So other than recommendations to murder or kidnap the dog, spray paint it, or call the cops - have you considered the idea of just, like, talking to them? Or is there some other factor preventing this?
We’ve got two dogs at our house and have a small dog run on the side that neither of our dogs really care for. So we tend to put their leashes on then walk them out the door. Our neighbor has a lab about the same age as our two dogs (1-1.5 years). At least once a week the lab runs out of the house and into our yard and occasionally right into our house as we are exiting the back door. There’s a lot of love between the three dogs and they love it when the neighbor dog visits.
However.
There have been times where I’ve seen his dog bolt out of the house in an excited state and run into the road. He usually just grabs the dog by the collar and brings him back to the tie-out (no leash-doesn’t ever walk the dog).
We’ve done some casual offers like “feel free to use our dog run if you want to, all three of 'em can probably have a good time”. But the hints have fallen on deaf ears.
Don’t be TOO harsh on the owners unless it goes on for longer than a week or two. I’ve been in that situation - I had a dog that no matter what I did, managed to get out of the fenced-in yard of the house we had just moved into. We kept trying different things, they seemed to work, but then, 3 days later, she’d figure out a way to get out.
Trust me, we were horribly worried as well. We spent a lot of cash and finally figured out a way that worked. At least once, in the middle of it, a neighbor left an anonymous nasty note in our mailbox. Talk about adding insult to injury.
Yep, there are laws against wandering dogs of course here in Australia as well. And I could indeed call the local Ranger to come pick the dog up, and might have to consider that if we find the dog roaming again…but I’ve always had a ‘thing’ about calling in the Dog-Catcher, I dunno, it just seems ‘un-Australian’ or something.
Anyway, the owners finally returned home late yesterday afternoon, and my partner took Kaydo back. He reported that nobody seemed to actually want to own up to being the owner…the adult son said it was his mum’s dog, the mum said it was her husband’s dog, the husband just cracked open another beer and they all yelled at the poor puppy. :rolleyes:
We haven’t seen Kaydo yet this morning…here’s hoping the family are out fixing the fences and gates to keep him in his backyard.
Dayyum, kambuckta, that poor dog is stuck with a pack of losers for owners, eh? If he shows up at your house again, I’m another vote for keeping him and snipping his balls off – he’d probably lead a much happier and longer life with you.
I had a worse situation.
I don’t know how it works elsewhere, but here in the UK with terraced housing the fence on the right side of your back garden is yours; the one on your left is your neighbour’s.
This isn’t just a tradition - it’ll be in the property deeds, too. Trust me, I checked.
So a couple of years ago my left neighbour’s rotting fence finally fell down. And so my dog, not comprehending human propriety boundaries, started wandering into their back garden.
They took objection to this, and started opening their gate and letting him out into the busy traffic.
I attempted to talk to them. I pointed out that it was their fence. We’d just spent a crapload of money replacing our fence on the other side.
Their response: “Yes, it’s our fence. We don’t have to put it up. And we will leave our gate open until your dog is killed by traffic. Your only option is to buy us a fence.”
“Would you please be so kind as to do me the favour of fixing your own fence?”
“No. We don’t have to.”
Assholes.
So we had no choice. We put up a cheap ugly chicken wire barrier on the boundary. It looks appalling, but we can’t afford to buy them a nice fence.
And a few months later they have the gall to ask me a favour: “could you not park your car in your parking spot as we have workmen doing stuff and they can’t get by”.
I responded “Are they putting up a fence?”
“No, they’re rebuilding the garage”.
My answer was short: “No. I don’t have to”.
You try to kill my dog as leverage to force me to buy you a fence? I am now your worst enemy.
Fix your own fucking fence. I fixed mine when it fell down. Fix yours, and stop being deadbeat assholes. And in the meantime, put up with the shitty chicken wire I put up.
You know, the chicken wire a foot to my side if the boundary with the words “Deadbeat Assholes” hanging on the other side, that you can’t touch because it’s a foot to my side of the boundary?
“We’re trying to sell the house. Could you take down that offensive sign?”
“No. I don’t have to.”
So bad fences make asshole neighbors? 
(good for you ).
I love this story!
Candyman74, your story is so full of win. Good for you. I hope your new neighbors got a great deal on their home.
To the OP, I don’t put up with stray dogs. They are lost and scared and need to be taken to the humane society. Leaving them on the street is not an option for me.
One of my neighbors has an escape artist. The neighbor has electrified his fence and put wires on the ground around the gate (water is involved, to be sure that the charge will be felt). The dog learned to climb a tree so he can jump onto the porch roof and jump over the fence.
The idiot dog (well, that’s wrong, the dog is plenty smart) knows to come to my house because he will get catfood before I put a leash on him and drag him home.
