit and killed by cars because their owners didn't care enough to keep them off the road....of course when it happened the owners blamed the driver for hitting the dog!!!  

There are at least 8 dogs in our area that roam free.  The worst are the neighbor across the street...they have three very small dogs and as soon as they let them out to "potty" they run across the road and into our yard...barking at our dogs (I think the largest is probably 12lbs).  Our dogs go crazy every time.   Our dogs have already went after one of their dogs when it came into the yard, we were not outside at the time and they went for the dog.  By the time we got out there the neighbors dog was bleeding.  

Our dogs are fine when we are outside with them but when we aren't they are protecting their yard.  When the neighbor came and got their dog I warned them to keep their dogs in their own yard because I can't always be out there to watch out for their dog and it could get seriously hurt by ours.  That helped for awhile but they got two more dogs and don't seem to care that they are now running over here and using our yard as a bathroom and stirring up our dogs.  We "deposit" the poo back in their yard, porch, etc. to let them know that we really don't appreciate their dog using our yard as a bathroom.

Good luck to you....most of the time it is hard to be mean to their dog because the dog doesn't know any better.  I agree with the others and would continually call animal control until they came out and did something.  You could also call the police if the dog bites any of your family again...then there will be a police record of it and they will contact animal control...they may also remove the dog.

 

[JeanenesBoogerBabies]

You know, I would call animal control back and let them know we aren't talking about big dogs being harrassed...that maybe part of it...but these dogs have attempted to bite (and succeeded with your hubby) twice...there is no excuse for that...

 

[mylittledeers]

I have 2 suggestions but don't know if either will help. First, do you have a garden hose? Sometimes a loud yell combined with a blast from the hose will convince the dogs your yard is not a fun place to be. Or, inform the neighbors the next time the dogs are in your yard you WILL be taking them to the local animal shelter. Then, do it - making sure the shelter has the name and address of the owners!  Maybe if they have to pay to get them out a couple times, they'll consider keeping them home.  As far as your husband being nipped, if it left a open area on him make a police report. I understand your reluctance to start a feud, but you should have a "paper trail" on your side.This is harrassment of you and your family and it would be terrible if it starts to make your dogs aggressive because for sure they will be blamed.  I know I sound like a hag about this, but such irresponsibility on their part makes MY hackles rise. Good Luck

 

[samsonsmom]

I also live outside the city limits, so leash laws don't apply. The one reason I quit walking around here is I got tired of all the roaming dogs..With just Samson I carried a big stick and oh yea, I would use it if necessary..Now with Angel, it's too hard to try and deal with 2 dogs, a stick, poo bags etc, so we don't walk around here....

Anyways, back to your problem, I also had questioned what to do about dogs that roamed into our yard(which isn't fenced at this point). I was told I could call the county, but don't expect a lot..According to what I have been told here(this is alabama now), if they come into my yard I am free to do what I choose, so now I keep a loaded BB gun at the ready and I have shot dogs that continue to roam into my property. A bit cold I know, but no one seems to give a flyin fart abouttheir dogs except for me. No one keeps theirs inside, so my way of thinking is this, it sounds like these dogs are now getting a bit vicious, you should be able to take further measures to protect yourself...It doesn't sound like talking to the neighbors is any option? Which is a shame, if you cannot take responsibilty for your pets, you do not need to have them...Once they have bitten someone, I also think that would carry more weight with animal control as well...It shouldn't matter the size of the dog, sadly those little cookie crunchers, as I call them are by far the worst!!!

 

[Diesel-and-Kira]

My aunt and uncle live in a very rural area. A long time ago, they had two labs (or lab mixes, I dont remember) None of the dogs in their area were leashed, my aunt and uncles dogs included. I guess one went over on the neighbors land one too many times, the neighbors put rat poison on some food, and fed it to her.
So in my opinion, I suggest you call animal control, and just report a stray. I've heard if you complain about a neighbors dog, they're very slow to take any action. but if you report a stray, they're pretty quick about coming out to investigate. Then you can go outside, like you're not the one who called, and tell them personally what exactly those dogs have been doing. Biting, and all that. That way they can deal with it right then and there.

 

[TinkerbelleNdMaddy]

These stories are too funny! And the solutions are even better. I would get a can of non-toxic paint, and if they came into my yard, i would pour it on them, and of course shake the can. If the can wouldn't work, I would pick the dog up, or tie a rope onto it, and take it over to the neighbors and tell them they are forgetting sometthing. These posts are making me laugh a little. Sorr about that, this is a serious issue, but still pretty humorous~

 

[TinkerbelleNdMaddy]

OH! JUST HAD A BRILLIANT IDEA!!!Get baggies or fill a squirt gun with urine! Squirt it at the dog and the owners, ( i hope) would get sick of smelling that. Tell the neighbors that if the dog comes onto your property, your going to do something about it, This way you cant get charged for animal cruelty. Dont really know how to get the urine into the baggies or the gun. But it is a pretty smart idea!

 

[Kate]

We use to live out in the country on a ten acre lot and had similar problems with the neighbors free roaming dogs.  The sad thing was that several of them began running as a pack and killed a couple horses that belonged to another neighbor.   What scared me was that I had 5 little kids out there playing and if they could kill a horse, what would they do to a child.  I'm not suggesting that a doxie and a yorkie could take down a horse, but they are being a nusiance and could be responsible for your pets to get into trouble.  We put up an electric fence and that worked really well to keep our dogs in and the neighbor's dogs out.  I'm just talking about a wire that you run around the perimeter that you want to enclose.  It won't hurt a human being (or child), and but the dogs can either hear or sense the current in the wire and it was a relatively inexpensive solution.

 

[Donya]

kidnap the dogs and bring them to the humane society that doesnt have a kill policy. tell them you found them wandering around your neighbourhood and you think they belong to one of your neighbors but you cant be responsible for keeping tabs of other peoples dogs so you have done the responsible thing by bringing them in. I dont know about where you live but where we live they dont kill the dogs. they will try and find the owners and contact them and make them pay a fee to get each dog back or else maybe give the little guys a better life by adopting them out to someone who will properly train and care for them. just and idea!

 

[Zhanna]

I like Shint's idea the best!  I'm still laughing! :lol:

 

[amberto]

OH! JUST HAD A BRILLIANT IDEA!!!Get baggies or fill a squirt gun with urine! Squirt it at the dog and the owners

hahaha! that is hilarious! i can only imagine the difficulty of peeing in a squirt gun, and then the hilarity of squirting pee at someone...hahaha.

 

[Jollyrogers]

Well, we've had no problems yesterday or today- so far.  Animal control is a joke, but I'm going to talk to one of the boys' friends father- he's a county officer.  Maybe he can help.  I really like the paint ball idea -I'll have to borrrow one today, and we have used the pellet rifle w/o the pellets for just the sound.  The funny thing is, until we used the pellet gun, sounds didn't bother these boogers!!!!  They wouldn't run, but just come closer.  I like the idea of urine in a water gun, but I'm not quite sure how I'll be able to do that!  ha ha  

The thing that bugs me the most is the total lack of responsibility these folks have for what their animals do.  I have several neighbors w/horses and a couple of neighbors with herd of cattle (one has a llama in with the cows!).  It is common knowledge around here that if one of the farmers catches a dog in with the cattle harrrasing them, they will shoot on site and ask questions later.  The horses here are used to dogs- both owners have dogs that are used with the horses, so unless they were really threatened, the horses aren't going to kick.  Maybe the llama will drown them in spit!  OK- enough ranting.....I'll keep everyone posted.  Keep sending ideas.

THX