Posted on 08/07/2013 6:37:18 PM PDT by RoosterRedux
I retired 10 years ago to take of elderly parents. Dad died peacefully last year and Mom is still kicking.
After spending the afternoon in the eye doc's office with Mom, came home and, after settling her down, went for the mail.
New neighbor has a Pit-Bull and today this dog was loose. As I went to the mail box, the dog ran over to the middle of the street (perhaps 15 feet away) and bared his teeth.
His owners were in the yard but did not call the dog. At the same time a UPS truck stop in front of their house, but the driver refused to get out of his truck.
Question is "what steps do I take as a good citizen?"
The next door neighbors inherited the house from the girl's grandmother. The girl's husband is a born again Christian...but he was previously in prison for drugs.
Pit Bull is young but large and aggressive.
Freeper opinions appreciated.
BTW, I have cats who lounge around in the front yard. If this dog kills my cats...I am apt to become upset. And an upset Freeper (armed to the teeth) is not a nice thing to behold.
When the dog charges, begin the squirts from a good distance as it takes a couple of seconds for the mixture to take effect. You should make sure to get a couple of shots on the fur coat as well, since the pepper oils will spread out over a large area and not diffuse easily even if licked constantly. If it is a particularly vicious animal that has bitten you before, it would be quite painful if some of the squirts splashed its backside as it tried to duck. The oils would spread to some quite sensitive local areas afterwards... Not that I would intentionally do that to the Cow that bit Me severely enough when I was younger that it placed crushed indentations in a couple of bones easily seen on the x-ray pics later.
Call animal control if you think you have to, and talk to your neighbors if you think they might listen and care. Mean dogs are nothing to fool around with.
hot dogs with exlax over the fence
I deal with them directly. First instance I tell the owner that I will kill their dog if it is on or near ever again. A dog running down the street and jumping on me is not “just being friendly” it’s obnoxious and unacceptable. I tell the owner their dog WILL die.
It’s worked so far.
That happened to me. Go to the police station and file a complaint. Are there leash laws in your town???
Maybe someone else knows. They don’t live near me.
I think you should face the neighbor. Ask them to please be aware their dog got out, seemed to act aggressive, etc. That you just wanted them to be aware, and please try to keep him contained. Something of the like.
Give them a chance to rectify it. Don’t immediately tattle to the authorities. It’s gutless and unfair. Some people are fair and concerned about being good neighbors. You will find out if you handle it politely and nicely, face to face. Calling bigwigs only makes even good people despise you and turn on you. Likewise, I advise confronting it rather than lying quietly, because you’ll regret that too. I’ve done all methods except tattling to the government, and personally confronting in a timely fashion is best.
If the people don’t like it at all, or show continuing disregard for your concerns, then you know you can ramp it up with no qualms. You gave fair warning, they shouldn’t be surprised if the authorities are called on them.
We once rented a farm to a family that had a very territorial pit bull mix. The first time I went there when they were not home the dog would not let me close to the house. I came back with my Ruger Redhawk and some special handloads that I keep around just in case a grizzly bear on PCP ever attacks me. I put on my ear protection and got out of the Jeep. I walked towards the house and the dog blocked my path and snarled. I aimed carefully and put one in the ground right between his front paws. From then on all I ever saw of him was a head peaking out from behind something very far away.
He was sweet then...
I wouldn’t trust him to remain that way, and NEVER turn your back on him!
Pitt Bulls are inherently dangerous, and here’s why.
The Russians did an experiment with wild, Arctic silver foxes. These are the kind used in high-end furs.
They wanted to domesticate them, the experiment started about 1940, IIRC.
Every time a new litter was born, they would pick only the top one percent, in terms of their adaptability to humans and their lack (or at least the most minimal) of aggression.
They started to see results after three generations, but the animals were still clearly wild. After eight generations, they were almost as domesticated as regular house dogs.
Now, after about 50 generations, the animals are for all intents and purposes the same as house pets BUT one of the most interesting things that happened is they started to see alot of variation in the dogs morphology, their tails changed, their colors changed, they started to show the distinct signs of the various breeds of house dog we have come to accept.
They have traced this biochemically to a number of genes, one of the most important findings was that wild animals have a MUCH higher level of normal, endogenous adrenaline. They are, all the time, much more “on edge”. Even if they appear to the casual observer to be calm at the moment.
The ONLY thing that changed the animals behavior towards a more tame life was the selection pressures humans put on the tame behavior.
So.
IF a dog still has the genetic basis of being more of a wild animal than a domestic pet, IT DOES NOT MATTER ONE BIT HOW IT IS TREATED! It will ALWAYS maintain the wild part inside.
I know... I know... we’ve all heard a million times about when an animal goes rogue that “He must have been abused... just be nice to him.... yada yada yada blah blah blah”.
It just ain’t so. The science shows otherwise.
The same exact conclusions have been reached by people and testing trying to raise wild wolf pups as domestic dogs.
They do act puppy-like, as long as they are puppies. But they soon grow, and when they do, in their own minds they are WOLVES, not dogs!!
What if the owner isn’t there?
What if you have no idea who owns the dog, and you’ve never seen the dog before?
Shooting isn’t the answer unless you wish to risk a long stay in prison, in most cities.
Best is to learn how to actually maintain the upper hand with any dog, any place.
A close friend and colleague is a surveyor. At 91 he still does field work and seems to have a talent for dealing with Miami’s more obnoxious dogs.
One client had a very expensive “attack dog” which was in the yard when he came by to do the survey. The owner not being home, he talked to the dog a bit and then entered the yard, did the survey, and left.
The owner could not believe he was able to get the dog to allow him into the yard.
Just gotta speak dog, I assume.
MUST disagree. Perhaps eight years ago now - while going to the mailbox - a dog came running down the street. The owner watched and didn’t do a damn thing. I got the f-ing animal off me and told the owner that if it ever runs at me again it’s dead. He got the picture, I made sure of it.
I don’t care who the owner is. Somebody else dog should not be on me at anytime ever.
Shooting within city limits is against the law (don’t live there anymore) but I will defend myself by whatever means.
The problem goes away entirely if the owner controls their animal. WHICH IS THE POINT ENTIRELY.
Anti freeze hotdogs do the trick.
If the dog is out a lot, put out a pound of lean hamburger, miced with dog food and rat poison. Go heavy on the poison.
“What the hell happened in America when the first thing we want to do is not talk to our neighbors but call the government.”
This sounds like you support anarchy. The “government” is what Ronald Regan was a part of. It’s what Rand Paul and Ted Cruz are a part of. It’s completely insane to equate the local government with the federal government. Dangerous, loud, disrespectful neighbors should be met with the full force of the local laws (which usually means progressive fines) and if that fails civil litigation (maybe both). And in this case self-defense measures are also appropriate.
Any moron who is watching their dog aggressively stalk a neighbor deserves no “manners” or respect.
Plan B...use a live trap, catch the dog and take it very far away.
Don’t complain about the dog to the neighbor or you will be the prime suspect. Just do it.
After a while you learn to read the dog’s signals.
Really, its not the big strong dogs that tend to be the problems; its the small down-bread dogs that cannot be effectively dealt with, even when the owner is right there.
My biggest fear is not attack, its losing the dog by not keeping the gate secure.
Back about 50 years ago I was at a friend’s house, sitting in the kitchen shooting the BS. The father had recently purchased an Alaskan wolf/malamute male that was over 100 pounds although still a pup. He offered me 100 bucks to try to take the dog’s food away. I immediately just reached down and took the food, and the dog did absolutely nothing.
Had a hard time getting him to pay up, and back then $100 was $100.
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