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.
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.
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.
Luckily in WV we can kill any animal attacking lifestock. We don’t have to notify the sheriff. There’s no need to call the game warden or the dog catcher, none in this county anyway, we just kill the animal if it’s caught in the act, they all are, and go about our business.
Check the law in your state. If it resembles the law here, I’d suggest some tasty hens. Maybe even a nasty rooster that will attack the dog once it crosses the road. I’d suggest a shotgun with an appropriate pellet size to do the job and avoid hitting something far away.
Works for me every time except out here I can use a .30-06.
If you live someplace where that sort of thing is legally frowned upon, buy some bear spray. Get the high test stuff, learn to judge the wind direction and have fun with poochie.
After one good shot you won’t need any more. Just carry an empy paint spray can to intimidate poochie.
I have a different problem with my Yorkie and the UPS man. My Yorkie loves the truck and him. Yorkie knows the sound of the truck and runs to front door to watch him pass. UPS man knows Yorkie will be watching for him so he waves at her when he passes.
If he brings a package, I know to hand the dog to him when I take the package. Yorkie kisses him all over and he loves on her, then I get the dog back and he leaves.
My Yorkie loves all people - I couldn’t deal with a dog with a bad attitude.
If I were you, I would report the dated instances to the police. You may be saving the life of a child who walks by there or save your leg from being ripped off.
GeronL hit it right away.
Animal control NOW.
Do not pass go.
NOW.
Let me start by saying that I am a dog lover, and have resqued several over the years.
Now, as to the matter at hand: We have also gained new neighbors in the past month... They also own a large Pit Bull. The breed is not important to me, as I’ve witnessed teacup Poodles that would put the Tasmanian Devil to shame, and Pit Bulls that were big, huggable babies. The new neighbor’s dog is, however, very aggressive. We have two dogs that live inside, and they are only outside on a leash with one of our family members in control of the dog. We never leave our property and the dogs have areas that are set aside for them to “take care of their business.
Our new neighbor, on the other hand, turns his dog out at various times... The dog has taken to using my front yard as his own toilet, and has aggressively charged me while I was out with our mini-collie. I gave a short, sharp, and loud yell - the dog at first stopped in his tracks, but then again started his charge. I repeated my yell and he again stopped. This time the owner came out and called the dog back. The owner witnessed the behavior, and knows the dog is aggressive.
I do not intend to take any action toward making peace with the dog or its owner. It is not my place to have to do so. My dogs are leashed, on my property, and under my control. If the dog sets foot on my property again and exhibits aggressive behavior, I will kill him on the spot. I am always, and I do mean ALWAYS, armed. Never with anything smaller than a .357 magnum... I don’t want to do it, but I will not back away from it... The ball is in the neighbor’s court. He acts responsibly and there will be no issues. He doesn’t and I will dispatch the dog... Simple as that.
If the guy is a Christian, then go talk to him and let him know the dog is causing problems and ask him to take care of it. Also ask to be introduced to the dog, so it does not come after you, and you can put it back in the yard if it gets out. -Neighborly like.
Carry a gun. If it ever gets any closer, kill it. I like dogs, I don’t necessarily like dog owners who are irresponsible with their animals. Given pitt bull’s reputation, these fools need to be extra careful, and they are not.
Talk to your neighbor about his dog getting lose and running about in the street. Take the attitude that it is dangerous for the dog due to the car traffic.
If the owner responds favorably ... then see if you can introduce yourself to the dog. Get him acquainted with your sent. Pop over and visit a time or two. Bring some jerky - dogs love jerky and will be your friend for life if they think that they can get some jerky from you.
If the owner does not respond well. Wait for the next time the dog is out and call animal control. If you have a CCW, carry while getting the mail. Still carry some jerky treats. Just because the owner might not be friendly, does not automatically mean the dog is aggressive.
If the owner is an ass. Call the cops about an aggressive dog in your neighborhood the next time it gets out.
Video everything. Report everything. Every time it is off the property without a leash. Every time it is barking at anyone. Every time it is snarling at anyone. If it smells. If they neglect it or abuse it.
Make sure it is licensed, and has has all the required shots.
