awsome cat like reflexes! your way nice to have calmed down first.

First of all - the scene in which you described how you chased off the GSD is 50% hilarious and 50% awesome! I loved it! Nice job.

Steve, I am on this web site to get info on training my GSD pup, meaning I am not an expert....I do, however, have a lot of experience with this type of situation. This is what you do...

First of all DO NOT GET EMOTIONAL! A PERSON WHO'S EMOTIONS ARE OUT OF CONTROL WILL LOSE IN THIS TYPE OF SITUATION! You want to remain in kind of a monotone type of emotion, kind of like the attidude of "I am here to settle this WITHOUT playing games"

Knock on your neighbor's door and say:
_______(neighbor's name) Look, there has been 2 incidents regarding your dog (explain each one). This is has become a safety issue and since your are the owner, I need to know what you are going to do in regards for taking responsibility for your dog. Please, give me an anwser I can feel secure about because right now I am not feeling secure about your dogs behavior.

Let the neighbor talk and give you a solution. If you find he is getting defensive, stop him and say.."I am not here to fight with you, I am here to work out a solution so that I feel my family is safe and we can remain good neighbors".

If he gives you a solution you are happy with, change your emotion to a happy one and thank him, shake his hand and go home.

If he doesn't want to take responsibility and is an ass, then let him know, that for the safety of your family, you will be contacting the proper authorities to register a complaint about the 2 incidents and if anyone gets hurt, from here on out, you will be filing a law suit against his property insurance (still talking in a non-defensive way). Let him know you where hoping it didn't have to this but he is leaving you no choice.

95 percent of the time, if you talk long enough without getting upset and the person understands you are only concerned with resolving the problem and not attacking him, things will work out just fine.

Do not hurt the dog!!!! this is the wrong target. Get a can of pepper spray or something. Your target is the neighbor. I have never had to sue anyone in my life because I have indirectly let the person know that if they didn't come up with a solution for a dangerous situation they were responsible for, they would be paying for it. When someone thinks you are coming after their pocket book, it makes them think twice....the trick is to maintain control of the situation by the way you talk and steer him into wanting to come up with a solution....Good Luck!

I would also appreciate if at least SOMEONE would ask me a question instead of making highly incorrect assumptions about how I was going to handle this situation.

I guess my question is what type of relationship do you value with your neighbors...

. . .I'm 6'5", 210lbs., wear baggy clothing, and am a generally imposing figure. I made the loudest and most guttural noise I could make while charging with my hands out and above shoulder level, to make myself even bigger. . .

It can be hard to suppress anger after an encounter like this that leaves you full of adrenalin, but I like your zen mindset about only using force (physical AND verbal) as a last resort. It sounds like your neighbors, english as a second language or not, got the idea though, so they should be respected for not being total asses and ignoring the situation all together...

Good luck keeping everyone safe from here on out - from the sounds of it, I'd feel more than secure with you as a family bodyguard!

~Natalya

Well Steve.....when you posted this, you said that you kept your month shut after the incident....I don't know about everyone else, but I took this as meaning your neighbor spoke English! You know, someone you could talk to and he would understand. Not knowing he hardly spoke English kind of sheds a different light on how one would handle this...

I still disagree that you need to hurt your neighbor's dog...This is your neighbor's dog not some stray! Why not pepper spray or something along those lines if needed?

And in response to who is going to pay the bills if someone got hurt....their homeowner's policy (or if they are renters, the owner's policy) will cover it, usually up to $500,000.00 depending on the policy.....but hopefully they are handling the situation on their own as we speak and no one will ever get hurt!

Is the white GSD puppy in your picture the dog that was out playing in the front?.....He is very cute!

 Quote: scott garrett

. . .I'm 6'5", 210lbs., wear baggy clothing, and am a generally imposing figure. I made the loudest and most guttural noise I could make while charging with my hands out and above shoulder level, to make myself even bigger. . .

Hmmm, make a lot of sales that way, do ya'?

A ghetto in Northern CA? No way!

I was following this thread as it developed and really liked Anna's approach. . . til I got to the last third of it. My preferred style is a non-confrontational approach and I never commit to what I intend to do "next time." Like others have said, I want to hear how the other party intends to fix the problem. Here, it's a simple no-brainer to control the dog for a minute while opening/closing a gate. If they don't offer anything on their part or won't admit they even have any problem, I'll file that away and use that info the next time I need to decide how to handle another future problem in the future.

But, as in this particular case, regardless of how much effort someone may put into controlling their dog, I'm with Scott - I'm gonna step up and protect my family members even if an "innocent" dog has to get hurt due to an HUA owner.

And, like Connie said, document the incident while it's still fresh. Go visit the neighbors across the street for an informal conversation with them as to what they saw happen.

Mike