OMG I hate our neighbours

I think I would be afraid to just walk into someone's yard lol. I had friends who would just go into their neighbors yard and play on their swingset, and that was just so wrong to me.

I probably would have yelled in that situation too, I mean that could have turned into something dangerous. If that were my kid I'd be more concerned with the fact that he went into someone's yard without permission and almost got bit by a dog.

she could and likely would have been held *liable* for it if the dog had bitten the child.

i hope she has learned that the dog needs to not ever be outside unsupervised, fence and beware of dog sign or not.

Well, in alot of places.....first negligence has to be proven for you to be held liable in a situation like this.
Were the dogs contained in a sturdy fence on your own property.....
Did the gate have latches that worked properly.......
Were there "no trespassing" signs displayed with owners signature and date....
Did you have prior aggressive behavior with these dogs............
Did you take reasonable care in confining your dogs..............
Did the incident happen on/off your property...............
If off your property was your dog on a leash and under your control........


My dogs are outside alone........that is why my yard is fenced.
That is why I have "NO Tresspassing signs"
That is why my latch works on my gate.

If anything would happen because a kid got in my yard (it wouldn't cause my dogs like kids), I would expect the parents of those kids to be the one at fault. They should be charged with child neglect, for not supervising their children. And letting them trespass on someones property.

I pay less on my home insurance because of an non aggressive dog. This tread has now gone from manners to liability ." Be Aware of dog " is a safer sign that "Beware of dog.".... one says "please don't leave gate open.".. the other says " He'll bite your ass off ".

Its hard to say how you would have reacted unless your in that situation.
Everyone reacts differently to different things. You think you would have handled it better. Not everyone is built that way. It was obviously a quick adrenaline enduced reaction!
So by you saying it could have been handled better is really hard to prove unless you have been in her shoes at that exact moment coupled with the whole day she went through and all her past experiences.
Thats my thought.

Yes I would get a big sign with a dog attacking a kid with a warning at the bottom or top somewhere. This way even if the kid can read he/she understands that its dangerous.
You did the best you could in that moment. Good job the kid didnt get hurt!

lol yeah kids would be kids but you think that they would have some commen sense not to go into someone elses yard, after hearing the dog. but yeah lucky kid, could have had some major problems with that one.

No one should be entering your yard without your permission. Go to the harware store & buy "No Trespassing" signs so people are told not to enter. This type of sign will be okay with your insurance company because it doesn't talk about dangerous dogs, etc., it just says to everyone "stay off my property".

just curious.. if he wanted to contact you to get his ball back, how could he do it? i mean, the front door to my house is within my yard which is totally gated. to knock on my front door, someone would have to come in the gate. do you have a bell out there? do they have your phone number? could you hear him if he yelled?

i seems most people responding to this site know how they would respond. in fact, they would know what they would do if their ball went over someelse's fence! i appreciate budgetdad's comments. i agree. now not only do the neighbors probably hate this woman and her dog (not the dog's fault), future situations won't be better... if i were a kid (a GOOD kid) i wouldn't want to ask her for anything... yes, she was scared... yes, the kid wasn't wise... but to take all that fear and panic OUT on the KID is not right.... if she did yell at him.. what's wrong with saying later, "i'm sorry i scared you and yelled at you. i was scared that you were going to get hurt.. in the future, if your ball goes over my fence, please call and i'll get it for you."

Exactly.

Sure people can over react. But after they overreact, they can fix the situation. There is no need to go wacko on a couple of kids playing ball. Yes, the kids should ask before they go in, but kids do a lot of things they shouldn't, and this is not a serious offence. There is a way to handle it correctly. If you over-react (and that happens), you should at least handle it correctly after you cool down. We are adults. We should act like adults when we deal with children.

What gets me is people are perfectly willing to act in a way to children that they would never consider doing to a dog. No such thing as a bad dog, just bad owners... but when it comes to kids, the little brats should have known better.

