Jeez, that family needs to train its kid. I suggest you hang over the fence and throw things at the toddler. After all, turnabout is fair play and maybe then your neighbours will think you're crazy enough to be left alone

 

Put barbed wire all along the top of the fence like a prison yard. Bonus if it's electrified.

...Sorry, sorry, not helpful, I know. But bratty, unsupervised kids drive me nuts. I'm a little confused, though -- how can a four-year-old see through/over a six-foot privacy fence? Is he climbing on top of something? How can the dogs play with each other through the fence? I was under the impression that privacy fences had no gaps. And how could the kid get into your yard? Is there a gate? Can you lock it?

Honestly, I'd double-fence the entire side, with a tall privacy fence, and I WOULD put it a couple feet away from the neighbor's fence. I wouldn't care if it looked stupid. You could always plant something in between, some kind of fast-growing bush or something. Something prickly. Rosebushes are nice!

 

Hotwire the top of the fence. That'll keep the boy from hanging off the fence at least. Touch one of those suckers once you don't it again, not intentionally. It'll zing him but won't actually hurt him.

 

Or I would be the mean crazy lady who would go yell at the kid in a loud voice "GET OFF OF THERE RIGHT NOW!", and I would spray him with a hose. Hotwire on top of the fence would be good.
Did you know they sell "kid repellent" ultrasonic sound transmitters? Malls are using them to keep kids from congregating in front of stores. It uses a high pitched sound that older people can't hear, but kids can. Makes them uncomfortable and want to leave. But adults can't hear it. maybe you could put that up near the fence so kid won't want to be out back there... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2428057...ology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/high-pitched-device-serves-teen-repellent/

 

me? i think i'd go out there and everytime the kid came up to the fence and start tormenting the dog i'd turn the hose on him.....harmless, but he's not going to like it...and neither will his parents when they have to change his clothes 20 times a day.......using the wire would work except for the fact that as high up as he'd be, the "shock" could cause a fall that causes injury...then i'd see a lawsuit happening

yeah, the water hose sounds good to me........

 

I agree with turning the hose on him, but I would warn the parents first or you'll start a real neighbor feud. So, the next time the kid harasses your dog, I'd march directly next door, tell them exactly what he did in a very factual, straightforward, and non-accusatory way, and then say something to the effect of "this is ridiculous and sooner or later either your son or my dog or both are going to get hurt. This absolutely cannot go on. If you can't teach him to stay away from the fence and leave my dogs alone, then I will be forced to take whatever measures are necessary to keep him away, including turning my garden hose on him whenever he comes nearby, or even calling the cops and accusing him of disturbing the peace." Then, next time he comes back, give him the full blast of the water. That way, if they complain about you hosing him down, you can say that you warned them and you're not putting up with this anymore.

By the way, if it does continue after that, I really would consider calling the cops. He IS disturbing the peace, what he's doing is dangerous, and it also sounds like he's potentially trespassing on your property. They probably won't really do anything, but if they even come by to check things out it might give these people a good enough scare. Again, though, I would give fair warning first.

 

I had tons of problems with my 3 unsupervised neighbor kids. They would spray my dogs with super-soakers, throw food and toys over the fence, hang on the fence, and enter my gated yard to play. The kids were 7, 5, and 3 years of age and the parents were never anywhere in sight. I only have a 4 foot chain link fence.

What I did was go over and explain things to the kids. I told them my dogs got scared. I brought appropriate treats and let them feed my dogs in front of me which made them popular with my dogs. I didn't ever let my dogs out when I couldn't half supervise and I always, always, always reidirected the kids gently if they were doing something stupid.

Pretty soon, the kids were nice to my dogs and we would only visit from time to time when we all happened to be outside.

It took some time. It made me crazy, but it was the right way to handle it in my situation.

 

The problem is that the kid is 4. Most places don't even consider a kid to have any sort of judgement or control until age 7. Yes, the parent is expected to control them but there's a huge amount of leniency.
I think that regardless of whether you warn the parents or not, if you turn a hose on the kid it could be considered a form of assault. Same with hot wire in some locations if the intent of installing it is to hurt a person.

I would talk to the parents but I would focus mainly on physical barriers and prevention.

What about the lattice type extensions to raise the height of the fence? Example (hotlinked so image may go away)

If you make the top a decorative picket fence style (i.e. pointy) he's unlikely to want to lay over it to lean into your yard.

Then do a second fence 2 feet inside your yard that is lower, enough to keep the dogs from being able to put their faces against the fence (should reduce the problem of them getting riled up) and plant some bushes in between. A basic welded wire fence on wood or t-posts should cost under $100/50 ft. Evergreens are cheap and fast growing.

Lock the gate with a padlock to prevent entry.

Edit to add:
Also, you might just not leave him outside unattended. I know part of the benefit of a privacy fence is making it safer for the dog to be outside alone, but if you're there, you can yell at the kid and you can prevent harm in either direction. At the age of 4, NOTHING is the kid's fault. Even if you had a chi and it bit him, you'd have problems but with a pit bull, that's basically game over for the dog.

I wouldn't use the high pitched "kid repellant" noisemaker- the biggest reason being that dogs hear higher frequencies than humans to begin with and that is likely to sound horrible to your dogs. Also many adults can hear it (esp. younger like 20-30) and I'd be pretty dang pissy if I was another one of your neighbors and had to hear it.

 

I didn't respond to the "hose talk" because I assumed that people were just venting.

If anyone was actually sincere about that, I suggest growing up and getting real. Young children are human beings and no community will support the decision to hose one down. It likely would be considered assault, and in the shocking event that it wasn't, it would be newsworthy. Also, if you hose off a neighbor's 4 year old, I think you can expect to get your dog poisoned in retaliation.

