Will, I don't know if it would work, but maybe if you put some fear into them for their own hides, just maybe it could work. I've tried the other way, reporting, battling, etc, and it didn't do anything positive for the situation except start a Hatfield and McCoy type feud that still lives on today. The prospect of befriending ignorant, self centered people isn't appealing, but since I didn't try that, and the way of reporting didn't work, I often wonder if I had handled the situation differently, if it could have been resolved more positively. The dog I mentioned has been declared dangerous, and ordered to live in a dept. of agriculture designed kennel (cement floor, walls, fenced on all sides and top), ordered to be in muzzle when out, and muzzled when taken from house to kennel, but guess what? The owners don't follow the court order. There's nothing we can do about it except wait for the next victim, then the dog will be put to sleep. But someone has to get hurt again.

You do raise good points. I didn't realize what an uphill battle it would be to get someone to keep their dog contained, especially being that it's vicious. It sounds like common sense, the dog is wandering and attacking, the law takes care of it and puts an end to it. One would assume, but it didn't work out that way at all <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Had the intial victims reported the dog and owners it would have been resolved quicker, but can you guarantee that everyone will report it? One would think everyone is sue happy, but not in my area, they are ignorant. Now even though it was resolved in court, the owners STILL don't follow the restrictions put on them. People in my neighborhood are scared of these people. If the people Beverly mentioned are watching a dog for a criminal, maybe they are the intimidating types too? Or maybe they are just ignorant because they didn't have a proper upbringing and nobody taught them how to be decent.

If education and kindness doesn't work, then it's time for plan b, but if Beverly's area is like mine, plan b isn't promising <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> I do think the laws are good to prevent malicious prosecution from people who hate dogs, but it hurts people who really have a problem dog in the area, and have other neighbors scared to get involved to do something about it. With the last person who was attacked and filed suit against the owners of the rottweiler x, I had to BEG them to do it.

Yes the going to the authority route isn't an option. We tried that last year to no avail with just all the neighbor dogs running the neighborhood loose. There is a leash law but they do nothing to enforce it.
This isn't just these dogs that run loose, it's the just about the whole neighborhood. When we first moved her we had another shepherd and the black lab attacked her in our yard. The next time Meisha seen the lab in her yard, she attacked her and held her by the throat til we called her off. She let go as soon as my husband told her and the lab wasn't hurt but the lab never bothered her again. It seems if you let your dogs run loose the lab has no problem eventually accepting the dog, but since our dogs are 1. on a leash 2. tied on a line or 3. out only with either my husband and I present, she (lab) hates them. Each dog running the neighbor hood feels my dogs are prime targets to attack since they are always under control and they are free to attack and run if it gets too rough and this really ticks me off to no end. That is why when I got Elea I started reporting them all to animal control, which had no effect what so ever.
Now, while I have a fenced in back yard that my dog can play in, when we are in the front yard, I don't see any reason my dog shouldn't be able to be in the front with us. Or for that matter, since the back yard is all shaded, why she can't lay in the sun while tied in her front yard alone to enjoy a bone without being harrased by the neighborhood hoods. But I guess I'm the minority here that believes their animals should be controled and trained.
And it's not just our neighbor hood dogs, there's a pack of beagles from around the corner and down the street that come thru the woods behind our home to our neighborhood as well as other dogs running loose that don't belong to this neighborhood. I truely feel like I"m waging an uphill battle.
Had I known it was like this in this town, we wouldn't have bought a home here.
Sorry again about the long rant. I don't normally ramble but was rattled by the neighbor's dog coming after Elea in MY front yard again today while we were outside taking down Christmas decorations. Elea is fine, but I sure as hell don't want her becoming dog aggressive because of ignorant people.

Your neighborhood sounds exactly like mine. Get used to it. I've had to adapt, and get really good at spotting dogs coming. I feel for you. I wish there was a simple answer to the problem but there's not. I've found that in the five years I've been here, the last two has shown a decrease in loose dogs compared to when we got here, if that gives you any hope. Maybe the dogs have been struck by cars, or maybe the owners were renters and moved. I don't know...

I've had some luck with some people by talking to them and making it out that my dogs are rude for not wanting to tolerate their loose dogs (reverse psychology) and it's worked with some. I don't know if it's because my dogs are bigger than most though. With others I've had to get snotty with them and break things down into terms they understand, and it's worked with some, backfired with others as I mentioned above. That's more of my husbands forte.

