Neighborhood dog situation update...

So about 4 weeks ago Jude and I were on a walk and the dog two houses down (german shepherd mix? about 60 pounds- about twice the size of Jude) got into a confrontation with Jude. The dog was on one of those reel leashes and as we walked by- the 50 year old guy standing with his wife and the dog on the leash asked if Jude could say hi to his dog. I said sure, and as I walked over the guy said, "Wait is it a boy?" I said yes and he suddenly said, "Oh no no no no!" as his wife released the little button on the reel leash.

The dog charged at Jude and tried to chomp at him, and I managed to yank Jude away and the wife managed to press the button on the reel before he got to Jude. Jude was just barely missed. They laughed and said their dog was not good with other male dogs. They thought Jude was a girl. I told them that we should stay on opposite sides of the street while we walked our dogs. About 6 minutes later I heard the husband and wife running around the street yelling for their dog. You could see him at the top of the block off the leash and the husband grabbed him and put him back on the leash.

In another story, a dog has been going to the bathroom in my driveway and front walk. I did consider this dog, but not seriously. Well today we watched the same dog we saw on the walk come off leash to our yard and crap in our yard. Fun. Jude barked at him from the window when he saw and then the dog charged the window with it's teeth bared growling before running back to his own house two houses down.

Another neighbor of mine started to follow the dog and I stood outside and heard the other neighbor yelling at the dogs owner. He said the dog goes to the bathroom in everyone's yard and front steps, and the owner still won't pick it up. He told the woman, "Your dog is out again." And she said, "I know" and then closed the door on him. He said he's spoken with the woman reasonably a bunch of times and she is unresponsive.

So of course now I'm a bit nervous. We live in a 1950's like neighborhood- working class- houses on 1/4th-1/8th of an acre each right next to each other, and we love taking walks in the warm weather. It's such a part of our routine. Now I'm really scared this dog would be off leash when we're walking and one of my dogs (especially worried about the little tiny dog since he's so small) would get into a fight with him.

Should I make a call to the authorities or animal services? I'm not sure if that does anything. Should we stop taking walks or start driving to other neighborhoods to do our walks? Should I take walks but carry some kind of defense on us? This is my first time dealing with a roaming dog situation in my life and I just want to make sure my dogs are protected since the guy said that his dog isn't friendly with males.

Thanks in advance...

Get mace or bear spray.

I was thinking about doing that- I am just afraid knowing me with two dogs on a leash and being uncoordinated I'll fumble and probably end up spraying my own dogs in the face. Haha maybe I need to do some practice with a 'fake' dog? Work on my aim? Haha...

Oh thats a frustrating situation. If I was you I would call the AC and make a complaint that there is a DA dog running around loose and you know where its coming from.
And its probably a good idea to bring a stick or somthing with you just incase since its a DA dog thats always on the loose and you and Jude always comes first. But thats what I would do.

Maybe politely leave a letter or talk to your neighbours about their dogs stating that its not safe for their dog to be running around loose. He could get run over. And they are responsible for him and they are also responsible if their dog since he is Same sex aggressive could attack another dog. And that you dont feel safe walking Jude and Jonah since they stated their dogs does not like other male dogs.

You could call animal control or something and see if they'll do anything.

I personally wouldn't switch neighborhoods. Everyone has different levels of comfort with aggressive dogs... I'd carry a piece of wieldy hardwood, and if the dog charged me in a way that I thought would end in a bite (some dogs charge hard until a few feet away and then they slow down and sniff or bark), I would thump it on the head, hard.

Even if you did get your dogs, it would be better for them (as long as you got the other dog too) than getting bit.

Mace. I'd call ACC, and I would also tell your neighbors you nearly ran over their dog. Say he rushed out from behind a bush right in front of you, and if it was raining or dark you may not have been able to stop.

They probably don't care if he eats another persons dog, but they might care if they think he'll get run over.

I wouldn't worry too, too much about the window incident. Dogs can act differently across a barrier.

Do you have a fenced backyard? If it were me, I may not walk puppy in the neighborhood yet, both because it may be hard to handle the two of them and address the stray dog and because I think you want all of his interactions with other dogs to be positive right now (to the extent you can control it).

I would probably walk Bailey in that neighborhood though. I'd be alert and ready to go with a big stick and/or some spray. It's not clear yet to me that he's over the top DA (not that I'm an expert ).

I'd definitely call AC. It would really **** me off if I couldn't even safely walk my own dog in my own neighborhood. That's bull. Tell AC that you feel scared walking in your own neighborhood with or without your dog (who knows if it's aggressive towards people - even if it isn't, it'd get AC's attention) for fear of you or your dog being bitten.

