December 30, 2013
Our dogs fence fight with the neighbor's loose dogs that are actually on our property. Might pepper spray be justified in our situation? What would you suggest?
Full Question:
My 3 y/o intact and 18 m/o spayed GSDs are contained in our small recessed fenced yard and exercised elsewhere. Our neighbors own a 4 y/o spayed Newfie and 2 y/o intact Pit Bull who run loose on their larger property. When their dogs run up to our fence, no reward or deterrent is effective to get our dogs to stop their fence fighting which has progressed to the males locking teeth through the chain links. Also, the fence goes up a rocky and now icy hill so that it is difficult to get to the dogs to bring them inside. We have discussed with the neighbors some way to alternate outside time but it hasn't worked out. Their dogs do back off when called, but the recall isn't always quick enough. Since their dogs are actually on our property when the fighting occurs, might pepper spray be justified? I feel this could get really serious and shouldn't wait till spring when they say they will build a fence. Any other suggestions? Thanks. 
Ed's Answer:
There are a couple of options here.
It seems that this is as much of a neighbor problem as a dog problem. It sounds like these dogs are on your property.
I guess I would start by convincing the neighbor that letting their dogs run on your land isn’t a good idea. I would tell the neighbor I am going to spray their dogs with pepper spray to convince them. Sometimes pepper spray doesn’t work on dogs (that are all worked up) but it does work on people. What would work would be to spray the dogs and then when these dogs go back into their home the owners would certainly have the time of their life getting the pepper spray out of the dogs and out of their home. The neighbors will do a little "FIRE DANCE" in their living room when the dogs come into the house.
Quite frankly these people are going to get pissed but that may have to be the price they pay to learn how to control their dogs.
We do sell Bear Spray.
The second phase of your work should be to train the RECALL. We sell an excellent DVD that we did with Michael Ellis on Training the Recall.
This goes from the foundation up through when to add a remote collar. Frankly in the end you are probably going to have to use remotes, but please listen to me when I say that you need to learn how to do this correctly. We also have DVDs on using remote collars. Slapping a remote collar on and shocking the dog for not coming when called IS NOT the way to train with it.
Regards,
Ed Frawley
It seems that this is as much of a neighbor problem as a dog problem. It sounds like these dogs are on your property.
I guess I would start by convincing the neighbor that letting their dogs run on your land isn’t a good idea. I would tell the neighbor I am going to spray their dogs with pepper spray to convince them. Sometimes pepper spray doesn’t work on dogs (that are all worked up) but it does work on people. What would work would be to spray the dogs and then when these dogs go back into their home the owners would certainly have the time of their life getting the pepper spray out of the dogs and out of their home. The neighbors will do a little "FIRE DANCE" in their living room when the dogs come into the house.
Quite frankly these people are going to get pissed but that may have to be the price they pay to learn how to control their dogs.
We do sell Bear Spray.
The second phase of your work should be to train the RECALL. We sell an excellent DVD that we did with Michael Ellis on Training the Recall.
This goes from the foundation up through when to add a remote collar. Frankly in the end you are probably going to have to use remotes, but please listen to me when I say that you need to learn how to do this correctly. We also have DVDs on using remote collars. Slapping a remote collar on and shocking the dog for not coming when called IS NOT the way to train with it.
Regards,
Ed Frawley
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