Of course.
But there are times when you are better off taking a course that is different from the one you have a right to.
Just because it’s his fence doesn’t mean they won’t attach something to it.
So then you have a fence dispute and a dog dispute.
This. Only this.
Anything else is continuing to enable the jerks. Capture the dog, turn it over to the authorities. If it lacks a dog license (assuming such are needed in your area), that will add more sauce to the stew the jerks are preparing for themselves.
Couldn’t disagree more. This is a huge escalation for a third infraction.
I think @eschrodinger gave a number of good reasons to handle it oneself, the most important of which is it keeps everything under @Dinsdale’s control. Calling Animal Control takes control out of his hands.
So in several ways they’re pretty good neighbors. Advice to confiscate the dog/call Animal Control or otherwise make a stink over the dog incursions is just going to create unnecessary havoc. I’d put the chicken wire back in place.
This reminds me of my sister-in-law’s reaction to our suggestion that she and my brother buy a generator, due to several instances of prolonged power outages in their area. “But we shouldn’t have to.”
I don’t necessarily have a problem with this, but I’m wondering if it would be legal. If you know the dog belongs to the neighbor, and you take control of it, take it somewhere, etc., could you be arrested for theft? Even if it enters your property? I’m not sure.
Honestly what do you want them to do?
They really shouldn’t put chicken wire on their side of your fence. It’s your fence.
Should they never let the dog run in their yard?
Be they jerks or not the neighborly thing to do is the simple modification of their fence. Don’t do it and at some point the little yapper will get through and piss your dog off enough that their dog is dead.
The owners being jerks is no reason to allow for that eventuality or you feeling bad about that later.
Theoretically, yes.
In practice, with some people the practice will never match the theory. Those neighbors seem to me to be in that category.
I am also opposed to punishing the dog for its owners’ behavior.
If I knew said authorities personally, then I’d know whether I felt differently about it in this specific case. But not only do we not know the authorities, we don’t know whether the neighbors might respond to having their dog held in custody until they pay costs and possibly fines by saying ‘Kill the damn dog, then!’ (And then possibly tell all the other neighbors that Dinsdale had their dog killed.)
It also, as has been said, would escalate the issue. If putting the chicken wire back and ignoring the neighbors leads to them then escalating anyway, you’re probably going to need the cops. But from what’s happened so far, it seems that that might work.
I would not physically handle the dog. I would take video in case Animal Control shows up after the dog runs back to his own property but if you touch their dog God only knows what they would sue you for.
Take them to court. Administrative court. Then be sure to get pics of their faces when they see that you’re the judge.
(Yeah-- I know, administrative court doesnt work that way but what the hell).
Man - I KNEW that given enough time I’d eventually disagree with you! ;). For the reasons others stated. Plus, when it happened, they were outside calling to the dog. Would be really weird (if legal?) to grab their dog in their presence and refuse to give it back.
Well, the possibilities are legion. First, if. they chose to be decent neighbors, we could discuss it and work out any number of solutions - including the chicken wire, perhaps on their side. but since they decided against that course of action, they could: not allow that dog to run free; attach it to a line; install an invisible fence; install some shorter landscape fencing, either along the fence or to create a dog run of sorts… It SHOULD be - their dog, their problem. Instead of - their dog, our problem.
We’ll see. Hopefully they will figure something out. Or head back to their bakehouse.
One other option that may or may not be useful (depends or your yard set up and a good bit of luck) is to keep the hose handy and any time you see it come through, blast it with the hose. Make your yard a VERY unpleasant place to be. Won’t hurt the dog, might irritate the neighbors, might solve the issue cheaply.
You know exactly why they don’t like you.
You narced on them. You were fully justified, tried to do it the right way, and didn’t do anything wrong, but you got them in trouble with the man, and that makes you the bad guy in their eyes.
You appreciate that asking them to fix their side is silliness, the wife at least would probably relish the idea that her dog makes you miserable.
They might.
Personally I think communicating if not with then to them, is important. Your dog is at risk of being annoyed. Their dog is at risk of being killed by even a gentle bigger dog who defends itself.
Conversation is not really possible? A letter, even certified, documenting your concern for their dog’s safety, and expressing willingness to work together on a solution that protects their dog, is a reasonable step.
It sounds like the well of reasonableness has been irretrievably poisoned through no fault of the OP. I’d limit contact as much as possible, so as to avoid winding up on a true crime series.*
*Note episode 1, season 1 and episodes 4 and 6, season 4.
I can only assume you have been very lucky to not have very unreasonable neighbors.
One of the first issues was when we asked them to redirect their downspout (as required by law) to direct water to the front and back of their property rather than directly towards our foundation. Woulda required the purchase of 2 downspout elbows costing less than $10. Over time, that “discussion” ended up with us standing in the rain with them, watching water stream towards our property, as the woman told us not to believe our eyes and tried to convince us that water did not run downhill (paraphrased.) We contacted the city, who said of course we were right - and had to direct them three times to make the change.
The most recent previous interaction was when we started finding foodstuff - apple cores, bread, etc - in our backyard. We didn’t want our dog eating such stuff. Turned out they were dumping their kitchen scraps in the corner of their yard closest to our fence. NOT done as part of a compost heap. (Our guess is that squirrels and such brought the stuff into our yard.). We realized our dog was digging right there next to the fence, interested in the scraps.
I happened to be in the yard and saw her bringing scraps out and asked if she wouldn’t do so. She said they wanted to attract the local foxes. Of course, expressly prohibited. That time, we sent a letter. They stopped.
If this gets to the point where we feel we have to, we will either write another letter, notify the city, and/or put up wire. Just such a hassle when we just want to be allowed to live our lives in our home and yard.
Like I said - they spend months at a time at their other house. I hope they relocate soon.
The hose idea is a good one, no harm to the dog but dog won’t like it. I have a gizmo attached to my tap that I can use from inside to turn the sprinklers on when I see the neighbors cat stalking our bird feeder.
Also, ammonia is a pretty effective repellent. Pour it along the fence line and both dogs will probably avoid it. You will have to redo it after it rains or after a week, but it shouldn’t take long for the dog to avoid the bad smell area.
Also…in what world are apple cores good fox bait?
The world of very ignorant, lying, but aggressive people. Who were actually hoping to attract rats, but mostly to their hated neighbor’s yard, not their own.
Even unreasonable, bad people love their pets.
There are motion sensor sprinklers available that might work.
I’ve tried one (for the cat) and didn’t have much success because they are so hard to adjust for size and ended up scaring the birds away.
Besides that, the one I tried worked just as it was supposed to and would have been a great solution for a different problem. Like the neighbor’s rat dog…
I honestly didn’t ever think about that, but now that it has been pointed out, I am pretty sure you are right.