I am so ticked. Some people should not be allowed to own pets. Really people, if you can't control your animal, then don't own it.
Today I spent almost an hour picking up garbage from my front lawn. Last night some neighborhood dogs knocked over the garbage can, pulled everything out, and scattered all over my yard.
My youngest was bitten by a neighborhood dog about two weeks ago. Not serious, didn't break the skin, but scared her half to death. I was there, saw it happen, couldn't prevent it in time. I didn't cause any trouble, because she grabbed the dog and picked it up - (it was a dachshund), and it twisted in her arms and nipped her. Well, that was my fault - I should have been supervising a little more closely, not the dog's.
But, I am sick of having to clean up after dogs that I do not own. Dogs that trash my yard, and force me to pick up garbage early in the morning at least once or twice a week.
My only options appear to be either keep my garbage inside, or call animal control and have the dogs picked up.
I hate to punish the dogs for what is really irresponsible ownership. But this is getting out of control. There are at least five dogs, all large (a lab, a husky mix, a dalmatian, and several mixed breeds) that routinely get into my yard and cause havoc. I'm not the only one - there were enough complaints to prompt our homeowner's association to send out a letter reminding everyone that we have a leash law.
Not only do these people not keep their animals on leashes - they don't even have fences! Very few yards in our subdivision have fences, but people don't seem to accept that if you don't have a fence it's a good idea not to have a dog. I learned that lesson myself, when we had a dog and he was stolen or ran away or something because we let him wander about like the rest of the neighborhood did. Never again - I refuse to get another pet unless we have a large enough fenced area for one.
Anyway, I'm frustrated. I love dogs, I just don't love them trashing my yard and biting my kids. Politely asking hasn't worked. Would you be the b*tch then and call animal control?
Posted by Khal Drogo (Member # 6786) on :
Neighborhood teenagers armed with paintball guns under pay can be quite persuasive, as long as the owner isn't around.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Spray your garbage with bug spray. It will not harm the dogs: they will smell it and stay away.
(That, or you could pee on it . . . )
Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
Icarus has got it right. A little pee should keep the dogs away.
Icarus l'a droit. Posted by ElvenWench (Member # 3113) on :
As for pee - well, haven't tried that exactly, but when I had diapers in my garbage a lot that didn't deter them, in fact pee-pee diapers were one thing they seemed to relish shredding. And if you've never had to try to pick up shredded diapers on a cold winter morning, then man, you haven't lived. Did you know the inside of disposable diapers is actually a gelatinous type material, and it isn't easy to pick up out of the grass?
I hoped after potty training was complete, maybe that would slow down, but it's just as non-fun trying to get shredded paper towels, coffee grounds, and eggshells out of the grass.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
I totally share your pain, EW. We've had a problem with stray dogs fora long time around where i live. Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Weird. Bug spray has always worked for me. Maybe a different brand?
(The pee thing was in jest. I can imagine that would make them more inclined to assert their own mark.)
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Trap them in humane animal traps and hold them for ransom.
Bwahahahahahahahaha!
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
quote:My only options appear to be either keep my garbage inside, or call animal control and have the dogs picked up.
Dog-resistant latched trash cans? Or little latched gazebo-ey thing to keep trash cans in near curb? (Eyesore?)
Motion-activated sprinklers at lawn edge (a'la Dear Abby)?
Edit: Good luck!
[ August 31, 2004, 09:39 PM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
Posted by J T Stryker (Member # 6300) on :
quote: Neighborhood teenagers armed with paintball guns under pay can be quite persuasive, as long as the owner isn't around.
Being a teen, I'm willing to bet the teens would do it for free, moving targets are hard to come by.
In my area, (outside of the city limits) if a domesticated animal is causing trouble, all the owner ever sees of the animal again is the collar and dog tags. Unsupervised dogs tend to harass livestock, and when a property owner faces stressed animals or a shallow grave, the grave is the most likely option to be taken, true some aim high and try to scare the dog the first couple of time, but a dog without a leash is illegal, a nuisance, and an easy target.
[ August 31, 2004, 10:04 PM: Message edited by: J T Stryker ]
Posted by Vána (Member # 6593) on :
(Sara, are you still in here?)
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
quote:quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neighborhood teenagers armed with paintball guns under pay can be quite persuasive, as long as the owner isn't around. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Being a teen, I'm willing to bet the teens would do it for free, moving targets are hard to come by.
Just watch out for local ordinances.... my brother and father both play paintball and were using pigeons for target practice in their own backyard... the neighbor, who happens to be a police officer in the next town, came by and told them that technically what they were doing was illegal because (1) the tanks in the guns make them semi-lethal weapons, (2) they weren't on an approved, insured field, and (3) shooting the birds could be considered animal cruelty, especially if/when they hit one (which DB often did... that boy has some AIM!)
As for the dogs and how to deal with them... yes I would call Animal Control. True, the dogs get taken into custody over the incident. However, if they're wearing their tags (and I assume that it's a requirement everywhere that dogs be licensed and tagged?), then the owners can be found and appropriately taken to task for failure to control and contain their pets and for damage to property. If the dogs are not wearing their tags and are in fact someone's pet, then I bet eventually someone is going to go looking for Fido when he doesn't come home and can be tracked down that way. If the dog isn't tagged and doesn't have a family, then he can get taken to a shelter and hopefully adopted by someone who will take care of him.... and in the meantime will get a potentially dangerous stray off the street and away from the children!
