Options with an aggressive, unleashed at times, neighbor's dog (no border fence)

The house next door is a group house of young professionals.
One of them has an aggressive dog. Not sure the breed, some maingy looking mutt of medium to large size.
Over the course of the past year it's come over to my property and come at me a couple times but stopped short when I yelled at it and then the owner called it back over.
Last night I'm getting out of my car and it surprised me since it was right there and that kind of pissed me off so I went after it but the owner called it back and it ran back.
My main concern is for the kids that'll end up taking a bite before the owner calls it back or worse a mauling if the owner isn't around.
What are my legal options, starting with the most visceral on down?

 

Check with your town and see if they have a leash law, If so complain to town about dog. Carry pepper spray with you.

 

You have a ton of options. I would start with the town animal control office. I would also talk to the dog's owner, express your concern about your children's safety and give him fair warning and an opportunity to control his animal. Do that with a witness.

Also document the dog's intrusion and behavior - cell phones are great for this.

 

I've talked to dog owners before, in the end it does no good, in their eyes dogs walk on water.

I'm not going to get a witness and all that, the burden really shouldn't be on me. Even if I do it I have to wait until a kid gets attacked to enforce anything and even then I have to prove it's that dog that did the attacking etc. again the burden shouldn't be on me.

This thing comes up on me so fast and so infrequently, recording on a cell phone it isn't an option. When this maingy mutt is within arms reach, I'm not going to fumble with a cell phone camera.
Animal control means a visit to the neighbors = they deny everything = nothing results (again, not my first rodeo).

Pepper spray is immediate so that may be it but I was hoping for a more aggressive (yet legal) solution ...

 

Let's see, you are the one complaining and worried, you are the one that hasn't even checked the laws nor called animal control. You haven't talked to the owner. All that is too much of a burden on you. Well, then suck it up. I guess if you get or someone else gets bitten, it will be too much of a burden to go to a doctor or get a lawyer as well?

Simple solution, shoot the dog, then there won't be any burden on you. They will come arrest you on multiple charges and you can sit in jail til your court date. All perfectly legal. Not to your benefit of course.

Painting with a pretty broad brush there aren't you?

 

Ok.
You were given the suggestion to document all agressive behaviours, talk to your neighbours, call the town and get a witness.

By mentioning it, it looks like you are seeking approval for pepper spray.
Have you ever seen a dog that has been given a dose of this?
If you are reluctant to talk to your neighbours now, I can only imagine what you will say to them when their dog returns home howling from an undocumented spraying!

Not all rodeos are alike.
Documenting everything accurately and date each entry.
In court good dated handwritten notes in some cases are as good as photos.
If at some point you do need to elevate yor response to this dog you better have started with the basics no matter how uncomfortabe they are.

 

This site should have a "like" button.

 

CW, I agree!

Almost all communities have a leash law. And all dogs must be controlled by the owner. The burden is on you to make the owner aware of your concerns. Then all burden is on him.

As a former 2 dog owner and one that has bitten people (the dog, not me! not seriously and not in anger but play), many owner do not assume their dog walks on water. Any dog no matter how good when a strange dog meets a strange person, you never know what might happen. The dog always has a reason (and a good one) but we just don't know what it is.

The goofiest thing I heard is when my daughter, the veterinarian, is told by the client that the dog won't bite and sure as heck as she tries to examine the dog, it bites! "But doctor, he never did that before. Of course not you idiot. How would you react if some strange person approached you in a strange room, dressed in strange garb and started examining you?" Think alien probe.

 

As far as my use of the term "burden" is concerned, let me clarify via example.

Neighbor A and Neighbor B are both pet-less and live in harmony.
Neighbor B decides to get a dog.

In my view of how the world should work, Neighbor A should experience ZERO inconvenience, i.e. Neighbor B picks up the poop off Neighbor A's lawn, doesn't allow the dog to come onto the property, keeps the dog on the leash so that it doesn't try and attack anyone etc.

Obviously my view of the world is wharped and I'm sensing that once Neighbor B bought this dog, it's now a community project (at least involving Neighbor A) to manage this animal.

Neighbor A now has to report incidents to Neighbor B, equip his kids with pepper spray, research what his options are in dealing with Neighbor B's dog, etc.

I think I get it but certainly not happy about it.