Do not get into a pissing match with them. You will immediately have to compromise somewhere between “right”, and “wrong”, when you are entitled to “right”. There is a good chance they will retaliate in some way if they know you are asserting your rights.
Don’t get emotional with the authorities, just give them the facts, and register your complaint.
Get as many of your neighbors to do the same.
Don’t call 911 unless it is an emergency.
Own a gun, and know how to use it.
The best posture in dealing with the dog itself, is to get down on your knee to the dog’s level, and don’t act agressive or fearful. Call him.
I run into dogs like this constantly when doing lot surveys, and find that it is not too difficult to overcome the dog’s lack of training. Dogs are not unapproachable, but you have to be friendly toward them.
After you have made friendly contact, the dog is just an annoyance, not a hazard.
As for the owners, they need to be told to control their dog.
67 posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 7:04:42 PM by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I’d hoped they’d be)
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You gotta be kiddin’ me. Perhaps you might want to read the vast amount of documentation regarding pit bull behavior on the website dogsbite.org. Note the “org” in the website name. Pit propaganda has been loaded into websites with very similar names. You may want to copy and paste the website I list to make sure you get the right one.
When I first started investigating pits, I was astounded to learn that they kill, on average, one US citizen every 20 days. 2013 isn’t looking good - they are averaging one human killed every 13 days.
Unlike other aggressive breeds, they are the only breed to kill more humans in their prime as opposed to breeds mostly kill children. Check Youtube, there’s a video re a 40 pound pit bull killing a full sized horse.
I read case after case, watched countless videos. Pit bull attack behavior leaves damage that one would expect of a wild animal, not a domesticated dog. Crime scene reports detail mass quantities of blood everywhere and frequently, flesh stripped from bone methodically. One woman, while being killed on the other side of a door by her pet pit bull, screamed “He’s eating me!”. I recently watched a Youtube of a pit bull racing diagonally across a 4 way intersection to attack a child on the street. I’ve watched videos of pits breaking through doors, off leashes, out of muzzles, and out of cars to attack people without provocation.
It is a combination of the breed - yes it is bred to be unpredictably violent and lethal, and sometimes it is the added problem of owners who feel special if they have a dog with that kind of rep.
But here’s the thing, loving effective pit bull owners are attacked and killed by their pits too. It’s not just drug dealers who abuse their dogs. Not every pit will attack it’s owner. Of course not. But the ones who have been well treated, well trained and will attack can not be identified before they kill. So owners just have to hope as do the neighbors, the neighbors children, the neighbors pets etc.
I recently read the most heart rending 9000 word essay detailing what REALLY happens when a well treated, well trained pit bull kills someone. In this case it was two pits. It is tragic but highly informative - I heartily recommend it:
http://blog.dogsbite.org/2013/07/beyond-the-interview-essay-of-a-fatal-pit-bull-mauling.html
I say “what really happens” because I had not guessed at the scope of damage done to society by one attack. For starters, I think the 40 person medical team who tried to save the baby will not soon forget it. So many people, so much damage, all because some people believe so much hype.
The baby sitter kept the pits in the back of the house per agreement with the baby’s parents. Her dogs were well behaved and had been previously allowed to lick the baby’s face while in a stroller with adults standing by. I imagine they wanted to make sure the dogs were on friendly terms with the baby. Ultimately, it didn’t matter.
One day the sitter didn’t want to leave the 18 month old alone in the house while transferring the dogs from the back of the house into the back yard dog run. She put the baby on her hip and let the dogs out to the dog run. They pushed past her and everything was fine. Until they returned.
They attacked the owner by biting and pulling her legs to get her down so they could kill the baby.
She covered the baby with her body during the attack and bit her hair repeatedly to make her give up the child and then began digging under her body to reach the child and drag him away. They maimed that baby and she ran to scoop up the child from between them knowing they might kill her for it.
She almost made it to the house when she was attacked again - this time she cannot remember how she made it from the attack near the back door to the part where she lay the body of the baby on the couch (he was barely alive then). She may never regain that portion of her memory. There was a pit in the house and she barricaded it in the kitchen and called the cops. In the 911 call she was screaming THe DOGS THE DOGS THE DOGS. She told the operator that the cops could kill her dogs because she no longer cared.