Don't get me wrong, I love dogs, I want one of my own again but can't because I live in an apartment. I do, however, completely agree that having a dog is a huge responsibility and if these pet owners can't meet that responsibility, they need to be dealt with before the dogs harm themselves in the process.
Goody
Posted by Zamphyr (Member # 6213) on :
quote: I am so ticked. Some people should not be allowed to own pets. Really people, if you can't control your animal, then don't own it....
Not only do these people not keep their animals on leashes - they don't even have fences! Very few yards in our subdivision have fences, but people don't seem to accept that if you don't have a fence it's a good idea not to have a dog. I learned that lesson myself, when we had a dog and he was stolen or ran away or something...
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Advise your home owner's association that if it happens again, you will be calling animal control to rectify the problem.
Submit the notice in writing and go from there.
Keep a copy of the letter you send to the HOA so you have documentation.
You can also call the police - if there is a leash law and these dogs are running unchecked, the owners are liable for any damage the dogs do, up to and including biting someone.
You might even include that in the letter to the HOA - regarding the potential liability of the HOA for failing to enforce the leash laws.
-Trevor
Posted by Little_Doctor (Member # 6635) on :
Get a guard dog of your own.
The End.
Posted by ElvenWench (Member # 3113) on :
I admit I was an irresponsible dog owner. It's why I don't have one now. I had a pup not too long ago that I found a new home for, because I didn't have a safe place to keep him.
I never had a complaint from anyone about the way my dog behaved. Wonder of wonders, I actually kept him inside at night so he wouldn't run around and get into people's garbage.
I'm not in a good mood anymore. I had to go back out tonight again - I actually heard them this time and ran outside to see them running off, more garbage strewn across the driveway.
Sara, I've tried everything I know how to do. I'm limited in what kind of trash can I use - it's supplied by the trash pickup company. And why should I have to go buy bitter apple? Why is it on me to prevent this from happening rather than the dog owners?
Posted by Yozhik (Member # 89) on :
Irresponsible dog owners annoy me. They make it difficult for responsible dog owners like yours truly to rent apartments, take dogs to parks, etc.
BTW, another thing that annoys me is the people like the lady who used to live across the street from us. Whenever I saw her, she would complain about how our Labs were "just roaming around the yard unfenced." I explained to her a million times about the Invisible Fence and how it works. I pointed out the plastic signal boxes attached to our dogs' collars. I invited her to try to call the dogs across the line. I even showed her where the line crosses our driveway (you can see where we cut through the asphalt to run the wire). But she continued to insist that our dogs were NOT contained. I guess for her, the only way to restrain a dog is to use a chain...
By the way, our dogs never left the property. I wonder how this woman explained that to herself. Maybe she figured that her evil spells were doing the trick...
[ September 01, 2004, 01:56 AM: Message edited by: Yozhik ]
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Oh dear. I hate that too... I alos hate when people mistreat them.
Posted by Don Driscoll (Member # 4488) on :
The crows were always the ones to go for my kid's diapers. We started leaving the trash in the garage until the morning the trashman came. Don't feel too bad, though. Check out this guy:
quote:Sara, I've tried everything I know how to do. I'm limited in what kind of trash can I use - it's supplied by the trash pickup company. And why should I have to go buy bitter apple? Why is it on me to prevent this from happening rather than the dog owners?
You shouldn't have to, and I wasn't thinking it was your fault, EW. I just thought that you were looking for creative suggestions, as you said you couldn't think of any other options.
I can understand just wanting to vent, too. That's okay.
Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
I would vote for calling animal control as well. And for what it counts, I'm with you on the loathing of irresponsible pet owners.
space opera
Posted by MidnightBlue (Member # 6146) on :
Maybe your homeowners association can recommend invisible fences? It's a wire that is buries around the perimeter of the property, and the dog wears a collar that will buzz if they go near, and shock them (mildly) if they go too close. It doesn't take much effort to train the dogs on how it works, and they don't have to ruin their view of the street/neighbor's yards. It would also mean that they could allow their dogs outside at night without them pestering the neighbors.
Posted by AmkaProblemka (Member # 6495) on :
We had a dog that always tried to get out so she could wander around. She learned how to climb over the brick wall section of our fence. For that reason and a couple of others, we found another family for her (with another dog - she liked the company of dogs).
Because we always tried to be responsible and never let her wander around, we became more and more irritated as our neighbors simply let their dog out.
This dog routinely peed and pooped in other neighbor's yards, and would even pee in their garages. When we had a dog, this dog would come over to our house to eat, and was quite thin and extremely hungry. The wierd thing about that is that these people have the most ostentatious house in the neigborhood. On the particular pare of streets we live on, the houses were built by different contractors. The midrange for these houses is probably about 200,000. But this house is likely far close to 350,000 and it isn't because they have extra bedrooms. They have been trying to sell it so they can build another house on another lot they own, but it has been on the market for nearly a year now. It is simply too out of place in the neighborhood. They have an RV, and a boat. I don't mind their having these things or that lifestyle, but why do it in the middle of a neighborhood where you seem to make it obvious that you are more privilaged than those around you?
