How to Deal with Neighbor's Dog

There are leash laws most everywhere. I do not know of any town in my area that does not have one. There are also laws about picking up dog poop while on walks etc. You can actually be fined if you are walking your dog without a baggie...

When we moved into our new home, the very first home improvement we did was a fence. Evidently my neighbor's kids thought our yard was free game for their football games. All fine and good... I try not to be a jerk about these things, but they were ripping up our lawn. Now evidently they don't care at all about their lawn because it's about 40% ripped up, and what grass they DO have is about 9 inches high... if they don't mow this weekend, I will be calling the village. (did I mention the huge brown spot of dead grass where their broken trampoline sat for 5 months upside down? And the numerous coolers and a disassembled tent that is still out back from a party they had at the beginning of LAST summer? and that I am now spending about 8 grand to have privacy landscaping put up so I don't have to look at the eyesore they call a yard? UGH!!!)

They also HAD a dog, don't know where it is now... but after school the PIT BULL chased my kids into the garage... all the way up the stairs of the garage. I admit... I had it at that point and all possibility of being a 'nice neighbor' went out the window. I went outside and said the next time I see this dog loose I am locking it in my garage and calling animal control... you want to keep it, keep him leashed!

You may want to call the village about the dog laws in your town... tell them about what you are dealing with with your neighbors dog and then go over to the neighbor and say look... there are laws that need to be followed if you own a dog, and I don't want to call the police or go that route... please keep your dog out of my yard, or I will have to bring them into this.

Good luck!

I don't think you actually own the strip between the street and the sidewalk. It's called the "parkway" and (I think) owned by your city.

I'm not sure what your husband was getting at - you can ask the neighbor to keep the dog out of your yard whether or not the dog pees there, can't you? As a (responsible!) dog owner myself, I just don't think you'll get very far with the pee argument with them anyway - it's the out of doors and wild animals (squirrels, birds, rabbits) pee in our yards all the time - it's not like it's a sterile environment.

But I don't think that matters - if you don't want the dog in your yard, that's that. There is a leash law, and it is your back yard. Can you just take the dog (if on your property) back to the front door and say, "Oh, your dog got out again!" Be friendly and dumb and keep doing it, and after a few times of hearing the doorbell ring and opening the door to find you with Fido, I think they'll stop forgetting. Or buy a fence.

Why don't you just call the city? There's a city ordinance that dogs have to be on a leash.
I feel for your situation. Although I love animals, this kind of behavior is unacceptable to me too. We used to live somewhere where the dog was never on a leash and urinated and pooped everywhere. I can't tell you how many times we had to clean dog poop off our our toddler's shoes! Some weeks we couldn't play in the yard at all because there was poop all over the place.
If you've already talked to the homeowners and they've done nothing, I wouldn't waste your time talking to them again. Call the city and complain. Even if the dog is well behaved, it still should not be roaming around the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, dogs are very territorial. If a dog smells a different dog in their spot, they will try to cover the smell with theirs. Check your local pet store and see if there is anything you could spray on the grass to keep the dog off without killing your grass. I went on the Petsmart web site and they had a Q&A. I asked about this and some of the posts said to mix Listerine with water and spray it on the grass. I'm guessing the smell with deter them. It is supposedly safe for the grass, kids, and the dog and your yard could smell minty clean:) I haven't tried it yet but I fully intend to. I figure it is worth a shot. I also have the problem of people letting their dogs poop in my yard. We have a fence. They let the dogs go on the easement and right in front of the fence. The easement is village property but it is responsibility of the homeowner to maintain it.
You could also call your local village office and ask about any ordinances about leashes and picking up after dogs. You could let your neighbors know of the ordinances and fines and just tell them you would hate to see the dog get picked up or hit by a car. Once the family has to pay the fines to get their dog back they might think twice about letting it run loose.
If you try the Listerine before me, let me know how it works. Good luck.

R.

Buy yourself a fence.

