That is great advice...I may opt for this and am going to run it by my ex-wife. I had not thought of this...thanks

As far as another type of fence, I think the cost would be prohibitive for me at the moment. I am sure she does not have the money. You never leave your dog in your back yard unattended?

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You never leave your dog in your back yard unattended?

nope.

too many loonytunes around. i live in a small town where lots of people leave their doors unlocked, but there are stalkers, sex offenders, and dogs have been poisoned and stolen in my neighborhood. my next door neighbor (he's the landlord, he doesn't live there) actually threw a rock at my dog when he thought i wasn't there. i saw him. i find fish heads, beef bones, and pieces of bread left in my yard, presumably for my dog. it's not safe for the dog.

I may be missing something here, but has anyone just came right out and told this guy you don't want anyone feeding the dog? There's always the possibility that he just likes the dog. Even if he has bad intentions, if he knows your aware of him, he could back off. Course you could always just shoot him and drag him into the yard. That would be my option of choice. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

He has been confronted on two occasions. On one of the occasions he stated that the dog was being neglected, which she is because my daughters don't play with her, but the lab is over weight. On the other occasion the neighbor told him what he was doing was very wrong and that the police were called; the nieghbor also said "people like you get shot". On both occasions the stranger stood his ground. On that second occasion it was my ex-brother-in-law who spoke with him and he had the impression that the stranger was genuinely concerned with the dog...but my ex-brother-in-law is a very passive individual who has not been on the streets in the big city like myself (8 years as a paramedic, 10 as a firefighter)

I am getting my concealed/carry license next month...
I also just wrote an email to my city council member telling him that the police were not doing much and that I could not afford to wait for the catastrophic theory to take place...

I am going to probably place my protection dog over there and stay there a week or so. The only thing I don't like about this option is that this creep has to live nearby and could wait it out to see when I leave, so I will also probably get that one year old female and take my chances and see if the lab and her get along. Anyone out there had any expirience introducing adult dogs? I have researched it but am looking for actual expirience

Two adult females may be a handful trying to get along. If you try and introduce them, be sure it's on neutral territory. That way, there is less reason for either of them to be defensive. It sounds like this guy is a real pain. I would take his photo and make it very obvivous what you are doing........THEN I'd shoot him.
The fence idea is pretty good. Putting up a hot wire (stock wire) would keep your dog away from the fence also, and be lots cheaper.

hotwire...another great idea. I did not know that females were difficult.

David, I have a lady in my neighborhood that sounds like the guy you mention. She's into cat rescue, but she also feeds many dogs in the area and just hangs out with them if she feels they are neglected. The woman knows how many toys each dog has and how often they're played with. She tells me who she thinks is neglecting their dogs <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> She's bipolar, but basically harmless. Once she called me and told me she "took custody" of two dogs that lived next door to her because the owners neglected them by not giving them enough attention. She asked me to hold the dogs for her. I made her return the dogs immediately, which she did. While the guy is probably harmless, he may get it in his head to "take custody" of your wifes dog, and if there's nobody around to tell him that's a bad idea he might put the dog into rescue. That's what the lady behind me was going to do. Try keeping the dog in the house if nobody's home. I wouldn't leave your protection dog there because if he gets bit, your wife is liable, and it's forseeable.

Liable for what? If he gets bitten it means he's trespassing - just make sure there's warning signs up. I'm pretty sure it's legal for a dog to bite trespassers where I live, there's a whole statute about protection dogs.... I know it's different everywhere but this is from the Florida statutes:

767.04 "...However, any negligence on the part of the person bitten that is a proximate cause of the biting incident reduces the liability of the owner of the dog by the percentage that the bitten person's negligence contributed to the biting incident..."

767.12 (1)(b) "A dog shall not be declared dangerous if the threat, injury, or damage was sustained by a person who, at the time, was unlawfully on the property or, while lawfully on the property, was tormenting, abusing, or assaulting the dog or its owner or a family member. No dog may be declared dangerous if the dog was protecting or defending a human being within the immediate vicinity of the dog from an unjustified attack or assault."

That said... 1) I wouldn't ever leave my dog outside unsupervised, even if I had a fenced in yard, because I don't trust people enough to not try and mess with him. 2) Unless your protection dog is very much poison proof'd and you're sure the guy isn't gonna shoot the protection dog or something to that effect, I wouldn't risk losing my dog over some idiot that's going around feeding dogs.

The statutes protect the dog from being declared dangerous, but it doesn't stop the guy from bringing a civil suit against the wife. Whether he would win or not, or if the case would be dismissed is the question. Even if it could be proven the guy was trying to steal the lab, and that he was acting criminally, you still have to worry about your home owners insurance getting dropped, and then the hassle of going to court. I just figured it's best to avoid the whole situation if possible. JMO.

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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

She should still be able to set it to alarm if someone breaks in; it just won't call out when it does go off, but the person breaking in doesn't know that.



To my knowledge, IF you have posted No Trespassing signs on the fence, and someone enters the yard and is bitten or shot or whatever, then you cannot be held liable because there were signs clearly posted.



The hot wire is a good idea. I'd put it on both sides of the fence. LoL