And why don't you feed your dog well?
The leash laws are pretty strict around here. Finally my husband, after having to shoo this dog out of our yard to get it to stop peeing there, went to the neighbors and told them that if he ever saw the dog outside unsupervised again, he would call animal control. He also asked them to please come and pick up the poop in our yard. No one had yet approached them about this, and they were suprised that it bothered anyone.
Posted by Audeo (Member # 5130) on :
Regarding the invisible fence, I own an australian cattle dog (a mid-sized breed), and when he was a puppy, about 6 months old, we decided to get the invisible fence rather than build a wood fence. We followed the training instructions, but the dog absolutely didn't care. He would stand on one side of the line listening to the beeping warning sound that he was about to get shocked, then he'd jump across it and yelp, and off he went. Increasing the voltage didn't work either. We ended up having to build a fence because we felt we were being cruel by having him shock himself several times a day, not to mention he was still wandering around the neighborhood.
Posted by ElvenWench (Member # 3113) on :
Well, I may have been looking for creative solutions before, but I'm not now. Last night was the last straw.
I called the police this morning. They told me that I was not the first complaint and that the owners had already been warned, so the cop said they'll be contacting county animal control for me to have the dogs picked up.
I did feel bad about it, for about five minutes - the time it took for me to walk outside and see all the trash I missed last night. Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Audeo, Australian Cattle dogs, are extremely "pain tolerant" dogs. They were bred to work extremely rough cattle. Some dogs respond better to electronic stimulation than others. It doesn't surprise me that the ACD was able to run through it given their general pain resistance.
Ideally you would be able to use or borrow an e-collar to see how your dog responds to the electronic stimulu before installing Invisible fencing. But Invisible fencing sales people aren't going to tell you that.
AJ
(Oh and Belle, dog lover though I am, I think you absolutely did the right thing about calling the police. Running loose, the dogs themselves are going to end up hurt eventually, because of their stupid owners.)
[ September 01, 2004, 02:24 PM: Message edited by: BannaOj ]
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Thank you AJ, that makes me feel a bit better - I respect your opinion on all things dog-like (and other things too) so it makes me breathe a little easier to know that you think it was a good idea.
It's tough because I like these dogs, I mean they are friendly, good natured animals (like I said before, the bite was a defensive nip and not the dog's fault, but mine, if you have a four year old and a dog it's the parent's responsibility to make sure neither party gets hurt)
Posted by Yozhik (Member # 89) on :
quote:It would also mean that they could allow their dogs outside at night without them pestering the neighbors.
Our Seven loves this aspect of the fence. In the summer she enjoys sleeping outside in the cool grass, plus being outside at night enables her to fulfill her self-assumed mission of monitoring our neighborhood for anything unusual.
(A one-dog Neighborhood Watch, that's her.)
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
quote:Well, I may have been looking for creative solutions before, but I'm not now. Last night was the last straw.
I called the police this morning. They told me that I was not the first complaint and that the owners had already been warned, so the cop said they'll be contacting county animal control for me to have the dogs picked up.
This may sound bad, but YAY!!!!!!!!!!! I do feel sorry for the pups who are going to be taken away, but I think they'll end up in better and safer homes than where they are now (assuming AC hasn't already come to collect them). I just hope that the dogs weren't emotionally damaged through this. And I hope the humans are required to go through some kind of education program and maybe make restitution before being allowed to have a dog again.
Situations like this make me wonder if we're giving licenses to the wrong creature in the mix and for the wrong reason. Maybe the humans should be required to prove that they're capable of and willing to do what is necessary to appropriately care for the furbaby, whether it be food or shelter or medical or transportation or whatever.
Goody
Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
I think calling the police was right. You do not deserve to pick up trash from your yard all the time.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Nothing has been done yet, and no surprise, I'm in a mostly rural county with only one animal control officer. I'm probably not their highest priority.
I don't want the dogs to necessarily be given to new homes, but if they're picked up and the owners have to go down to animal control to collect their animals maybe they'll take the leash law more seriously.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Good luck Belle.
Frankly, it's better you called now then to wait until something worse happened.
-Trevor
Posted by jacama (Member # 6291) on :
I think that there should be a dog law that mimics the graffiti laws in some areas: if a kid is caught defacing property, the parents are required to personally appear to repaint and clean-up the damaged area and pay for any structural damage.
Wouldn't it be a hoot to have your hoity-toity neighbors out picking up your yard every morning?
I bet they'd get their dogs under control in a hurry after the first time they cleaned brown banana peels and coffee grounds out of your grass. Posted by Puppy (Member # 6721) on :
[ September 02, 2004, 01:17 AM: Message edited by: Puppy ]
Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :
quote: By the way, our dogs never left the property. I wonder how this woman explained that to herself. Maybe she figured that her evil spells were doing the trick... [Mad]
You could have offered to let her put the collar on and walk out of your yard. Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
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