Almost had to kill the neighbor's dog
 

I was kneeling on my front lawn yesterday, pulling grass out of my flowerbed, when my neighbor's pit bull suddenly appeared, running around the corner of my house, barking and growling.

The lucky lttle pooch stopped about 20 feet short of me and continued his barking. By that time, I had my carry gun at the ready, and was contemplating the dog's next move. Fortunately for him, he chose to stand there barking his fool head off.

What gets my most about this whole thing, is that my jackass of a neighbor was standing there watching the whole thing. After I went back into the house, the poor, misunderstood dog went into my garage and raided a bag of dry dog food.

I'm about to go over there right now and politely explain that, should they once again fail to control their dog, and it ends up on my property, I'll have no choice but to consider it a threat to the safety of myself and my dog.

Jesus, some people just don't deserve to have dogs, and it's a shame the dog is the one that has to pay for their ignorance.:angry:

Yikes, Ken!

As an owner of an American Staffordshire Terrier mix, this one hits close to home for me. Amstaffs are considered a form of "pit bull", and I know that most people are generally terrified of them. My little pup will be a year old in January, and while she's as harmless as can be, she is still learning what's "her" territory and what's not. Consequently, when our next door neighbor comes down (his house is a weekend retreat, so he's only there a couple of times a month), she uses her "big girl voice" and goes nuts. Same thing with other dogs....she goes to the kennel about once a week for socialization, and does beautifully, but when a strange dog wanders into her yard, she's a barking fool. Doesn't get aggressive, just barks and carries on.

Now, as for the owner, well, he sounds like an ass. Our pup is still being trained on a daily basis, and we take full responsibility for her behavior at all times.

I just hate to see a dog punished because the owners are irresponsible. Is it possible you could befriend the dog somehow so that you don't have to worry about him getting aggressive?

As much as I hate to say this, but to keep yourself from becoming involved in a lawsuit, should you have to shoot the dog, go ahead and file a complaint with animal control about the dog. Talk to it's owners as well, and let them know you have no qualms about defending yourself, should the need arise.

Good luck in resolving this peacefully!!

Well, I have small children at home, so it doesn't make any difference to me whether it's a pitbull, amstaff, boxer, or standard poodle. If a strange dog were to come at me, a full-grown man in an agressive fashion in my own yard, I would have to assume that it would potentially maul a child. I would have probably taken that dog out of the picture, then go have a "talk" with its owner for putting me in that uneviable position!

:angry:

Just so that you have a paper trail to back you up should you need to shoot the dog, I sugguest making a complaint to your local PD. My husband works for a PD, and he says it's just a good way to cover your but.

This way if you shoot the dog, and the neighbor claims you've never told him that his dog is dangerous you can say "HA, I talked to the police and they talked to you, so you knew darn well what was going on."

But be humane too, no dog should be shot just because it's dum arsh owner doesn't have the know how to keep it under control. You can take off an ear, or maybe a knee cap then the owner is stuck paying vet bills.

I'm glad it didn't come to that for you. What a stinky situation to be stuck in.

I will second that idea on sanctioning a dog in my yard as I also have 6 kids in ages of 3 to 14.
I had a neighbors dog come in my yard and start mauling my lab
[it was a LARGE shepard] needless to say I crippled[bare handedly] that dog and my neighbors had to put it down with the threats of lawsuit this and that. I suffered a few cuts on my hands when I broke the dogs jaw. To protect my self I also called the police .
These neighbors I am talking about have as many as 20+ dogs in the yard of varying breeds at any given time. The actions I took against the shepard was the 3rd time one of thier dogs came into my yard.
Ken the first time it was a staffordshire terrier that now has a big scar on its head.
I have called animal control and such on these fine folks also, and in retaliation they called animal control on me saying I wasn't providing shelter for my lab[he has a 4x8 foot insulated dog house in my garage raised off the slab] idiots I say idiots

I shudder to think what I would do to these folks if thier dogs mauled my kids.I have had many words with the mans wife [he is a coward]

incedently my whole yard is fenced in

Any resolution?
 

Ken,

Just curious if you have found time to speak to the owner of the dog and if he was responsive to your concerns?

Turn About Is Fair Play
 

I had a similar problem with a neighbor of mine. He seemed to think that it was ok to let his two monster aggressive pit bulls out to roam the neighborhood be cause they needed to “stretch” a little. He thought it was funny to see his dogs “play” with the other animals in the area.

They had mauled several other dogs and cats in the area and chased countless folks back into their houses. Despite numerous calls to the animal control and the police department (PD was working a case on keeping vicious dogs) he still let them out.

Here is how I solved the problem. My neighbor was deathly afraid of snakes, which I just happen to have a few of.

One day when he was outside watching his dogs terrorize the neighborhood I walked out with one of my 6+ foot atrox and set her down in my yard adjacent to his.

She is a beautiful girl with just a hint of attitude that says, Come Get Some, Chump! I reckon she has enough brass to school both the dogs and anyone else who would like an education on what “bad” really means.

He turned pale as stammered backwards and asked what I was doing. I simply told him if he was going to let his animals out to roam I would do the same, and I had plenty more hots that I felt like I needed to let out to roam because they needed to “stretch”.

Funny, he moved out and I haven’t seen him nor his dogs since and none of the folks in the neighborhood seem have a problems with my hobby anymore.

Dave

I hate to be the one to say it, but if it come down to it and you have to shoot that dog..........kill it.

I understand it is just a dog, and it is not the dogs fault his/her owner is an ass.........but you don't want a WOUNDED vicious dog in your face.

~ I love dogs. I have a beautiful Boxer. My last dog was the sweetest Rottwieler that there ever was. I understand large dogs.........and if I thought it was me (or God forbid my children) or my dog (or the neighbors).........Kill the dog in the first shot or don't shoot.

Needless to say if I had the time I would have got a gun and blasted the shepard instead of going the route I did ...my dog was not in a good way with this shepard and I did what I could to save my dog as this other was not backing down...I can say I am very glad it wasn't one of my children and 'only' my dog

The rattler idea was too cool ...but responsibility is foremost with venomous