Nuke them from the orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

ive been using an airhorn...stops pretty much anything dead in its tracks. If you come within striking range I don't even hesitate to give them the kick of their life. In my neighborhood the problem with strays is so bad that I can't even go on morning runs, I wear my boots and walk, its almost not even worth it, we get charged by a stray at least once a week. I will say this though, the ones that I have kicked when they see me, they go the other way now. I will stand there hit the airhorn if they keep running and their head goes down i down my dog behind me, and catch it right off guard with a powerful kick to the face, straight on to prevent them from biting my foot. The shock of what happened to them seems to teach them not to charge a calm unafraid person.

I notified animal control of how severe our problem is, and I was informed that there is nothing they can do about it, and there is a bigger problem with stray cats. I don't think my neighbors are scared to walk outside because of cats, its the constant influx of stray dogs due to more and more owners with inadequate fencing.

The irony of the issue is, I have been threatened with a ticket for not having my dog on a leash, so I have to keep my dog on a leash, but they won't go after the people who have stray dogs constantly harassing people. several of my neighbors have now gotten their concealed weapons license, and it was just a few weeks ago that a pair of pitbull puppies some parents gave to their 16 girl, that constantly get out, hide and ambush people, have been reported biting at least a dozen people including one of my tenants, were shot by our neighbor. He was walking with his wife and 3 year old son, they came out charged, and he didn't even hesitate. After the first one went down, supposedly the second was not even deterred, and was shot as well. These two didn't stop for the pepper spay, airhorns, a guy with a pvc pipe, sticks, physical force. There had been over 20 reports about issues with these animals and their owners on file before the incident.

Animal control, and the police threatened to charge him with a negligent firearms discharge, and the family is trying to sue. The amount of people who are willing to go testify about the issues with those dogs will prevent any of that happening however.

I feel that there must be a better way to deal with some of these troubled neighborhoods. I am moving to a different state on thursday however, so hopefully my new neighborhood will not have these issues!

I love and dislike my neighborhood. I made friends with the neighbors pit who is actually friendly, while she was tied to a tree in his yard(which is where she was when the other pit owners robbed his house)She is rarely tied anymore.That ended me up in court for 3 days since I called the police. The robbers dog I sneakily tried to make friends with when she was still young and left out in the yard alone, but even then she wouldn't get near me. The police have been called on it when it was keeping the elderly ladies across the street from getting in or out of their car. They came out, inspected the wrong house, and wrote up a report saying the dogs were fenced. I didn't call in on that one.

I have heard but not seen the friendly pit meet up with another neighbor walking her dog right after we got back from a walk. I couldn't see it, but it did not sound good. That didn't faze them even though I heard them come outside. SHe is still left out without supervision.I think maybe another talk may be in order.

I will check out all the items here. I really appreciate all the feedback.

This is probably a dumb question, but. I have a bunch of dog training videos from leerburg. training, dealing with aggressive dogs, pack structure, etc. is there any good compilation of learning about dog interactions. How to read body language when dogs greet, play, etc.?

 Quote: julie sloan

This is probably a dumb question, but. I have a bunch of dog training videos from leerburg. training, dealing with aggressive dogs, pack structure, etc. is there any good compilation of learning about dog interactions. How to read body language when dogs greet, play, etc.?

Have you ever read any of Patricia McConnell's books? Her book "The Other End of the Leash" is a great primer on the differences between human and dog body language. I'd highly recommend it!

A woman was out walking a cat on a leash close to where I live and a pitbull ran over and picked up the cat. She tried to release the cat but was unable so she went back to her house and got her husbands gun and shot and killed the dog. The police came because she unloaded a gun in the city. The police blamed her for killing the dog and said the pitbull had broken the leash. She received some cuts and scratches from the encounter.

THanks Mara.

I do want to say that as a whole I like pits. I have a friend who has some very nice dogs. I have seen some very nice staffs at the dog shows. I didn't want this to become all bad stuff about them. They unfortunately just happen to be the dogs I meet in either direction. They could just as well be rotties, or sheperds, or big mutts. And it has been a mixed bag of what we have met here and there, like I'm sure it is for everyone who encounters dogs who give them issues while walking or training out somewhere.

I felt the same way about the pits,they seem to be the breed of choice in some places.

I don't have a problem with pits, 9 out of 10 times after you hear about something and then meet the owners of these dogs you understand immediately. In my town every college kid has a pitbull/lab/german shepherd and they live in a tiny apartment, and then throw them all together in the dog park and consider that sufficient. I wont train within 1 mile of that place as there is always some out of control animal running around.

the other are parents or other random people that think its cute to buy 2 or more pitbull puppies and watch them get a long, it might be fine in their house, but once they get out on the streets, thats where the problem is.

So true.

We have someone building a house behind us, and the first thing they said, and they haven't even moved in yet, is that they want to get a rottie too.

I coached them as much as I could on how much time I spend with him, and how much of a responsibility it is to make them a canine good citizen and not the bane of the neighborhood. And how important temperment is, and special insurance, and and and.

The man who is moving his family in used to live beside us with his dad and they let all their dogs run, unneutered, when they got sick, they died, and they came to our house before we were fenced in to get drinks out of the birdbath when it was hot and they were forgotten and had no water.

I cringe to think of them getting a dog. hopefully the new wife has some sense and a sense of responsibility. The more we talk here in this thread, the more I start to agree with my husband that he would like to move. Country yes, great neighborhood, not so much anymore.

I need to figure out how to put my boys pic in my signature. I love the pics of everyone's dogs.