Hello,
A man has been seen feeding my ex-wifes labrodor from the alley, on three occasions. I am concerned because my two teenage daughters live with her and there is an alley in her backyard (with six foot chain link fence) with large parking lots and high rise buildings bordering a inner city loop highway. The stranger has been confronted on two occasions and holds his ground stating that the lab is being neglected (she is not a thin dog). There are other dogs in backyards on the same street but to our knowledge he is not feeding any other dogs. He has only been seen during the day and the last occasion was on Thanksgiving day.

I have a personal protection GSD but am hesitant to place her at my ex-wifes house because I don't want to stress her. I purchased her about a year ago and do not want her to think that she has new owners again (she is probably six-seven years old). I also have a friend who is giving away a one year old female GSD (Molly) that is OB trained but have heard that Molly may not be good with other dogs;one of the reasons they are giving her away is because she fights with a male GSD that she lives with currently.

Needless to say I have already searched the sex offenders network and asked my ex-wife to look at the pictures from offenders that are polled from her zip code. I have also asked her not to feed the lab in the early morning hours. My ex does not currently have a alarm system because she did not make payments after I paid for installation and the first few months (believe me I have had enough anger from her to last a lifetime but blood is thicker than water, especially when it comes to your daughters). My questions are this:

Is there a way to get the lab to become desensitized to this individual who is feeding her? I have began teasing her and playing tug from the allwy were the stranger feeds her.

Would my dog have any serious emotional issues from my taking her to another location for a few days at a time? What good would a few days do if he could be watching?

I have read that I can introduce the free dog (Molly) to the lab by mixing turns with kenneling one dog(inside) while the other is outside, so that they can become accustomes to each others scent, and then take them to a neutral territory for formal introductions.

This problem has been really pestering me for weeks and I am needing any kind of answers or critcisms so I can make decisions and be done with this already. Needless to say if and when I run into this guy (I live ten minutes away)some thing is going to happen.

I apologize if this does not belong in this forum...

Call the police! Ask for a restraining order of protection because your ex-wife and daughters are fearful for their well being.

Glenn

I'm a little confused as to exactly what you are asking. What do you want the dog to do? Do you want the dog to not accept food? Or do you want the dog to bark at the guy even if food is offered? Do you want to remove the risk of your dog getting poisoned by not having the dog exposed to this guys dog feeding? What do you expect to achieve by adding Molly to the family? Please clarify.

 Quote:

Call the police! Ask for a restraining order of protection because your ex-wife and daughters are fearful for their well being.

Glenn

Can you issue a restraining order for someone you don't know, don't know the name of and can't find? I'd call the cops next time you see the guy, or call them now and explain the situation, they might be able to have cops do drive by's of your neighborhood more regularly to watch for suspicious people, and it might help in the future when you call them when he's actually there.

I'd be worried about the man feeding the dog to be friendly to the dog in order to gain easy entry to the household without the dog alerting to his presence.. I think this was in the news awhile back; a guy fed some dogs on the property, entered the property w/o the dogs alerting, and it all went downhill from there. Call me paranoid, but I don't think it's a coincidence he's feeding your ex's lab seeing how there are two teenage girls there as well.

Get the cops, stop keeping the dog outside unattended, and seriously get the cops. See if you can rent Will Rambeau's Fetz for a week.. and Will himself too! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I would inform the police . Though each police department has different protocals on how they should handle this , if it were me getting the call I would take a report and make sure someone working sex crimes cases and burglary cases gets a copy of it . In my city it wouldn't be a crime but due to his behavior it's certainly something we should keep track of and try to indentify this party because of it .

If a report is taken I would get the case number and try to get a copy of the report to show other officers if he shows up again .

If he shows up again I would call the police and get pictures of him and/or video tape him if possible . Make sure he doesn't know you are doing this though .

Be patient if you live in a busy city they may not get there in time but keep calling . I don't recommend confronting him though .

Also , you can buy slats that you can weave into the chainlink fence that would make it difficult for him to feed the dog .


Ed's Comments :

David - pay attention to what Jim is saying her. He is a K9 handler that knows what he is talking about

Ed has an article on his website about poison proofing your dog that may be helpful. Here is the link http://www.leerburg.com/poison.htm I would be very concerned about him feeding this dog through the fence. If the dog is in good health and he isn't doing it with any other dogs in the neighborhood, I would be very concerned. That isn't normal and I personally know of several sexual assault cases in which the perp used similiar methods to ease access into the home of his victims. I'd say your concerns are valid and I hope you have a positive resolution to the situation.

This guy may also be getting ready to steal the dog. Keeping the dog confined when you are not around is the best thing to do. And definetly call the police whenever you see this guy again.

I have been very concerned to the point of losing sleep and waking up at 5am to go and drive by their house. I am a professional firefighter and am aware of why he could be doing this. The police have been called on each occasion and have taken reportsl, but they show up to late. My ex-wife is ready to take his picture but this could be tricky and I told her to be very careful and call 911 first. Once this guy is identified, I could possibly get a restraining order if he continues to trespass, but I am not sure. As to a few of the questions that surface: I would like a dog that would not take kindly to strangers approaching the fence. I don't think he is interested in poisoning the dog because she would probably of been killed already. He either is a planning something or is truly a dog-lover. I can't bear thinking in the negative but now that I have heard some of you speak I may just take my dog over their for now and worry about other things later...it is not easy for me because I know my daughters will not give much attention to my dog so I will have to go over their every day...

The purpose of my post is to see if there is anything I can do to the lab to make her more aggressive to strangers approaching the fence (I began teasing her at the fence and playing tug with her); and the option of placing a new one year old alpha female with the lab, which may be time consuming; or place my dog over at her house which brings up the issue of how it could stress my dog being in a new environment.

Again, I believe that my dilemma brings out one of the most primordial fears that humans may have, insecurity. Insecurity is one of the very reasons that I love having a GSD; I have special circumstances happening here that involve legal issues, and protection dog aspects; I think it is impossible to seperate the two, no matter what the circumstance, period. I am looking for help and consider any advice helpful because it may open up possibilities that I have not considered.

can you put up another kind of fence and gate that prevents this kind of access? also put padlocks and chains on the gates?

maybe under the circumstances it would make sense for you to move in with your ex and daughters for a week or two, and bring your dog along. keep the lab inside, and your dog outside for a while.

i never leave my dog unattended outside for any reason. it's always a bad idea.