I call bullshit on Candyman’s story. Everyone knows it’s arseholes in the Queen’s English.
But… doesn’t that just leave you stuck with them as neighbours?
But look at all the “neighbour” and “favour” spellings (which my American spellcheck is now thoughtfully underlining in red for me :rolleyes: ). I think it’s legit.
And to be fair, although Candyman’s neighbors are definitely well in the running for the Asshole of the Century Prize, strictly speaking it is a dog-owner’s responsibility to ensure that their dog stays off other people’s property, irrespective of whether that property is fenced or not.
It was totally mean of the neighbors to react to the dog’s trespassing by leaving their gate open to entice it out into traffic, no question. However, I think they would have been well within their rights to politely and sympathetically tell Candyman the following:
-
We have no intention or desire to replace our fence just now because we have higher priorities for our home-improvement budget.
-
We must nonetheless insist that you keep your dog off our property at all times. It is your responsibility as dog-owners to keep your dog from straying onto other people’s property, whether or not they fence it.
A related grip of mine. Yeah its great if your dogs actually have valid tags. And yeah, its nice if it has chip implant. But put a fucking PHONE number on that collar as well. I ain’t wasting my time running your dog down to vet to have it scanned. And if I call the authorities you are going to get a fine and waste more of your time and money. Or, if I had a damn number to call it could be easy peasy for everyone.
I round up a stray about every 6 months. This a pretty dangerous location for dogs to be wandering around. I’d say only about third actually have the phone number on the collar. I finally got feed up with this last dog (because it was late and I wanted to go to bed but instead I was stuck outside hoping the owner would drive by). I took a long piece of tape and wrote on it “put your phone number on your dog’s collar dumbasses” and attached it to the collar. Eventually they came by. I hope they got pissed when they got home (and more importantly put the damn number on the collar).
If I catch that dog again and there is still no phone number I’ll keep it for a week or so and let em sweat it out a bit.
The American spelling is more common these days, even here. I usually write ass rather than arse.
Did you miss the part where we put up an ugly chicken wire fence as soon as they refused?
I’m comfortable that I met my responsibilities.
Never said you didn’t. I was just noting that the neighbors could have stuck up for their legitimate right to have their yard both unfenced and dog-free without being such venomous and irresponsible shits about it.
My only beef with your behavior is that I think your sign ought to say “Vicious Dog-Endangering Assholes” rather than “Deadbeat Assholes”.
After all, the fundamental problem isn’t really that they didn’t want to spend money on THEIR fence in order to keep YOUR dog off THEIR property, which, as you note, is your responsibility in the first place. Rather, it’s that they were callously prepared to let your dog wander into the street and get killed instead of explaining that to you.
I disagree.
You fix your fucking fence, or you shut the fuck up when shit wanders into your yard. Don’t want shit wandering into your yard? FIX YOUR FUCKING FENCE. That is what fences are for; it’s what they do.
Personally, I would have put up the chicken wire and the sign, and then flung dog shit into their yard every day. But, I’m a horrible person.
Well, yes - the primary thing is the way they chose to deal with it. Nastiness should never be the first option.
But they made it clear they saw it as an opportunity to get me to pay for their fence. And I naturally assumed at first that their preferred option would be to repair their fence and maintain an attractive garden rather than a chicken wire monstrosity.
However, from the legal point of view - the property deeds do indeed include a duty to maintain one’s own fences. Unfortunately, the enforcement remedy is civil action in the courts, and a chicken wire fence is cheaper, quicker, and easier.
And I’ll be amazed if they don’t fix it soon, since they won’t want potential buyers to see a chicken wire monstrosity. They’ve just spent a few weeks turning their garden into something vaguely attractive (it was a junk tip before, pretty much) so they clearly recognise the importance of fixing your stuff before selling your house.
Sorry, it’s up to pet owners to restrain their pets from wandering onto other people’s property, fenced or not. If you choose to own a pet, you accept responsibility for its behavior, and you don’t expect other people to tolerate it on their private property if they don’t want it there, whether or not they have a boundary defense to try to exclude it.
I quite agree that if the neighbors were being bothered by some wild or feral animals that wander onto their unfenced property, then it would be their own damn responsibility to get it properly fenced to keep the critters out.
But in this case, the critter in question belongs to Candyman and it’s HIS responsibility to ensure that it doesn’t trespass on other people’s property.
Which, as he clearly explained, he’s well aware of, which is why he put up the chicken wire.
Then yup, if it’s legally required for them to have a fence they should damn well reach into their pocket and pay for a fence. Keep the “Deadbeat Assholes” sign just as it is, in that case.