Inconsiderate Neighbors - HELP!!!!!

[Beth]

I am wondering if anyone else has the unfortunate experience of having ignorant, inconsiderate neighbors that tease their dogs and throw things over the fence into their yard?

We are at our witts end with our neighbors and I need to vent to other dog lovers.

Our dogs, and I am not being bias, are great dogs they only bark for the normal stuff they hear someone on the other side of the fence, animals on the other side of the fence, etc. Our other neighbors in the neighborhood have actually asked us how we keep our dogs so quiet and well behaved. We also don't just let the dogs bark and bark in the yard we let them in to calm down before they can go back out.

So when we find apples in our yard with ants on them (when there are no apples trees to be found anywhere), and BIC lighters in our yard when neither one of us are smokers, and see the kids next door waving hockey sticks and toys over the top of the fence teasing our dogs we just don't know what to do. Yesterday it was firecrackers at the back of our fence it was driving the dogs mad so I took them inside and they settled some but still heard the firing of fire crakcers and they could not get completely settled. I was home yesterday from work too with a sick infant.

I want to talk to the neighbors but we are afraid they will not be approachable, and that a feud will ensue and we all have to live on the same street and we'll be even more miserable.

They have 3 dogs that they let roam the neighborhood and pee and poop on everyone's lawns. We have a leash law in our town and no one else allows their pets to roam around unleashed. Other neighbors walk past our house to use the woods (our street is a dead end that has state protected woods) and walk their dogs and the neighbors dogs will come running out and annoy the people walking their dogs, not to mention not all dogs are dog friendly, and we all know how scarey it is to have an unleashed dog come running up at you when you are walking your dog.

Their dogs have sprayed on our bushes and my husband caught one in our garage spraying some boxes that we had sitting on the floor. Our garage door was open and we can let our dogs out there and they won't run out the garage but imagine if we had let them out at the exact moment their dog was in our garage spraying?

I mean we have a fun loving female pitbull/lab mix who is a big baby - but we wonder sometimes rub her the wrong way and then what? Especailly now that she has been exposed to the teasing. Don't get me wrong she is by no means aggressive we have toddlers in our family that can put a cookie in their mouths and she will genlty take it out. Our other dog is a jack russel terrior mix and he's not as dog friendly or people friendly as our older dog. He is more of the barker and these kids make him crazy. And he's a puppy still so it's not helping our cause of trying to get him socialized.

We just don't know what to do these people are irresponsible animal owners they have wild cats, wild dogs, and wild kids and I am begging for suggestions on what to do.

Any suggestions? Any great wisdom out there?

[Barbara]

Mollymom, I was absolutely flabbergasted to read what was going on between your neighbor and your dog. It would be great if you could somehow capture what went on with a video camera, but now that you know the torturing/teasing is occurring, you wouldn't want to leave her out there alone. Is there any way you could replace the fence on the neighbor's side with a high privacy fence that has no slats, etc through which the neighbor has access to your dog and that the dog cannot see the neighbor through. In addition, I do think you should make a complaint about this neighbor, but the safest thing is to completely restrict the access to the dog by the neighbor. If she can't see or be touched by the neighbor, perhaps she will lose her fear in time.

I wish I could help more, but I really would take steps to completely block (physically and visually) the property line.

[Cynthia Clayworth]

I just now ran across this. My gosh, has anything changed with this? I would be making a trip to the the police station to see if there would be something I could do. I would call or visit my local Humane Society too. I know, in most cases you would think this would not be allowed but sometimes some towns have strange laws. If you're concerned about approaching their front door maybe you could write letter and actually mail it so you don't have to set foot on their property. Hope things have gotten worked out1

[jasmine]

well i CAN TELL U WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE DOGS RUNNING LOOSE EITHER CALL THE DOG CATCHER OR TELL THE POLICE ABOUT THE DOGS RU8NNING LOOSE IF TEHY ARE ANYTHING LIKE THE COPS WHERE I LIVE THEY WILL DO NOTHINGUNLESS U PUSH IT.

[olivia]

i do!! my neighbors dont take care of their dog. they let her run around in the street 9and we live on a busy street) they let her playoutside while their not home, gosh, they are terrible owners. its so sad too becuase the dog is sooo sweet!

[Zach]

Tell them to take care of it

[Tracey]

I would just call the police over and over untill they do something. As far as talking to the neighbors I wouldn't do it to be honest because you have to live with them day in and day out.

[Crystal]

I feel for you! Growing up I lived in a small town and my folks had 5 acres. I was blessed to be in a position to have horses. Unfortunately some of the village kids would throw rocks and even firecrackers at my horses!! We called the police all the time but it never really stopped untill we told the parents they were liable if the horses were injured. We then told them how expensive they were and that vet bills could easily go into the $10,000s. Suddenly they could control their kids! Amazing.

[kayla]

o my, that's dangeruous that they are throwing lighters over ur fence. It wouldnt be good if one of your dogs bit down into one of those lighters. And the firecrackers is dangerouse to. Its ashame that there parents no about these and they are stoping their children. Have you tired calling Animal control. I am sure you dont want to get there animals taken from them but they need to keep them in there own yard.

[mollymom]

Hi Doris

What an awful thing to do to a dog! Your experience sounds about 10 times worse than mine. At least this guy next door to me never tried to hit Molly. It is terrible that your dog is permanently traumatized. You are lucky they moved.

Look forward and do the best you can. No point in spending time in regret. Probably those people will get caught doing something else they shouldn't be. Hopefully life will be so much better for Bootsie that she will adjust in time.

Maybe you could ask your new neighbours to come over, or meet your dog on neutral ground, and try to befriend her. You should tell them what happened with the old neighbour, because if anybody at their house reaches over the fence to pat her she will panic.

I hope the dog's emotional hurts heal up soon. Best of luck.

*****

Thanks to all who have posted. We built a barrier along the fence to make it harder for the dog to see the neighbours. I have been keeping Molly in the house unless I can be outside with her, and allowing her out for longer periods of time when the neighbours aren't home. We have been right on top of her to tell her 'no' if she starts barking, and she is barking much less (probably because they have no opportunity to provoke her).

We will have to keep going in this fashion because it's very unlikely the neighbours will move. I will file a complaint only if I can make it clear to the officer that the problem is not happening right now. I don't want the officer to stir things up and make the neighbour look for revenge.

Forgive the pun, but it might just be best to let sleeping dogs lie.

[Phila67]

Hi
I have a similar problem. We have a 14 month old GSD and like you, she only barks at the normal things. Howver, our neighbours dog barks from morning il night and even more so when our dog is out. What really gets me is, they just leave it out barking. What eventually happens is I bring mine in, just to quieten theirs down!, but this then makes it look like my dog is at fault.

They have already had several complaints from other neighbours stretching back to before we got our dog, so it's an ongoing problem.

I don't want to fall out with them, but if they did what we did which was teach Izzy not to just bark for the sake of it, then things would be a lot quieter.

[Jenny]

Beth, bless your heart for being so kind to these Neanderthals you have for neighbors so far! I would certainly be calling the local dog warden when the dogs are loose and also probably the police ... a "talk" from the policeman to the children or even from a dog warden may stop the kids from teasing the dogs and help them learn something. A ticket for dogs at large may help the parents understand something too!

[ashley]

hey this is good