In most towns/cities/villages it is ILLEGAL to have a dog running around loose. Not only is it unsafe for the dog (extremely unsafe - like the owners are straight-up neglectful if they are just letting it out) but it is unsafe for anyone else. Dogs are wonderful - I am a number one dog lover - but even I teach my kids to never EVER approach a dog they don't know. A dog could get hurt and bite or become scared and bite. You just never know, especially if the owners don't care enough to walk their dog on a leash I can't imagine they'd care on proper training and socializing. I would call animal control to come out and pick the dog up. It's safer for everyone. (I guess I'm in a mean mood today...this huge pointer was running around loose in my town and came into my yard to fight with my dog. I am boss enough to go out and order the dog away and he respected my authority but it ticks me off that such a beautiful dog was out running loose and he was dog-agressive to boot). Good luck!

Fences work rather well. We got one...a short one, but it does the job...keeps our dogs in and their's out.

Well, I own two German Shepherds. I used to bring my older dog (Sydney) to my Mom's house when we visited on the weekends. She lived on a large piece of property and had dogs of her own (Great Dane and a Rottweiler) - with a dog pen. There was a neighbor across the street that would open her front door and just let her dog (a small one) run to do his business where ever he wanted. Most of the time it was on my Mom's front lawn. So, one day when the dog came over to the yard my (very dog-aggressive) Sydney saw him and chased him. Luckily, Sydney is well trained and came back when I called her. But, I didn't call her right away.
The dog didn't come back.

I admit, that wasn't the BEST way to deal with the situation, but it worked. I used to tell my mom to let HER dogs go on their lawn or to clean out the dog pen and dump in on their porch. Again, not the right thing to do (she never did it), but it was SO annoying.

You know, it's a shame that these people are so rude about their dog. Dog owners like that ruin it for the rest of us. I don't allow my dogs to go anywhere except their own yard. I bring a bag when we walk JUST in case (walking kinda works up a poop in our younger dog sometimes).

Call the village/city and see what the law is with regard to leashing. If there is a leash law, see what you need to do to get it enforced for your neighbor. Maybe a couple of fines will do the trick.

Good luck.

Most cities/towns have policies on that. You could call in an anonymous tip that there is a dog wandering. My neighbors had three dogs they did that with and my other neighbor called it in. They got a $500 fine, but the dogs weren't wandering after that.

J.,

I am sorry to hear about the stress that you are going through with your neighbors dog. What I would suggest is call the police the next time you see the dog in your yard. The reason why I say call the police is because you have already talked to the neighbors and they are not doing anything about the situation with their dog. So this is why I say go to the next step and call the police and talk to them and see what they say.

I hope your situation gets worked out.
M.

I am a dog owner and a mom. What happens when your kids are outside while the dog is outside? Will the dog still come onto your property? Does the dog go into the street or onto the public sidewalk? It doesn't matter if the dog is friendly or if he only does his business on his own property now. Fact is...leash is the law. Remind your husband of that. We all want to stay nice and friendly with our neighbors. Fact is though you don't own a dog and shouldn't have to monitor someone elses pets just as you shouldn't be responsible for monitoring someone elses children etc. that stroll into your yard uninvited. If buying your own fence is not something you want to do then I would call the police and ask them to give the neighbor a reminder of the leash law (of course asking they keep your identity private). You can also ask that the police act as if they just happen to be patrolling the neighborhood and notice that the dog is unleashed. This is just my opinion. You want to keep your neighbors but yet your home and property should remain yours. Hope this helps.

Neighbors are always very hard to handle. But it sounds like you've already taken the first step of talking to your neighbor about it. We had a similar situation and my husband confronted the neighbors and they put in a big dog run. I'm so glad it didn't escalate. We did find out their is a rule in our HOA that dogs in our neighborhood can't be unleashed or on others property so that would be one option. We could have called the HOA and they would have been fined. Also the town probably has a rule against unleashed dogs as well, you could call animal control if the owners continue to ignore your request that they keep their dog on their own property.

Does your city have animal control? Does your city have ordanances regarding picking up after your dog? How about a leash law? Contact your animal warden. The dog is neglected and abused. Your proterty is not the dogs toilet.

I am an animal lover but you must be considerate of others spaces. Example my neighbors dog has been trained to attach. My neighbors accross the have well trained dogs who are monitored. A stray uses my yard as a toilet.

Do not feel guilty contact and take care of the problem. Tickets can be expensive but they did ot to themselves.

I would suggest you contact the village or the police and see if there is an ordinance about dogs being on a leash or fenced in a yard. That way your neighbors will never know it was you that complained and it will be handled "officially"
S.

