Our neighbor has 5 dogs who roam the neighborhood freely. One bit my 10 year old and charged me when I went to help. What should I do?

Question

Hello. I am having a problem with a neighbor's dog. We moved to this new home 5 months ago and have no pets. Our children are 10, 3, almost 2, and 7 months. Our yard has a chain-link fence around it. Our neighbors, who are the only people we have met so far, have five dogs. One is a shep mix. For approximately six weeks the dog was allowed to roam the neighborhood. One of its owners was out of town for that period of time. The dog roamed with another neighbor?s dog... The dog, whose owner said had never bit anyone, bit our 10 year old on the back of his leg. When I went to try to help him, the dog charged me, growling, with its back hair standing up. My first response was to scream as loud as I could. She backed off just before reaching me. My son and I sat on top of a car while we waited for the police. The owner was not home. The dog did not puncture the skin, but left tooth mark bruises on his calf.

The absent owner came back from her trip with another dog, a Rot mix. Here is my frustration.. My babies love to be outdoors. But I can't let them out when the shep mix dog is out. She charges at our fence at the babies, growling and showing teeth. The owner was talking to me today when this happened, and said that the dog just wants to play ball with my kids. I am terrified of the dog and have told them this. They do not see it as a problem. They say the dog jumps the fence because it wants to play with the ?neighborhood roaming dog.? The roaming dog has jumped into their yard to play with their dogs in the past. Canine Control told them to buy a harness that will prevent the dogs from jumping over their fence. But they have not bought one yet. I am having a tough time with this, worrying about the babies getting bitten. Is there anything I can spray along my fence to deter the dog from coming near it? I can't sit back here. I feel that this is an accident waiting to happen.

Sorry this is so long ...Please give me any insight you may have.
Thank you, Maureen

Accepted Answer

This is an accident waiting to happen. Here are some things that I would recommend doing:

1 - Your neighbor’s dog is not trying to play with your kids, it is territorial and part of a dog pack and it will bite them. The dog views your yard as his territory.

2 - Print out the article from my web site on Sabina Davidson - where the Rot killed the 11 year old boy. Give it to your neighbor and the police chief (not an officer).

3 - Ask the neighbor if he has home owners insurance and who it is with. Sucker this information out of him - be sweet - con the guy. Tell him you just want to be sure that there will be medical coverage in case your child is bitten. Be nice until you get the information. Then write the insurance company and they will cancel his insurance in a heartbeat.

4 - After doing this, go to the county courthouse and see who has financial liens against this guy’s house. Once you know who his banker is you can let them know what is going on and that you are working to let his insurance company know that he is keeping dangerous dogs that have already bitten. The bank will know that he is going to lose his insurance and they will demand that he carry insurance or they will default his loan.

5 - Go to your police chief and demand to see a copy of the police report on the incident that you mentioned. This is PUBLIC INFORMATION and he has to give it to you, (they may charge you a small fee). If there was not a police report, demand to know why. Get mad and demand answers on why there was no report written. This is a serious matter and it should have had a report - the chief will already know this. If the police chief does not show appropriate concern then tell him that you are going to go to the District Attorney, the mayor and the newspaper. Tell him that you will write an article to the newspaper about his lack of concern and lack of professionalism. Tell him that his officer should have written a police report and if there was not one written then this also shows a lack of professionalism in his department. Make him aware that you see this as a very dangerous situation for your children.

Then go to the mayor’s office and do the same thing. If he does not give you a satisfactory answer then tell him you are going to write an article for the newspaper and put his name in it. Then DO IT! Give the police chief and the mayor copies of this email if you wish. In my opinion they are both open to civil liability if they refuse to do something and your children are bitten again.

6 - Sue the neighbor in small claims court. Show him that you take this seriously. You may lose (because you cannot show damages if the child never went to the doctor).

7 - There is no reason to try and maintain a relationship with the neighbor. You have tried to deal with them in a friendly manner and they refused to recognize the problem and fix it. So now they need to learn what their risk exposure is. Send the neighbor a certified letter explaining everything that you are going to do. Tell him about the insurance, the bank, the police chief, the district attorney, the mayor and the newspaper. Let him see that you are serious. Give him 3 or 4 days to respond to you before going out to do these things. Then it really is his decision to let this go on.

8 - The neighbor has to build a fence or enclosure that will keep his dogs in. This means a 6 foot fence or dog kennels or getting an invisible in-ground fence that keeps the dogs back away from the existing fence (which has already proven to be useless). If he will not do that then he needs to get rid of the dogs. It's pretty simple, because he has so many dogs he has created a DOG PACK. This elevates the seriousness of the situation and elevates the pack drive in his animals. This ALWAYS happens when there are more than 3 dogs.

9 - You are facing a very dangerous situation. Your children are at risk here.