Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Angela Noirfalis

The gate is locked

In this situation, for me, that gate would always always always be locked. Maybe automatic-locking.

Not exaggerating.

Best way to avoid all escalation.

Didn't we just have a post recently about boys climbing over their fence into a neighbor's yard to get their ball back, only to be attacked by the neighbor's rotties?

I'd not only lock the gate but I would go have a NICE talk with the parents and stress to them you are happy to return the toys once a week/month but you can't have their kids coming in your yard whether through a gate or over a fence. I wouldn't make it sound like your dogs are mean or will bite, but that you are just erring on the side of caution and wouldn't want ANYTHING to happen to their kids or your dogs. Take cookies. Be nice. But I'd want to make sure the parents know about the situation. JMHO... I know some folks may not agree with that advice.

My 6 ft stockade fence gates are ALL key padlocked on the inside & warning signs are posted on the gates. They are NEVER opened by mistake or left open in error. I am religious about this, due to the dogs that I have. I won't risk their well-being. I don't socialize my dogs with people in the neighborhood.

Fortunately I only have to deal with 2 neighbors with very young kids,that are never out alone & have acres of woods behind the houses on my side of the street. Backside of fences are also posted.

Personally, I would speak to the parents & then I would call have my attorney send them a registered letter regarding the trespassing & if the trespassing continues I'd call the athorities. I don't want my dogs put in jeopardy of being PTS because someone can't control their kids.

ETA...my dogs are not antisocial...but I don't want to take any chances of kids or anyone for that matter, coming into the yard with my dogs out. They usually kick up enough of a ruckes that most people wouldn't be that stupid as to come in. But you never know. There are alot of stupid people in the world.

The gate is always locked now i should say,,and his parents do know about it. As we told them they break my fence they pay for it. Just dont want kids in my yard period. They vandalised my pool two years ago, onw reason for the 6x8 fence. And my dogs dont like there schnauzer(mini) it broke thru my other fence i had and well lets say we paid the vet bill. But they usd to have mastiffs so they know the problem with kids.

Wow, great neighbors you have there. That's awful. If I had kids next door that vandealized ANYTHING in my yard...I'd now be calling the cops, nevermind the attorney or talking to the parents.

Sounds like the parents aren't too bright or dilligent either. It's got to be a real PITA to have neighbors like that.

I'm lucky that I get on well with my neighbors & they have dogs, too. They want their dogs & kids safe, as much as I do mine.

 Quote: jamie craig

 Quote: sheila buckley

Ignore, forward momentum, and trample all who enter your space. Kind of like getting off a train in Rome during rush hour.

this works REALLY well. Pretend you don't hear them, just dodge and go (really helps your heel command to teach your dog to suddenly change direction and speed with you). That's how I solved the issue with some of the most obnoxious people around here....silent charging treatment!

I agree with these two! You send a big message with your body language and (lack of) eye contact. I see people looking at my dogs out the corner of my eye but I never slow down, make eye contact or smile. They rarely persist. And if they do, they deserve the firmer verbal, "please don't approach my dog" in a serious tone. I am, however, in an area with a lot of service dogs and I think people are used to not approaching dogs with vests on.

Kind of off topic, my 5 yr old male is a huge malinois (thanks, KNPV) and 99% of adults are wary of him at first sight. I have never had an adult walk up to touch him uninvited. However, I have been fascinated by the totally opposite response from children. Children consistently show no fear of him. He went to work at a church with kids and the elderly his since 12 weeks and he's actually shockingly stable and social to those groups. A couple times we were at public relations events and children who were "scared of dogs" just made friends with him. Goes to show you that kids and dogs are good judges of character!

Well, I can relate to this problem very well. Have a peek at the dog in my signature. LOL Most people have never seen a Briard, and the black, cropped ones, in particular, are very striking-looking animals.

This bitch's uncle was my learning ground. I would try to find remote parking lots to train....people would drive over. If we walked down a sidewalk, cars actually stopped in the street and people would pour out to see him.

There is a solution that I stumbled on which no one has mentioned....a basket muzzle! I initially did this to quell my own anxiety that he could potentially harm someone...an anxiety which travelled down the end of the lead. It had a wonderful side-effect, however! Even though the basket muzzle made him safer for people to approach, they stopped approaching!

Voila....problem solved.

I got a plastic one (from this site, I believe) and snipped off the small grate in the front so that I could easily feed him through it.

If I were to do it over again, rather than black, I'd find one in a bright neon color so people could see it from even further away.

Tracy

Lucky over here no-one approaches my dogs in fact they usually get well out of the way, they may comment on them (usually good) but never come near!

Melissa- I know what you mean! Kids come running as soon as they see Vader...I thought they would be scared of him since he's so big and generally not very friendly looking. Vader LOVES kids but he is big and can get a little too crazy at times...don't want someone getting hurt so I don't let any kids pet him. Plus, I've raised my kids on how to interact and approach dogs...I've found that the majority of kids around here have no clue.

Tracy- Your dog is gorgeous! I can see why people approach you but I understand how annoying it is too. I don't mind talking to people when I'm not busy...heck I love to talk about Belgians I just don't want to interrupt my training session to do so. I know you probably feel the same

Thanks, Olivia!

Well, aside from being unable to use toys as a reward, the basket muzzle works great. I just checked, and the style I have is not available on this site. If you google "italian plastic basket muzzle", you should be able to find one that can be tinkered with to make it easy to feed through.

Good luck!

OK - just general thoughts here after reading the thread. Olivia - in the end - don't police dogs have to be social, friendly and approachable by the public? Dont police officers take their dogs to schools to educate and do demos for the public and allow strangers to touch their dogs? If you plan on walking your dog in public, it is your responsibility to control your dog - unfortunately - and that means if there is a chance the dog will bite - then he shouldn't be walked in large crowds. When obtaining your BH in schutzhund - in real events - the dogs are REQUIRED to go to a public place and walk calmly and quietly through crowded public areas and show no aggression.

I would think you would want to make sure your dog is approachable by people and well socialized to activity of society. If you plan on taking the dog in public you should not have to worry about whether he is going to bite or not. Dogs work in muzzles in protection work, so if you're that worried, then maybe this is part of the solution. If people approach, say that dog is in training and do not run at strange dogs, but I would think you would want to encourage the events of REAL LIFE situations. If you don't want people petting then don't put yourself in that situation.

I have 20 plus years in veterinary experience and have worked dogs for over 40 years in different situations. It is very scary when a dog comes in to work on and you have to worry about being bitten in the face because the dog was not socialized. We used to see all the Phoenix Police dogs and they were always wonderful to work on - they have to serve as ambassadors for the police dept.

Again - just my opinion - but what's the difference of walking a dog in public and passing someone and the dog lunging and biting because something startled him and people walking over?

I know I'll get alot of diagreements but when you work a dog in public you better have really good $1,000,000 coverage to protect yourself, especially if you can't trust your dog.