I really thought that people were just venting. I say stupid things all the time that I don't really mean but just wish I could do.

 

My neighbor is also a police officer and very hot tempered. I have tried explaining to the boy that Vader is very scared and I do not want him to get hurt. And I would leave him inside but the reason we have the $$$ into his outdoor haven is because my husky and him will fight to the death. Vader also loves being outside and hates being inside for more then a few minutes. So that is why he is outside. now he has a very large sunroom converted kennel he plays in when the kids are outside. but it would be really nice if he could be outside like he wants to be. The lattice work is a good idea but I would have to get permission from the neighbor because it is his fence. I thought of maybe getting one of those blackout things and hanging them on the fence so they can not see each other through the cracks. maybe that would keep the kid from being interested. or he would climb the fence to try to find him. If the guy was not an *** and a police officer I would probably be able to approach things more aggressively. I thought of baking cookies and going over to have a friendly talk. but the thing is they tell the boy till his is blue in the face not to do it and as soon as they leave him outside he is doing it. My thought is to make a new fence line I just hoped it would not come to that its very expensive and Ive already put so much money into this and am currently broke. and would be nearly equal to the expense of putting up lattice work.

 

I think you're stuck with the internal fence line. I tried the black slats myself and they didn't work. I put them up because the Amish go by in buggies and the buggies make one of my dogs dangerously insane. I tried the slats and they were a total and complete failure. I had to resort to something much less than positive to encourage him to ignore them. Fortunately, combined with the slats, that worked and now he isn't nuts.

To save money, I think you could put up hot-wire on the inside of your fence, 3 or 4 feet back from the wooden fence. Put up flags all along it so your dog knows it's there. If he hits it once, you probably can shut it off forever and your dog will stay back from the line. It's what I would do. It isn't great, but it might be the best alternative. Once the kid is getting ZERO reaction, he will probably find something else to do with his time.

 

Is the child special needs? Sounds like he's extremely obsessive, which is often a symptom of autism-related behavior. If that's the case, explaining and/or cookies won't do anything with the kid but I would at least try to talk to the parents. Make it about the safety of their child and how worried you are that he'll fall over the fence. If you make it about your concerns for the child and not your own dog, they may be more willing to listen. If the parents won't control the kid, then I would put up my own fence. As another poster observed, if something bad were to happen and the child was bitten or injured, a four year old is going to be deemed innocent of any wrongdoing even if he technically was wrong and if your dog goes after him in self-defense, your dog will still suffer.

 

Kids are like dogs. They do what works. They do what's rewarding for them. Once a behavior stops being rewarding, it will extinguish. Takes time though.

Oh, and adults are like kids. We do what works too.

I am sorry you are going through this. I have had to out-think my neighbor problems in 2 of the last 4 places I've lived. I've built very expensive fences in all 4 homes. I SWEAR, the next home I move to will have a minimun of 5 acres so I can have a perimeter fence and and internal one. That way, anything that approaches the internal fence is trespassing. It's tough. I feel your pain.

 

I had the same problem, except it was 5 kids (all between the ages of 3 - 10. Yes.... I'm serious.). We have a 4 year old pitbull (Leila) who is really very sweet but is EXTREMELY territorial. If we bring someone into our home or back yard, she is fine. But if someone were to just walk in without one of us, I have no doubt that her first reaction would be to defend the property. In fact, we posted two "Beware of Dog" signs on the fence just as a reminder to anyone approaching. We also have a 6' fence and the neighbors before these were always very respectful of our privacy and the dogs in the back yard. However, when the family moved in it was a nightmare. We would find mangos in the yard (which I caught them throwing at Leila one time). They would climb the fence and bark at her and throw rocks. We spoke with the parents and they felt very bad and said they would tell the kids to stay off the fence. It didn't work. It got to the point where if Leila went outside, she would just run back and forth down their fence line with the hair on her back straight up. I would walk outside and they would be at the top of the fence leaning over the edge calling her name. Now Leila can jump. Leila can jump to almost the top of the fence and she will pound into it numerous times trying to get to the top. When I saw them doing this, my mind wandered to every single thing that COULD happen. Never mind Leila's safety and sanity, but one of these kids could have fallen over and I don't think they would have made it out of the yard. I had to do something to get them to understand how dangerous this was. So I lied. I was very firm with them. I told them that Leila is extremely strong and extremely dangerous. I told them that she had bitten a little boy that came into our yard once before and that he no longer has hands, so now he can't play video games, he can't play football, his mommy has to feed him all of his food, and he'll never be able to pet a dog again. There were maybe two more times where the issue came up again but from then on out, they were pretty well behaved. Luckily, they moved away about a month ago. Looking back, I think I could have done things differently and I think your scenario is different because the father is a police officer. Sorry about the long winded response about MY issues (lol). Here's what I would have done/did do with Leo (puppy I got 2 months ago):

I had all of the kids come over and sit on my driveway in a circle. I then brought Leo out and let him go from each child to meet them. I told them that right now he couldn't be picked up and they could only pet him. Of course, they loved him and he licked their faces and they asked if they could walk him, etc. I told them that when he got older we could all go on walks together. I also told them that because he's a puppy, he has very sensitive ears and loud noises hurt him. I think this really seemed to click for them. That's not to say it wouldn't have changed as Leo got older, but they were always VERY nice to him and he never minded them being next door. I did not feel comfortable doing this with Leila because of the issues she had had with them, and I think only you know what Vader would and would not be comfortable with. However, if you think Vader would benefit from being introduced to the boy, maybe you should invite him along for a walk. Kids love feeling like adults. They want to be "responsible" and, just like dogs, without a job to do they get bored and destructive. Just a thought! Sorry this was so long but I definitely relate!!!