What do you think the authorities would do about vicious doy! dogs in this situation?

I would have told you to consider getting a fence to protect both your privacy and your dogs from roaming strays.

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Not much the law can do in that situation, it is a he said/she said as long as there are no injuries. Next time have a camcorder ready to videotape the event. Or have your husband start carrying a billy club.

Second time they had come into my yard and attacked my dogs their owners would have had to carry their dead dogs home.

@YoBob‘s fence is not a bad idea either.

We have a fence around our very large back yard you guys, where the dogs live when we aren’t home. Are you suggesting that we should fence our dogs AND our selves into our own deck? We don’t leave the dogs out on the deck alone.

@WestRiverrat Camera is ready to roll on video. And I bought a couple of bats.

Yeah. They gave the jerks a dog at large ticket. That’s all.

I know what I would do if they ever came into my yard again.
I would shoot them.
If you are not a gun owner,I would have a good metal bat at the ready.Those dog owners are fools and will eventually get sued.

@Dutchess_III nope, didn’t realise you already had a large fenced area.

Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s much they can do when there are no other witnesses. Is it legal to shoot someone’s dogs if they’re on your property? That’s what I would be inclined to do, especially if I had kids. Hopefully your camcorder will help. Keep us updated?

EDIT @lucillelucillelucille beat me to it. I second the shooting idea. While it won’t do anything good for neighborly relations, those aren’t exactly stellar now.

We’d probably get thrown in jail for shooting them or hitting them with one of the two bats I now have at the ready on my deck. But their dogs can threaten us with their “knives,” and it’s no big deal. One of them actually bit my husband, but the dog was off balance and didn’t get a good chomp in .

This world is totally screwy.

@WestRiverrat shoulda asked instead of assuming! You can’t have dogs like German Shepherds in the city without a fence! Not if you’re a responsible, caring dog owner. The neighbors keep their large dogs in a freakin’ kennel….no wonder they’re nuts.

Did you find out if the dogs have had their rabies vaccines? If not your husband may want to get treated if the bite broke the skin.

I would report the neighbor for having loose dogs. I would report her to the humane society.

I would call Animal Control if I ever saw their dogs running loose.

I would install a baby gate at the bottom of the deck so they can’t get to your dogs.

You are very lucky no one has been injured. That luck will be unlikely to continue.

I’m not sure what police can do but if I saw loose dogs, even if I knew they belonged to a neighbor then I’d call Animal Control. Technically, you could have filed a complaint and grievance with the police and given a bill to your neighbors for having Rick’s bite checked out and also your dogs’ wounds, even if you think they were superficial. Better to have some documentation if your dogs or Rick turn up ill later on.

Shooting might be illegal in your neighborhood and would get you in serious trouble.

How about filling a couple of super soaker water guns with ammonia or lemon juice and nailing them before they even reach your dogs? Battery operated soakers can be shot accurately and consistently at a moment’s notice.

As with any weapon, practice with it a few times so you are confident about its use. Do not tell anyone you have it. Just leave a couple out on the deck at the ready. It will be $50 well spent.

Aren’t the police supposed to determine all of that @WestRiverrat? What are we supposed to do…go up to their front door? They’re red neck, inbred trailer trash. Like I said, the dude stood on his deck glaring at us was we were talking to the police. I’m not going near them.

@marinelife We did call the second time. They didn’t do anything. The officer talked to them. The animal control guy talked to them. That’s all they did.

@marinelife Why in the hell should we have to fence ourselves in on our OWN f’ing deck?

Here is a picture of our back yard

Here is a picture of the deck in question where we virtually live in the evenings during the summer. If you look to the left, past the end of the house, you can see the POS house the neighbors with the dogs live in. No fence, although you can’t tell it from this picture.

Here is our spaniel, Dutchess

Dakota is in my avatar.

Call and ask the police if they have their rabies tags. Or have the clinic your husband is treated at start the process. The police generally won’t relay that information to you unless you ask for it. That doesn’t mean they didn’t check.

…He didn’t need treatment. They didn’t break the skin.

I’ll call, but they weren’t rabid. Just rednecks, like their owners.

Like @WestRiverrat suggests, you can put pressure on the neighbors by calling attention to any dog licenses, tags, vaccinations they are supposed to have.

