Neighbor was tormenting my dogs.

6162 Views 25 Replies 17 Participants Last post by Elana55, Apr 21, 2009

jenn2350

Discussion Starter · Apr 20, 2009

Back story:

5 yr old border collie/greyhound mix traumatized by evil neighbor while I was at work during the day, unknown to me obviously. My dog jumped up above the fence line and scratched him on his shoulder. He called animal control and she was quarantined for 10 days.
Started crate training all of my dogs during the day while working for fear that he would poison/hurt them. We have just bought a new house and my parents have been watching them for me while we move in. We are going to be bringing them home in a few days and I would like to be able to keep them all outside during the day. The neighbors on both sides are retired and home during the day (like the other neighbor).

The main problem is that he would use his lawnmower to torment them and now they go absolutely crazy when they hear one. They've never liked lawnmowers, but now the 5yr old one is terribly frightened and aggressive towards them. She is able to clear half of her body over a 6ft privacy fence no problem and that's how she got him that time. I really don't have anywhere in the new house to crate them, and we are going to build on an addition/sun room and keep them in there during the hot Texas summers anyway, but that will be a little while until it's done. She is very destructive when left alone in the house no matter how many numerous tips/training I've tried.

Is there anything anyone would suggest about how to go about helping her get over this event and back to the loving sweet playful dog that could be left alone all day without problem?

Thank you.

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21 - 26 of 26 Posts

animalcraker

· #21 · Apr 21, 2009

winniec777 said:
There's got to be a law against that. I can't even imagine what I'd do to the neighbor who did that to my dog.

marsha=whitie said:
holy cow! why didn't you call the police!!!???

There are laws against it and my parents did call the police. Our neighbors ended up going to court and being ordered not to own a dog for a set number of years. There was no financial compensation that we could get because, at the end of it, we weren't out anything. The only damage we had was to the lock on the front door, which there wasn't enough physical evidence to link it to them.

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hulkamaniac

· #22 · Apr 21, 2009

GeorgeGlass said:
As a neighbor, I'd be annoyed by that added expectation.

I agree. I don't always mow my lawn on a set schedule. Some times I come home and go, "Well, the lawn is long today, let's just mow it." I don't want to take the time to figure out if the neighbor's dog is outside, knock on the neighbor's door and let them know I'm going to be mowing, wait until the dog is inside, then mow. Also, what do I do if no one answers the door and the dog is still outside. I'm not going to wait until tomorrow to mow my lawn. It may rain, or I may be busy, or I may not be in the mood tomorrow, or whatever.

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DJsMom

· #23 · Apr 21, 2009

Sheeeesh! I'm sooo glad I have the neighbors I do! Not to say that my dogs have never bothered them with barking when I wasn't at home - on the contrary! BUT, the neighbor was kind enough to approach me in a very civil way about it & bring it to my attention. After that, the dogs are kept indoors when I'm at work, for the most part. They are very understanding & have told me they're more than willing to compromise & don't mind the dogs barking once in awhile. Now that Georgies no longer with us, DJ's not such a barker at all, so I do leave him in the dog run outdoors, but not all day long while I'm at work. Luckily I'm able to go home at some time during the day to either put him out, or take him in.

OP, if it's not possible to build a higher fence (very expensive I would think!) or keep them crated indoors, I would seriously think about a shaded outdoor run. Are you able to run home to check on them during the day?
I guess it all depends on what kind of neighbors you have in your new home. Like I said, I've been lucky enough to live by animal lovers.

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buzonesbirdie

· #24 · Apr 21, 2009

GeorgeGlass said:
As a neighbor, I'd be annoyed by that added expectation.

We have a neigbor where his dog goes nuts with a lawnmover too. When he moved in he came around to all the neigbors and asked if we could let him know if were going to mow our lawn if we saw the dog out. Most of us have done this and it seems a better solution then the person not letting us know and risking getting the dog hurt becuase he is trying to get out of his yard, and possibly hurting a person. What if this was a mentaly challagned child would you be as annoyed with that expectation then??

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hulkamaniac

· #25 · Apr 21, 2009

buzonesbirdie said:
We have a neigbor where his dog goes nuts with a lawnmover too. When he moved in he came around to all the neigbors and asked if we could let him know if were going to mow our lawn if we saw the dog out. Most of us have done this and it seems a better solution then the person not letting us know and risking getting the dog hurt becuase he is trying to get out of his yard, and possibly hurting a person. What if this was a mentaly challagned child would you be as annoyed with that expectation then??

What do you do if the neighbor isn't home?