I'd probably yell too. I'd yell to the kid for his safety but not at him.. if that makes any sense. Yes, the kid should have knocked instead of tromping into your backyard without permission, hence the reason why you have a privacy fence.. private property. I think the dad should've acted more like an adult then a child all yelling at you and stuff. I think what you did was right. I'd rather yell and get the childs attention then have the child get hurt.

Sounds to me like it was handled poorly by both partys.

Jenn should have, after securing the dogs had a calm talk with the kids and possibly their parents to avoid future incidents.

In the stuation as it happenned the father of the kids should have handled himself in a more adult manner rather than chewwing Jenn out.

BudgetsDad Im curious what your demeaner would be if it where your kids?
"If I was that kids dad, I'd be at your door too."

Nothing in Jens posts here would lead me to believe the kids where good or bad, possibly illiterate or disrespectfull seeing that Jenn has a Beware of Dog sign posted by the gate.

I think the reaction from the parent was ridiculous. I do however think that an apology to the kid for yelling and an explanation of WHY you yelled would have gone farther than simply leaving things at "OMG I hate them". Kids ARE kids and it's up to adults to explain things to them. Obviously this kid's dad wouldn't explain things to him, and it could have done him some good if you had educated him on why it's a bad idea to enter someone else's yard.

I suppose I couldn't really tell you until I was actually in the situation, but I probably would have ended up telling my kids to just stay away from her and her yard, and that they shouldn't go into people's yards without asking. I very well might have been tempted to go over to talk to her, but you really gotta be careful what you do in front of kids, because they learn from adults.

As for whether they were good or bad kids... Well she was pretty worked up about then just being in her yard. If they did something bad, I figure she would have put that in her post. I could be wrong, but it sounded like they were just getting their ball

Good point on having to actually being in the situation to know how you would react. Even with her reaction the father should have taken the kid/s over to appologize and to discuss what the proper thing to do next time a ball popped into Jenn's yard.

Im gonna have to back up her initial reaction since she had a dog barking snarling and lunging at the gate with the kid behind it still trying to get into her yard. Her lack of action after defusing the situation led to her neighbour chewwing her out.

So as dog owners and for you parents have we actually learned anything here?

OK. Sadie has never bitten anyone before and is getting alot better, as long as you dont get in her face.

The kid could have walked to th front of my house wich is not fenced off. Even if it was he could have left a note on the fence asking for his ball back.

I yelled because the kid had just unlached the gate to push it open. Im sorr, but I didnt have time to walk over their calmly and say, please dont come in here.

I told you the yelling "no" was for Sadie's beinifit as in, "no dont bite" and also a shock factor for the kid.

I am teritorial. I have a fence for a reason to keep people OUT. you have NO right to come into my yard under ANY cercumstances (baring my house burning down) with out permision.

It is a rough neighbourhood and the kid is a little punk.

I dont care who you are you should stay out of my yard.

If some kid is trespassing onto my yard, I AM going to yell at them to get out. No matter how old they are. You don't trespass. It's against the law, and, in some cases, dangerous.

I'm sorry to say but parents like that are the reason kids are little hellions these days. That is why they have no respect. they are not accountable for their actions because they are "just children" When should you start teaching kids to be responsible for their actions? Sure Jenn may not have handled it the way you all think she should have while you sit behind your computer desks and read the situation rather than to actually be in it. but to say oh he's just a child, boys will be boys, is exactly the reason kids are so bad these days. If that was my child and he came home and told me someone yelled at him for going in their yard with an aggressive dog, I would ask if my child went to the door to ask for permission. When that child tells me no, then I will tell him WHY he was wrong. WHY he shoudl not be upset about that womans reaction as he brought that on himself. would he like it if someone were to do that to his private property? I bet the answer would be no. I would make sure he understood that it is not appropriate to do things like that, not reinforce the behaviour by allowing my child to know that I think th dog owner was in the wrong. were it a serious situation and it got out of hand then yes I would stand up for my child but personal responsibility will be learned at a young age in my children.