The police officer who rounded the back of the house and saw the blood everywhere...screamed in horror. The baby was life flighted to a hospital (at approx. one thousand dollars per mile) A team of 40 medical personal worked to save the baby but the child died.
It’s very moving - the father talks about how hard it was to even stand up that first week. The self-recriminations he felt believing the hype that it’s the owner, not the breed. The whole “bad rap” farce had him convinced. He cringed to recall that he let the dogs lick his baby’s face earlier. He turned away from the false belief that only mistreated or mistrained pits attack - he knew the owner, he saw her care of them. He noted that they attacked her FIRST, biting the hand that fed them.
THe fallout is devastating. On his Facebook page, two of his former friends who were pit bull nutters posted horrible things. The woman who posted TAUNTED HIM. Other pit bull nutters offended the grieving parents deeply but those two who truly abused the hearts and minds of grieving parents will never be forgiven by them. THe man who posted lied in private posts to a friend of the grieving parents indicating he had proof that the dogs were mistreated. This was of course false, he’d never seen the dogs or the owner - just propaganda he made while his friends coped with the death of their baby -he was absorbed with protecting the rep of the dogs????
The story includes propaganda tactics like “the perfect storm”.
It is a tragic, informative story that encapsulates the whole issue. As soon as the dogs killed, pro pit nutters turned against the baby sitter who had been attacked, fought to save a baby, and would later realize that 2 people who heard her screaming for 15 minutes, and knew she lived there, did NOTHING to come help her.
Ultimately, the father has this to say:
“Believing the myth, ‘It’s not the breed, it’s all how you raise them,’ is what left us without a son,” Jeff said.
Let me note here that several of the documented attacks I read involve the pit seizing the lower jaw of a child and detaching it. Pits are known for their “game” nature which means they do not give up - they continue the attack.
For the OP, I agree that documenting, contacting the insurance company and calling, calling calling everyone to make this dog’s behavior known will be key. The owners have showed you that they condone their dog’s aggressive behavior - please get that documented for starters. You will need to carry a weapon. Pits have been known to break through lightweight plexi or screen doors to attack without provocation. That reminds me of one of the cruelest stories. Grandma was watching baby play on the living room floor, a locked screen door let in fresh air on the hot day. Two pits broke through the door and killed the baby despite grandma’s attempts to save her. A child must die, and a grandma late in years must have the whole event on her mind in her “golden years” because people defend the image of a dog.
Your cats will be killed. You and your mother have to be vigilant about keeping sturdy doors locked and your safety exiting the house or car.
Pits are trained not to warn of attacks (bred into them for fighting in a ring, no warning) so sometimes they just silently run up to you before beginning to maul; this certainly makes it hard to tell what his intentions are and you can’t afford to be wrong.
I would have pulled out my pistol and put the laser dot on it, at center mass. Then it would have been the owner’s move, unless I felt in fear for my life.
If either your Mom or your late Father has/had any digoxin tabs you could accidentally put about 10 of them in a ground beef meat ball and feed it to the neighbor’s little puppy and it will all look like he died of natural causes.
I would talk to the neighbor and see if he will restrain his dog. Does the dog always run loose, or was this kind of a fluke thing? My Jack Russell used to get loose all the time when he was younger. He was literally like Houdini. My Jack Russell was neutered, but if this dog is not neutered, it could explain aggression too. If this was an accidental thing, the neighbor will likely promise to restrain his dog better. If he just lets it run loose, still talk to him. I’d talk to him before you call animal control. Animal control getting involved could lead to problems for him and his dog and give you an unhappy neighbor. If it continues after you talk to him, then you can talk to animal control.
Keep your cats in until you get this resolved (if you possibly can). An aggressive dog is fairly likely to take out a cat if the cat wanders close enough.
Talk to the owner, not as a conversation, but tell him it is unacceptable and can’t happen again. Document everything and that includes contacting the cops and animal control. You may have to take more extreme actions in duress and you wanted your bases covered.
Animal Control Officer.
And a chat with the police department desk wouldn’t hurt.