 

Michael, I agree, but when a neighbor goes bad, be it him or his dog the burden falls on you to protect yourself and your family. heaven forbid this escalates to someone actually getting injured and that needs to be clearly explained to your neighbor. That can be done through animal control or the police. If they take no action they are not good neighbors and your options have been suggested above. A good friend of mine, different issue but bad neighbor, sold his house and moved. Drastic but it solved his problem. If moving is out of the question (and I assume it is) then all of the above becomes far less drastic.

Have any other neighbors had a problem with this dog?

At some point a couple hundred dollars for a letter from a lawyer explaining his liability and the fact that he has been put on notice might get his attention. Nothing is going to make him a good neighbor again, except you hiding inside your house.

I did hear once about XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

Bud

 

Most cities, have ordinances.
Contact the city themselves as animal control is simply that,animal control.
They cannot fine the owner like the city would.
Get the darn mut on camera, and express to the city you feel your safety is at risk.
If the city does nothing, I darn well know that attorneys will play hardball with both the owner and city if anything drastic happens.
The city won' take the same risk like the owner does.

 

One reason some small dogs and occasionally a larger dog acts aggressively is because it has never been challenged. Size often doesn't even matter. Can't react in fear, show fear nor back away. If that dog gets as close as you mentioned, (When this maingy mutt is within arms reach,) what almost always works is a well placed DROP kick to the choppers!

Once challenged and engaged it remembers the experience and avoids you. Has worked many times for me and my many service reps whom work in the field going to customers houses and while in & at customers homes. Each of us could write a small book of our encounters with dogs while on the job...

Have only one scare on left arm when once attacked in customers home. Dog did not fair well in that case. Clamped onto my left for arm and I pulled him closer. Use right arm to grab 5 gallon empty water bottle and busted it on his heard! No stitches for me but lots to dogs head!!!...... Brutal as it was, it worked out well for me but not him!

BTW: Owner threatened & attempted to sue me......:NO NO NO: Judge tossed case out of court. Never heard another word from employer not customer. Dog was a German Sheppard sadly. Why? Because I like that breed. Over the rest of the mangy mutes...

 

Do you mean us peace loving Canucks have it wrong and apolgizing profusely is not the right thing to do!

 

I like the idea of kicking that useless mutt in the face, much more rewarding.
I went out and bought pepper spray because the likely scenario is that the owner is up the driveway, if I kick the dog, he comes after me and then I'd have to contend with the owner and the dog at the same time.
Obviously I want to deal with them sequentially so if I spray the dog first then he should be out of the picture long enough for me to contend with the owner

 

If it was just the maingy mutt I'd wear a cup and kick the stuffings out of it.
Since the owner is within eyesight though, I want to disable to mutt before tangling with the owner

 

Since I was ill and didn't wade into this thread until now...I will add my two cents to the discussion.

Be sure that before you "Drop Kick" or pepper spray the dog, you have contacted Animal Control with a complaint about the dog. Also be sure you HAVE documented all/most of the times the dog has come after you. If you have a cell phone, video tape the dog charging at you, etc.

Be sure that if you "Drop Kick" or pepper spray the dog, and you haven't done these things, that despite leash laws, the neighbors may actually come after you, and file suit.

My two bits about the drop kicking of said dog. I don't believe in this sort of action, when there are ways to get the job done without violence, or pepper spray. The choice is yours of course, but since they neighbors think this dog "walks on water" they most certainly will come after you in some form or another.

It always saddens me to see things come to this and I wish you well in your challenge.

Do keep us posted.

 

Don't think anyone has mentioned other alternative defenses. How about some of these:

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...l_8v9uuwiuds_b

 

Towguy, good post.----------------------;

 

I agree, and also Rhainy's post to a thread that got kinda ugly IMO.

 

I will NEVER understand why people want aggressive dogs. I've known a few unfriendly cats over the years but never one that would chase a human.

 

This entire thread has little to do with the dog and everything to do with the dogs owner. The owner is responsible for whatever transgressions the dog commits.

Apparently the OP is unwilling to deal with the situation as an adult and would prefer to take out his frustration by beating on the dog.

A word of wisdom to the OP - If you decide to kick this dog around, you should be prepared to deal with the consequences.

Furd - I agree about aggressive dogs. I have a personal dislike of pit bulls (and all of their mixes) and I think the breed should banned as too dangerous.

 

I don't entirely agree with CW. It has some small merit but any dog is a product of their environment. True, certain breeds are better at certain tasks than others. But any breed is not born to be mean or aggressive. There are however, breeds that can be easily trained to be aggressive. Take your canine corp dogs. Very aggressive when given the signal, but docile when properly trained. I'll take a German Shepard over any small dog and not even flinch at the beast strength vs the small yappy angle bitters! There are many stories about pit bulls saving young children from harm, just as any other "non-fighting dog" attaching an infant for no apparent reason. It's how you bring it up.