Good luck!

If you don't feel comfortable with the spray, carry a riding crop or a big stick. If the dog shows up you can usher your dogs behind you and beat the neighbor dog off. Best case scenario, the owners see you do it and they give enough of a hoot to keep their dog inside from now on. Worst case scenario, you put enough hurt on the dog for him to think twice about messing with your "pack" again.

Sounds mean, but your responsibility is to protect your dogs, and they shouldnt have to go without neighborhood walks because one asshat can't keep his aggressive dog inside.

I would call AC. I would collect all their dogs poop and knock on their door and hand it to them. Tell them that next time it will be thrown against their front door.

I remember a thread like this awhile back where Smkie said she carries a big glass of ice water with her. Then if a dog charges her dogs she can splash them with the water. /shrug I'd be more likely to carry a poking stick myself. It sucks that you have to deal with that. One of our neighbors has a gorgeous pit bull puppy (about 7 months) and they NEVER EVER leash it. It comes around the back of our property and torments the dogs through the fence. I'm getting ready to call animal control....but I really don't want to.

Id call AC. maybe try talking to the neighboors who own this dog. if AC doesnt do much, rally other neighbors together and get them all to call AC.

Id also carry a big stick, bat riding crop ect.

I normally carry a chuck-it with me. Doesnt look scary to passerbys but will give a dog a good smack if needed. I use it often at the dog park, to shove jumpy dogs off me lol

Bella is a dog aggressive dog. I would NEVER have her ANYWHERE out of the yard without a leash on. However at training one day I dropped the leash by accident while trying to do something (I don't remember what right now) and Bella went STRAIGHT to attack another dog, a trainer intervened and Bella got whacked with the end of a leash because nobody really carries a stick around. I was not offended because no screaming or shouting would have stopped Bella from attacking that dog when she got hit she immediately ran to me out of fear that if she attacked again she would get hit again so I feel your best defence if you choose would be a stick or a whip. It firstly completely throws the aggressive dog because they weren't expecting it and it is also a HARSH correction that it may remember. This may sound mean and abusive but coming from a person who would most definitely freak out and want to kill someone for even thinking about hurting their dog I completely understood the situation and I believe it was dealt with in the best way possible at the time with the quickest thinking and reaction.

ETA: I have just realised that if you offend your neighbour by hitting their dog they may lay a charge against you for abuse and then it may just become a he said/she said situation. I retract my suggestion on the grounds of this...Like everyone else suggest calling AC is the best bet, my above suggestion was only if you didn't plan on calling AC and still wanted to walk your dogs there

Mace is a poor option -- in the heat of the moment I suspect you and your dogs would end up as equally covered in mace as the attacking dog.

Good luck if you decide to pursue the other options suggested above!

If talking to the owners of the dog doesn't help, definitely call AC and encourage any of your other neighbors who are concerned about the situation to do the same. Future complaints and/or incidents may carry more weight with the history of a good paper trail behind them, especially if it does come to you having to strike the dog and them turning around and blaming or accusing you.

I must disagree. I have used pepper spray with loads of success. You get the one that sprays a direct stream and if you keep your head it is very useful.

The best possible tactic I can see is if several of the other neighbors who have a problem with this will join you and go talk to the owners. Perhaps seeing a united front would make an impression and help avoid the need for harsher measures.

I think getting some cute poop bags (I like the pink ones and petsmart often has them on clearance. . . beats me as to why they do that when they just stock them again a month later) and some ribbon is in order.

Bag up the poo every time it's on your driveway or doorstep, knot the bag as you normally would, tie some ribbons around the knot to make it look pretty, and deposit it on their doorstep when they're not home. This would take some planning, but even dropping it off at 2am when they're not likely to see who did it should work.

If they don't get the hint after a couple weeks of cute little poo-bags on their doorstep, then it's time to call the sheriff or something. I would assume you have a leash law. In the meantime, take pictures of the dog when loose so you have proof.

And this is just what I would do because it makes me cackle to think of it. :rofl1: Not saying you have to or anything. . . but I find the idea amusing.

Let me tell you a story about the unleashed dogs that were hanging around my parents house. They usually came through a few times a week, were never aggressive, and wandered off when a person yelled. Never caused an issue with Radar. I've been seeing them on and off for about 2 years.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, when Argon started his DA nonsense, got jumped and ended up with a broken foot. His medical bills are $350 and climbing.

Just because nothing has happened yet with unleashed dogs, it doesn't mean that the right situation will not happen and someone will get hurt.