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I live in a small town in eastern Oregon that has a real problem with at large dogs. I know this happens in cities, and suburbs too. But I've noticed it more in rural areas even in town here some people think it's the thing to do to just let their dogs go wherever. After all, it's the country don't ya know. I'm so sick of it!!! I've volunteered to walk my elderly neighbor's 11 yr old Dachshund 3 times a week, and we are loose dog magnets. Most of those are aggressive. There was one large hairy dog that came out at us snarling, growling, barking, and getting very close, like 5-6 ft away I thought we were goners. I yelled, and screamed at the thing telling it to go home. Believe it, or not it did back down. I was scared to death, and shaking. The lady across the street who has a very sweet dog said that one was a bad dog, and shouldn't be out of it's yard.
I carry pepper spray in my fanny pack, but these things happen so fast you don't have time to get it out. So now I carry it in hand, ready to use ALL the time. Another time this medium sized dog came running barking, and snarling across it's yard, across the street to us, and it wasn't backing down although I yelled at it like I did the other one. It was about 6 ft away when I let it have the pepper spray right in the face. That stopped it dead in it's tracks. It went back to it's yard rubbing it's face. I felt a little bad, but one of us was going to get bitten, and I couldn't let that happen. We had been that way a bunch of times, and had never seen this dog before. There were other instances with other dogs, and we've had to stop going certain ways just to avoid scary situations. Animal control is about 15 miles away. What good is that going to do. When an aggressive dog is coming after you, there is NO time. And this is a widespread problem here.
What are you missing? Have you ever actually tried that before? In my experience, if dog owners are jacka$$es enough let their dog nuisance bark, walk and eliminate on your lawn, and roam free (including "escaping" repeatedly), they already lack common courtesy and consideration; having a friendly chat with them to ask them to be a considerate owner is just pi$$ing up a tree. I have left very friendly notes, once knocked on a door with a damn plate of homemade cookies, and had friendly chats over the past 35 years. Not ONCE has it had any effect in solving the issue. I take that back, there was a Jack Russell several streets over that would start barking around 6:00 a.m. every morning at an open window and bark for hours throughout the day. I finally confronted the owner, and in this case, I was less than "neighborly", and threatened to call animal control and the police. I reminded her of the ordinance and that her dog could be removed on the third offense; the first two being stiff fines. She asked what she was supposed to do since she worked all day. I told her that Jack Russells are NOT apartment dogs and if she could not meet its needs for lots of exercise and mental stimulation, she should find a new home for it. The dog was gone within two weeks so I guess she took my advice. I don't even bother anymore. I go straight to complaining either to management, animal control, or the police.
If I find a loose dog and it is of a normal breed and wearing ID tags, I will call the owner and hold the dog until they can pick it up (once). If it is a certain breed (tags or not) or not wearing tags, I catch it and either call animal control or take it down there and drop it off. We have a high kill shelter and the cute, normal dogs get adopted or rescued quickly and there's a high chance the other kind will be euthanized if not claimed within 3 days or so and I won't have to worry about seeing it loose again. As has been stated, if the owners were responsible and gave a damn about their pets, they wouldn't be loose and roaming on someone else's property.
So it seems like you actually agree with me that talking to the owner is a reasonable first step, since you've done that many times in the past. Or at least you used to do that and have not been satisfied with the outcome.
Yes, I've had issues with my neighbors and their dogs in the past. Most times when I've asked them to contain their dogs, they've done so. Maybe it's in the way one approaches the other person.
There are dog owner's who will go to work thinking their dog will be hanging out on their porch all day, but the dog will often start running in packs with neighbor dogs, out of boredom, and will go as far as 6-7 miles from home. The owner arrives home from work and the dog is already back home on the porch, but is very tired from running all day.
We have always kept the immediate area surrounding our house fenced off fairly tight due to dog packs, roaming livestock and people on meth running the back roads at night. Good to have perimeter fencing. With young children in the yard, this helps tremendously from a safety perspective because dogs can show up at any time. Domestic dogs behave a lot differently in packs. We were having problems with some dogs coming through by crawling under the perimeter fencing so I used a hot wire about 12 inches off the ground and this stopped it quickly.
If someone purposely shot a dog of mine I would kill them, plain and simple. Don’t want the dog on your property; talk to the owner or call animal control.
In MY state, New York, property owners ABSOLUTELY have the right, PER STATE LAW, to shoot any and all dogs found running loose on their property if they own livestock and the dogs are harassing said livestock. They don't need to call Animal Control to get permission first.
If the dog owners don't want their dogs shot or orherwise disappear, than MAYBE they ought to learn to practice due diligence and keep them confined to their home property.
Those owners aren’t doing their pet any favors. I would never allow that with my dog. Too many weirdos that want to harm the animal in this thread alone. Too bad you can’t adopt the animal and just take it home with you. It would probably have a better home.
In my area, there is nothing you can do regarding dogs crossing onto your property, except if you fear for your life. I have dogs crossing my property (65 acres) all the time, therefore no bears or coyotes.
If someone purposely shot a dog of mine I would kill them, plain and simple. Don’t want the dog on your property; talk to the owner or call animal control.
Not if they shoot you first. Don’t like other property owners running your dog off THEIR land, talk to them or call animal control, who will state that YOU are in the wrong for letting the dog go anywhere.
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