CW, you are absolutely correct about one thing.

Quote:

This entire thread has little to do with the dog and everything to do with the dogs owner. The owner is responsible for whatever transgressions the dog commits.

Which is as it should be!

PS...There is an old saying. "I'll never trust a man who doesn't like a dog, but I'll always trust a dog who doesn't like a man".

 

That's why I make the big bucks.

 

Norm -
Certain breeds of dogs exhibit behaviors typical of the breed. The reason is because they have characteristics that have been reinforced by hundreds of years of breeding. Toss a stick in front of a lab and it will fetch, let a rabbit run in front of a beagle and it's gonna' chase it. Pit bulls kill because that's what they were bred to do.


I will post two dozen authenticated reports of pit bulls killing a child for every authentic incident of a pit bull rescuing a child.

 

CW,

I am sorry but if you look at the breeding and training of those said "Pitbulls", you will find the problem does lie with the owner AND breeder of any dog that, barring medical reasons, attacks and kills a human.

I worked in the veterinary field and can honestly say that most dog "attacks" are due to owner/breeder failure, again, barring any medical reason, not the dogs themselves.

Just my experience speaking after treating and training many, many of the Bullie breeds.

 

Rhainy is so right. I've argued this point on here before. I say, if you were mistreated and chained up and brought up to only know how to fight, you'd attack the first person you saw, too, if you could get out. Altho I know about personalities of breeds, I always have to put the main blame on the people first.
Others are just over protective and think they're defending their owners. These owners should know this and make sure their dogs are not running loose or near workers when they come to someone's house. Again, the fault of people, yet some always blame the dog or the breed.

 

To the point of dealing with the owner, here's the scenario:
Owners outside doing something with the dog, e.g. a car maintenance job.
I come out of my house next door and the dog runs over to attack.
I stomp my foot a few times and yell at the maingy mutt to get back over there and then the owner calls it back over. (Three times now)

So to cw et al who suggest I "talk with the owner", given that the owner is present and can see for himself the events, how exactly is this conversation supposed to go...

 

On your property and charging you, I would be talking to the police to determine my allowable response. You or someone needs to put him on notice that the last time the dog charged you was the last time it will happen without some serious problems. You have a right to enjoy your property with out fear of being attacked, let alone a family member who may not stomp their feet and yell.

At 30 posts I'm sure this has all been said above, ball is now in your court to take the required action. Otherwise, the eventual bite is on you.

Bud

 

And there's also an assumption here that the dog is going to "attack". Why is that the conclusion? Has it ever done that before?

I've had plenty of dogs run up to me and stop and sniff around, then go back home. Some family friends had a dog that seemed aggressive as hell, til the owner came out and talked to us, then she just wanted to be petted. Never had another issue. Sure, she would bark her head off and run to meet us, but when we called her by name and said quit being silly, she was right back to being a love pig. Old desert rat I have as an acquaintance here, has this mangy un-groomed 60 lb mutt that barks and growls until I say "Stoney, quit being an A-hole and go lay down!", then he want's to climb in the car and go for a ride.

Heck, great dog next door and she still act's aggressive if I walk over near the fence til I use her name and she get's a good look at me. Sweetest dog I've ever known then. A shame she's fenced in the yard and doesn't get enough attention from the owners. Hardly ever gets taken for a run and is often left 3 days at a time. She get's fed and fresh water is available, but little human contact sometimes.

As to talking with the owner, that's been rehashed I think. You go over to him (not necessarily in a confrontational way), and let him know your concerns about the dog being loose and on your property. Tell him you're afraid that something is going to happen and that he will be the responsible party. Do you expect him to read your mind from across the lawn?

How does someone get to to a reasonable age in adulthood and not know how to talk to another person about issues/problems or even non-issues and non-problems? One of the first things I did here was introduce myself to as many neighbors as possible and let them know something about me and why I'm living here. And that's when I was sick as a dog with liver disease (better now TYVM). Get yer ducks in a row, know what your rights and the owners requirements are. Video the dog in your yard or just running loose. It's been 4 days since you first posted. Have you contacted LE or animal control? (most have email contact info on their webpage). Have you looked up the leash laws in your area? Have you asked any other neighbors if they've had issues? Isn't there something about a deity helps those who help themselves?

 

Okay, I think this has run its course. Closed.