I’ll talk to my husband and I guess we’d best get our dogs licensed while we’re at it! They have their shots, but they aren’t registered with the city.

Does your town not have a leash law?

You know the old saying (and it is oh-so-true): Good fences make good neighbors.

@Dutchess_III You should fence off your deck so that these dogs that have twice attacked your dogs could not attack them again. It would be a temporary measure to protect your dogs until you can get the neighbors to keep their dogs restrained.

Yes, SYZ. We have a leash law. They got a ticket for dogs at large. We have a fence. See the picture links above. The neighbors don’t have a fence. They have a kennel.

@marinelife The second time they attacked my HUSBAND. This isn’t just about attacking our dogs. It isn’t right that we should have to fence ourselves in in our own f-ing yard or into our own f-ing deck. It isn’t right that I have to tell my grand kids that they can’t go play in the yard. They can’t climb their favorite tree.

Get some mace the kind mailmen carry.

That’s an idea, too @Cruiser! Where do I get mace?

@Dutchess_III You can buy pepper spray at most of the gun shops. But, it is difficult to control and hard to aim if you need it quickly. You don’t want to hit your own dogs. That’s why I suggested a water gun. The super soakers shoot far and are accurate. The pepper spray will get all over everything and if there is a breeze going the wrong way it can even get on you. Also pepper spray is not reloadable. You use it once and you discard it. A water gun you can fill as often as you like.

Some states call pepper spray a concealed weapon. Check first. But a super-soaker water gun is a kid’s toy. No problem.

Do you think a super soaker would stop them @worriedguy?

I’m probably gonna get hated on for this, but surely the responsibilty lies with the owners? The dogs will do what they have been ‘trained’ to do and will react to a situation in a way that they only know how, through the wrong up-bringing?

Shooting a dog seems a bit extreme!

Report the owner to the local RSPCA (Sorry not sure of American version) get them to check out the dogs living standards and conditions. The only way to “get back” at these people is to persecute them as people NOT to harm their dogs, as the owners obviously don’t care about them properly in the first place.
My dog has been attacked a couple of times in the park, when he has been on his lead, my theory is if my dog is under control on his lead then it is the other person is responsible for the agro caused by their dog- even if my dog bites their dog (as to me it’s self defence, my dog didn’t approch the other!)

Try putting a fence/gate across your decking for while, so if the dogs come on your property at least you, relatives and dogs are safe. And each time they arrive film them etc… and report to RSPCA. It’s a pain having to record things but playing the long game can sometimes work to your advantage!

p.s. I hope your hubby is ok :)

We’ll seriously consider the gate.

YES it’s their responsibility, but at this point no one in authority seems to want to hold them accountable. Guess we have to wait until they attack a child. In which case, hell yeah I’d shoot the dogs.

@Dutchess_III A super soaker loaded with ammonia would stop them.

An Airsoft pellet gun would work to, they would sting the dogs but not seriously injure them, as long as you don’t hit them in the head(eye).

Just one more question @Dutchess_III Do you know if the redneck neighbors are renters? If they are, you should (in addition to everything else that was mentioned) inform the landlords of what is going on. You might be able to help to get them evicted.

A good friend of mine, who herself was renting, had a similar problem with her naughty neighbors both with dogs, and loud drug-addled parties that went on until 5 in the morning. Unfortunately for her, the bad neighbors owned their house. She called SPCA, called the cops and spoke to these people directly multiple times to try to solve the problem (she was pregnant at the time) and the authorities didn’t do much, except have a polite talk with these people. Ultimately, my friend and her husband ended up having to move.

I hope it doesn’t come down to that for you guys.

If a land lord is willing to rent to white trash in the first place, then the next tenants may be worse. Caution is the key with dealing with that ilk. They are usually fiercely proud and fiercely stupid and may do things to you that would seem shocking to normal folk. I wouldn’t dare shoot at their dogs with any kind of guns even the non lethal kind.
We put up a fence in the back yard made of wire mesh and t-posts, 4’ tall. keeps our dogs in and others out. Just make sure before you go reporting them to the authorities you have all your ducks in a row if you know what i mean.

@Kardamom Pretty sure they own…. bleh.
I know, @woodcutter. Fiercely proud and fiercely stupid sums them up eloquently. And we all ready reported them. Nothing happened.