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Here's a little background for my story: I live in a relatively quiet neighborhood off the corner of two busy roads. The road I live on does not get much car traffic, and there are lots of winding roads that maybe 1 or 2 cars an hour will drive down, so it's perfect for walking dogs. I have lived here since 2008, and I have a 7-year-old beagle. For the most part, I take my beagle for one walk a day, for anywhere from 30-60 minutes. Longer walks are usually when we stop at the small park by the river, since he loves smelling around the area and chasing the squirrels that live there. The only time I don't take him out is when it is too cold for him (anything below 0F generally, I have a huge fenced-in yard and I usually let him out to potty first, so if he's shivering cold after only a few minutes even with his sweater on I don't take him on his walk that day) or if the weather is just horrible. When I am home, I let him out any time he wants to go out in the backyard (I trained him to ring a bell by the back door to signal that he wants to go to the back yard). The neighbors directly across the street from me, they have lived there for about 2 years now. They had two big pitbull mixes. There were some control issues with them (they have a habit of bolting out the door any time someone opens it), but up until a few weeks ago I never had any problems with aggression from them. If I ever saw them out, they would just leave me alone and do their own thing, and I would call the neighbors to let them know their dogs were out. A few weeks ago, the two dogs got out again, but this time they attacked a third dog (a golden lab who lives two doors down from me, with a family of four). Apparently these two dogs messed up the lab pretty badly. It's going to have a permanent limp and is now missing an eye. I didn't directly see what happened, but I heard the screaming from the family (the youngest son had been out with the dog, and the mom had been right by the door, and they both had seen the whole thing) and called the police. Not only did the police come by, but animal control did as well, and the dogs were removed. Not too long after, the neighbors across the street found out that I was the one who had called the police, and they have taken it as a personal affront and are now waging some kind of personal war with me. I can't go outside for long without the husband coming outside to yell at me, and if my dog barks at all (which is fairly often, what with him being a beagle and all, though I try to keep it under control and I don't let him out before 7 am or after 10 pm), they call animal control on me. Animal control has been out twice to talk to me about it in the last two weeks, and called me about it a third time. I haven't taken my dog out for his walk since the incident, mostly because I don't want to get caught outside with him and have the neighbor try to do something to him, but I can already see how the lack of walks is affecting him. Even though he can run around the backyard as much as he wants, he loves his walks, and I feel really bad about not taking him for them. My question is, is there anything I can do to protect myself and my dog from any crazy poo poo my neighbor might do to get back at me for 'making him lose his dogs'? My options right now seem to be either try to take my dog out and hope for the best, keep him in for a bit (maybe a couple months, for the neighbor to hopefully cool down) and see if things calm down, or try to take him somewhere else for his walks. FTR my beagle is great around people, but doesn't do so well with other dogs, and the dog parks in my city are probably a no-go because I don't think he would do so well around the other dogs, especially if they're off-leash. Could I possibly take him to another neighborhood for his walks, or would that be weird of me to do?
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Feb 16, 2015 07:43
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| # ? May 21, 2024 13:55 |
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In the short term, is there a place you can drive to for walks? That would get him out and keep you away from him. Bottom line is, your dog needs to walk and if you have to go somewhere else for a little while, that's a good short term solution. Beyond that, I would start writing down whenever he calls you, or calls animal control. If he's going to try and get litigious, then it's better to go on with arms full of paperwork and documentation.
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Feb 16, 2015 14:41
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First of all, sorry to hear you have rear end in a top hat neighbors who, what, think they were supposed to go off scot-free after their dogs mauled another one? And now blame you for it? I always find it's kind of telling what kind of people would own a certain kind of dog. Anyway, my first thought is to develop a good rapport with the animal control and/or police. That way, they'd be familiar with your rear end in a top hat neighbors' crying wolf tactics and know that they're being spiteful. I'm hoping you've told animal control as much for the times they've come out to talk to you thanks to their vengeance calls. Emphasize too that you've done nothing different, that your dog's behavior has not changed, and that they (I'm assuming) have never made a call against you prior to their dangerous pitbulls being removed. Talk to the police too, so that they can start/add anything to the case of your neighbors and having this be related to the dog mauling. Like the poster above me said, it'd be nice to have all these facts on file if things get worse. As for the immediate problem, depending on how brave you are or how nuts that husband is, keep walking your normal walks and be prepared to record his rear end with your phone if he decides to come out and berate you with words while you say nothing back. It'll help a whole lot to prove your case that they're being unfairly vengeful and doing this out of spite, and not because your dog has a problem. The more footage of him being crazy, the better. Again, my caution is that I don't know how crazy he is and if he'll physically harm you or not. Bring pepper spray/taser if you can. You have done nothing wrong and should have every right to simply walk your dog in your own neighborhood.
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Feb 19, 2015 01:50
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Willsun posted:I always find it's kind of telling what kind of people would own a certain kind of dog. Yeah I let my shitbulls run loose and maul neighbor dogs like daily
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Feb 19, 2015 02:01
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A bit of an update! Things are in motion to deal with the guy across the street, but they will take some time, and retaliation during that time is highly likely. (Don't want to say much about that, because at this point a court case is looking more and more certain.) In the meantime, I found a nice dog walk. It's actually a set of walking paths and trails, ranging from 1-5 km in length, and it's leash-on, which takes care of my worries about unleashed dogs. So far I've taken my beagle twice, and he seems to enjoy it. I make sure to keep plenty of distance between him and other dogs, and he's handling it like a champ. The downside is that just traveling there and back adds about 40 minutes to our walk times, which is definitely an inconvenience. I think this won't be a permanent solution, just a temporary one while other things are taken care of.
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Feb 19, 2015 05:40
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That's good to hear about finding the dog walk! Maybe this will also slowly help your dog tolerate other dogs in a relatively closer capacity the more you walk, which would be awesome. Still, always be ready with your camera to take photos or videos of your crazy pitbull neighbor retaliating. It sucks that a court case is looming, but that means anything to use against him will help immensely, and the dumbest thing he can do is to give you more legal firepower to use against himself. Go the extra mile and take current photos of anything he might do to your property, such as your house, car, or whatever so you can have some "before" photos for before & after comparisons in case he does come throw a brick through your windshield.
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Feb 19, 2015 05:46
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| # ? May 21, 2024 13:55 |
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Willsun posted:That's good to hear about finding the dog walk! Maybe this will also slowly help your dog tolerate other dogs in a relatively closer capacity the more you walk, which would be awesome. Or just throw a brick in his window first! Tie a note around it about it referring to meth or something they'll never suspect you. In all seriousness, I'm sorry you have to put up with this and wish you luck and patience.
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Feb 19, 2015 21:12
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