Maybe you can scare the pitbull foster owners into thinking they could be imprisoned if they don't raise the puppy & mother right and they turn into a dogs like those in the pitbull attacks site. It's a bad situation and I wish you the best of luck. You're going to need it.

One thing worth mentioning is, there are a lot of pitbulls in my area. More than I've ever seen in my life, but not one of the attacks against my dogs has ever been by a pitbull.

here's two more ideas:

talk to the other neighbors and go to animal control and the city council as a neighborhood group.

all of you write letters to the local paper. this recently happened in my community, (i wrote letters, too), and i would never have believed it, but the scofflaws now have their dogs on leashes and are keeping them from running at large! community education seems to have really worked.

the rash of letters precipitated a rash of enterprise stories by the local paper, which alerted the mayor and city council, and caused a rash of meetings, which got even more press coverage. i'm amazed, but it seems to have worked. it used to be that 2 out of three, or even 4 out of five dogs you encountered were off leash or at large. now it seems to be the exception rather than the rule. hope it lasts!!

lol, I don't know what other "neighbors I'd ask since about every one of them let their dogs run loose, that's half the problem right there. I just don't understand why people get pets then do nothing with them including pay the least bit of attention to them.

"Now even though it was resolved in court, the owners STILL don't follow the restrictions put on them. People in my neighborhood are scared of these people."

Video tape the individuals not following the retrictions and use the tape as you see fit with the neighbors or the authorities.
Good Luck
Terry

What about finding a rescue that takes in pitbulls? And working with animal control so they can obtain the dog, since a rescue org. can't do that.

Please forgive me if I'm jumping in where someone has already sugested something, I read through this pretty fast.
These people have a large lab that runs free and pit pup that runs free and a female pit chained in the yard, Right?
They also have a little kid, right?

These are the type of people that get kids killed !

and make me angry !

Does your town or city have any leash laws? or mayby the need for a dog Lic. ? Like the idea of trying to buy the dogs and then sell them, but it sound like it may be past that point and the dogs even though sweet right now are headed for pack behavior and will be blamed for being bad dogs.
Honestly right now the one to watch IMO is the large lab running free chasing cars. They can be quite mean and are very strong.
People get the idea of the lab as these great family or hunting dogs and they are but they are very smart and have a very high drive and if let go running free they are not the tip. breed most people think they are.
The Pit's would not be my greatest concern at least not yet.
IMO

Terry, over the summer the guy was being walked by the dog down the street without a muzzle and I got a picture. I waved the camera at him and smiled <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Unfortunately the pic didn't come out clear and I didn't do anything with it. Just the fact that the guy thinks I got the picture has deterred him from being walked by the dog on the street again. The problem left is that they let the dog out in their backyard without a muzzle, with parts of the fence falling down. They have a truck parked in front of the section of the fence in the worst shape, I guess to hold it up. You can only see the dog loose in the backyard from the people across the streets house, and the owner of that house promised to get a picture but hasn't yet. I'm not begging him again, he's the same guy who filed suit with the town after the dog attacked him. I just don't care anymore. I did everything I could, now I just make sure my family is safe. If the other neighbors didn't and don't want to help, they can take the next bite as far as I'm concerned. The dog is going to kill someone. With all of the attacks that happened, the owners were there and able to pull the dog off immediately. One day they're not going to be there to do that and that's when someone is going to be killed.

Alice those are good ideas and I'm really happy for you that they worked! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Wouldn't work where I am. Like Beverly's neighbors, most here let their dogs run free and wouldn't go along with raising that issue because they're guilty. The ones without dogs or that are responsible just don't want to get involved. Surely you haven't forgotten what life in NY was like so quickly? lol <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> If I did talk to the town council myself, they would just kick the issue back to the dog warden where it belongs, and his hands are pretty much tied for reasons I've stated in other posts. By the time they get to the neighborhood if they don't see anything they can't do anything. If I was able to get the small local free paper to publish a story, if anyone read it, they would be the people letting the dogs run free.

I don't know why it is, but black lab mixes were always the most vicious dogs loose that I remember when I was a kid. You'd figure they'd be the safest, but for some reason crossing them makes a lot of them unstable.

 Quote:

I don't know why it is, but black lab mixes were always the most vicious dogs loose that I remember when I was a kid. You'd figure they'd be the safest, but for some reason crossing them makes a lot of them unstable.

Yes, the only dog I was ever attacked by (at age 15) was a black Lab. I shoved my (gloved) fist in its mouth and grabbed a piece of 2x4 & whacked it, as a result of which it had to be put down <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />
The owner was v. angry, but my father 'put him straight' <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />