[smilecme]

I have an issue and I’m not sure what to do about it. We have a metal chain link fence between my house and my neighbor’s house. My dog barks at him when he walks by the fence to his garage when we are present and not present out side. If we are outside we stop our dog immediately. If we are not outside and we hear our dog barking we bring him in. When we are not outside with the Ozzie (our dog) I have caught my neighbor on several occasions for the past 2 years hitting Ozzie with a rake, metal pole, throwing mud balls and rocks at him. Ozzie barks at my neighbor because he terrorizes our dog by hitting the fence with a rake or Ozzie. Today I confronted my neighbor about it and he said he is tired of my dog barking at the UPS man, a biker or him when he walks by. I asked him if Ozzie has ever come over the fence and hurt him and he wouldn’t answer me. I asked him to stop terrorizing my dog and he then said he was going to kill my dog when he comes over the fence. If he continues to terrorize Ozzie then eventually Ozzie will come over the fence. I feel as though my neighbor is provoking my dog and that is why Ozzie barks at him. As far as the UPS man or a biker, any dog is guilty of that. I feel as though this is animal cruelty. I’m not sure what I can do about this situation. Right now I have a video camera set up in my kitchen window waiting to catch him hitting my dog with any type of object. What I don't understand is my dog is not outside 24/7. He does not bark when he is outside, yes he barks at walkers or bikers but many dog do that. What is this guy's problem?

[Ginny01OT]

Put up a bigger, more private fence

[Shalva]

I have to be honest and say that it would annoy the hell out of me if I couldn't go outside without getting barked at by the neighbors dog. Your neighbor may be a jerk but he has the right to go outside without being barked at constantly. I understand that you bring him in and yoiu try and stop him but it doesn't make for good neighbor relations when your dog is constantly barking at him I am surprised he hasn't filed an official complaint with the city as of yet.

If it were my dog..... I would consult a behaviorist and work on the barking. Clearly what you are doing is not working..... and that might mean putting up a different sort of fence on that side so your dog can't see your neighbor, or using an aversive like a bark collar so your dog learns that barking at the neighbor is unacceptable. Also putting up a taller privacy fence is going to be important for the safety of your dog......

Ultimately if your neighbor complains it is going to be you all that lose as nobody is going to react kindly to the dog barking at the neighbor..... I Understand that your neighbor is not responding appropriately but I have to say that not being able to go to my own garage on my property without getting barked at would drive me nuts.
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[Aussiefan]

Idiot neighbors suck! I have friends dealing with a similar thing with there neighbors. Could you put some sort of a blocking barrier up, like those straps that weave in between the chain link to obscure the view, or a solid wooden fence so there is no visibility. If you have video evidence, i would call the police and file a complaint, though the neighbor will probably file a complaint on the barking. If it were me, if possible i would put up a solid high wood fence. I am one of the very few lucky ones that have great neighbors, on the one side the family is hardly ever there since its there 2nd or 3rd summer home, and my other neighbor's are retired and very nice, he used to raise Visalia's so he is a dog person! I hope both of them never sell!!!!

[Mr Pooch]

The neighbour may be annoyed by your dog barking at him(your dog must sense he is no good!) but who the hell does he think he is hitting your dog.
Keep the camera at the window and try to get evidence against him.
If all fails cant you put a fence up that is not transparent?

[TooneyDogs]

Until you find a more permanent solution I would not leave him out there by himself. Something you might want to consider is putting in a dog run far enough away from the fence line so the neighbor cannot get at your dog. One side of the kennel run could also have a small privacy fence to block that view.

[Dakota Spirit]

For clarification, is your neighbor actually sticking the rake/pole through your fence and hitting the dog or is he hitting the fence with them? I'd say that'd be a pretty big difference.

[Aussiefan]

I agree with TooneyDogs, i would not have the dog outside unsupervised until the problem is fixed. I would also check the yard by the fence where your neighbor is to make sure nothing has been thrown over the side like food laced with poison. You can never be to cautious when someone is threating to kill your dog.

[Inga]

Definitely do not put the dog out when you are not out with it. I too agree that it is annoying that a person cannot go out in to their yard without neighbor dogs barking at them. I have that issue myself right now. My neighbors whom I really like have a really dumb Chocolate Lab that can't seem to figure out that I live there and have the right to be in my own yard. Though I would never do anything to their dog. I have secretly thought I'd like to toss something at it. My neighbors are nice from every other perspective and the dog does not bark at night so I don't make a big deal out of it but I really don't like that dog. People that are not dog lovers to start with would have even a bigger dislike for someones dog barking at them. Be careful or you might lose your dog. I do think you need to be working with a behaviorist to train your dog NOT to bark at him or what ever is setting him off. Good Luck to you with this issue!

[shewolf4]

Work with your dog, you may have a lousy neighbor, but the issue is the dog barking and it doesnt make any friend ANYWHERE you go- I'd be ticked off too. If that means you are out there each time the dog is out, so be it and work with him. Its normal for dogs to bark and protect "their " territory, so you have to put your work in. As for your neighbor- give them both a chance and you may discover a new dogfriend instead of alienating neighbors

[sheltiemom]

I would put a second fence a couple of feet inside the first fence on that side, and I'd probably make it a privacy fence. Until you can get a second or different fence up, I wouldn't leave the dog outside alone at all.

[smilecme]

Originally Posted by Dakota Spirit

For clarification, is your neighbor actually sticking the rake/pole through your fence and hitting the dog or is he hitting the fence with them? I'd say that'd be a pretty big difference.