Why don't you call the cops?? You don't have to leave your name. Just say there is a dog not on a leash on your street. Done. Keep calling until they leash it. They'll get sick of tickets eventually. I am NOT a dog person though. All my neighbors, I mean ALL, have mutts too! But none wander in our yard, thank goodness! I'd prolly shoot it! All these kids getting attacked by dogs. Who's to know a nice dog or when it decides to not be nice anymore! My kids and their safety will always come first!!
Good luck! It sucks to have "crappy" neighbors... hee.hee.

Mom to four great kids!! :o)

Research the leash laws for your town. Print out a copy of the ordinance and talk to the neighbor about it. Say, "Our town has a leash law and here it is. The next time I see your dog without a leash, I will call the police."

As for any accidents, not much you can do about pee unless you install a fence, but any poo would be flung into the neighbor's yard or left on their front porch.

Good luck.

We live on the corner and do not have any pets. Our property was being used as the "dumping" ground. The last straw was when I went to get the paper and I stepped in a pile of dog poop. I was at a craft show and saw a sign with a picture of a dog pooping and it says No.... please. When my mother saw the sign she was not happy. She thought the neighbors would be offended. What about us? The neighbor across the street thought the sign was funny. Then the dogwalkers started pooping on his lawn. Not so funny. Anyway, it has been a year and it has helped the problem immensely. I think the dogwalkers got the idea and if they poop on my lawn, they pick it up. I have seen them and I smile. Good luck!

I have a dog and get upset when others think it's okay since we have one to let theirs kills our newly planted shrubs in our yard. What I did was get a copy of the city ordinance regarding leash/pet control and sent them a copy. No return address/ just a copy/no nastiness. I also let the ordinance(ours is the building and code person) officer know there may be an issue in the area. They ended up receiving a ticket an now leash and control their animal. No bad neighbor vibes between us and can still look each other in the eye.

Hi. We Dealt with the same problem. Depending on where you live, there are leash laws that you can enforce with your local police department in which your neighbors can be ticketed for allowing their dog to rome without a leash. In our case, our neighbors' dog would run into our yard and pee and run barking at our children. It would even come into our garage. We tried talking to our neighbors nicely at first and that didn't work. Only being direct about it, yelling at the dog so that they could hear and threating to call the police on the dog, really helped control the issue. You don't want that dog to think your yard is its property and start being aggressive with your children. Eventually, lucky for us, they moved. But should your bad neighbors not move, I recommend being very direct about it, but first finding out what your rights are in your area.

All the peeing and pooping aside, I would be concerned about an unleashed dog around my kids! Even if it is a nice dog, it's still a dog. I disagree with your husband that you can't say anything. he needs to think of the safety of your children! And if they don't shape up, call the police.

I think you've been much too nice until now. I would avoid confronting the neighbors, it could get nasty and that's not a road you'll likely want to go down. Most places have leash laws. Call you local Animal Control Office when the dog is unleashed, they'll come pick the dog up and it won't be your problem anymore.

Hi J.,

We have the same problem. Except it is the neighbors across the street, and I call them, and if they seem like they are going to take care of it, I leave it at that. I have called so many times. I have also called the police numerous times. I am not out to be friends with people who are irresponsible. Look out for yourself. I am sure this dog is not annoying just you. I know it sounds mean, but it is best for you, the dog, and especially your kids, the police will keep track of how many times they are called on this, and after a certain amount, the dog can be taken away, sometimes this is enough to scare the owners...

Jennifer

I had a similar situation a few years ago when my daughters were 3-5 years old. I wouldn't let them play in the back yard because of the mess that might have been there (and usually was). My neighbors were very nice people, and actually had 2 dogs - though only one was the problem. The teen age kids would let the dog out and not keep an eye on him. Whenever I mowed the lawn I had to clean up the yard first. Finally one day I was mowing, and was tired of it. I went over to their house, one of the boys answered the door, and I just asked him if he could clean up the dog messes in my yard so I could finish mowing. He immediately did, and for some reason that seemed to be enough. I don't think they had realized how bad it was until then. They have since moved, and the newer neighbor also has a dog - but there has not been the same problem. My kids can play in the yard all they want without me worrying about what they might step in.
Some villages do have ordinances regarding letting animals run loose. You may want to check on what the rules are.