He's doing both. Hitting the fence and hitting my dog. Friday I caught him poking the dog with a metal pole through the fence. My dog is a St. Bernard.
I have also caught him at night when I am outside with the dogs where he can't see me throwing rocks and mud balls at my dog. At the time my dogs were minding their own business. To bad I didn't have my camera that time. The female ingores him but our male barks when he sees him. Now don't get me wrong, we go outside with our dogs as much as possible when we started to notice him hitting the dog. That takes care of some of the problem. We are looking into a wooden fence but we are afraid he will complain to the city about our wooden fence up against the chain linked fence. He's retired and has nothing better to do than complain about everyones property. FYI I checked with my local animal control department and they said it has to be 15 of consisent barking.

[Dakota Spirit]

Originally Posted by smilecme

He's doing both. Hitting the fence and hitting my dog. Friday I caught him poking the dog with a metal pole through the fence. My dog is a St. Bernard.
I have also caught him at night when I am outside with the dogs where he can't see me throwing rocks and mud balls at my dog. At the time my dogs were minding their own business. To bad I didn't have my camera that time. The female ingores him but our male barks when he sees him. Now don't get me wrong, we go outside with our dogs as much as possible when we started to notice him hitting the dog. That takes care of some of the problem. We are looking into a wooden fence but we are afraid he will complain to the city about our wooden fence up against the chain linked fence. He's retired and has nothing better to do than complain about everyones property. FYI I checked with my local animal control department and they said it has to be 15 of consisent barking.

Mmm, well I hope you can get it worked out. Good luck!

[shewolf4]

If he is hitting your dog through the fence to aggravate and also throwing stuff at you dog for that reason, tape it, then I would contact the authorities and file my own complaint. The dog has reason to bark and yes- you have to work with that, but your retired neighbor has no reason to haggle the dog- there are rules against it and I would point that out. Also - check with other neighbor if he has done this to other dogs, but definetely tape him doing it

[triaxle32590]

Sounds like you neighbor needs to be barked at.... That is probably the reason the dog is barking at him in the first place he hits the dog and the dog gets revenge by barking.... If I were you I would get privacy slatts for the chain link fence... Or get a high wood fence so he can not hit the dog...If you can get video then take it to the police and let them handle it...... But do be carefull and make sure the dog does not go over the fence.... That would be a whole differnt story...... Good luck...

[lovemygreys]

I'd put up a privacy fence - the visual barrier may keep the dog from barking as much and the physical barrier will keep the neighbor from being able to actually reach your dog to hit/strike him.

Barking dogs = annoying. You didn't say how long your dog is left outside during the day/night. We have some barky dogs - and while most of the yard is privacy fencing, the side we share with neighbors is chain link. If their dog is out, our dogs bark like crazy...so they come in immediately. And our dogs are never outside unattended. We always try to be good neighbors when it comes to our dogs.

One the other side of us, we have neighbors a bit away (not right up next to our property in other words) and their dogs are outside in a pen 24/7. And they bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark all the time. Extremely annoying, but I don't blame the dogs. They're just doing what bored dogs do in a crappy living situation.

[terryjeanne]

Sit in your backyard with a book, a drink and heavy metal music playing on the stereo He might prefer the barking I know I sure would.

Seriously, why couldn't you put up a wooden privacy fence on your side of the chain link fence? It is your property. ONe of my neighbours has a wooden fence just a few inches in from my chain link. I guess he likes privacy in his backyard--doesn't bother me at all.

[wvasko]

Originally Posted by Mr Pooch

The neighbour may be annoyed by your dog barking at him(your dog must sense he is no good!) but who the hell does he think he is hitting your dog.
Keep the camera at the window and try to get evidence against him.
If all fails cant you put a fence up that is not transparent?

I definitely agree no hitting of dogs. I do think neighbor has a point also it would aggravate me too. I'm glad I live in the country.

terryjeanne

Sometimes where you live for whatever reason, rules in the suburb or whatever place you happen to live in do not allow privacy fences. (for aesthetic reasons) That's when you find out you own property but sometimes property rights are a little skewed.

[Love's_Sophie]

Originally Posted by Shalva

I have to be honest and say that it would annoy the hell out of me if I couldn't go outside without getting barked at by the neighbors dog. Your neighbor may be a jerk but he has the right to go outside without being barked at constantly. I understand that you bring him in and yoiu try and stop him but it doesn't make for good neighbor relations when your dog is constantly barking at him I am surprised he hasn't filed an official complaint with the city as of yet.

If it were my dog..... I would consult a behaviorist and work on the barking. Clearly what you are doing is not working..... and that might mean putting up a different sort of fence on that side so your dog can't see your neighbor, or using an aversive like a bark collar so your dog learns that barking at the neighbor is unacceptable. Also putting up a taller privacy fence is going to be important for the safety of your dog......

Ultimately if your neighbor complains it is going to be you all that lose as nobody is going to react kindly to the dog barking at the neighbor..... I Understand that your neighbor is not responding appropriately but I have to say that not being able to go to my own garage on my property without getting barked at would drive me nuts.
s

I have to say, I agree with your post.

While the neighbor shouldn't be hitting your dog, YOU should be doing something to correct the barking behavior, beside simply taking him inside when he barks.

[Ella'sMom]

I agree with what someone else said - put up a wooden fence where the dog can't see the neighbor or get poked....and high enough so the dog can't jump it and risk getting hurt or worse.