I'm back! Trouble with Jake.

[stacwase]

Hello, y'all!

I've been back from vacation for about a week now, but I haven't had time to check in on my favorite forum. Did you even notice I was gone? We went to Mexico.

I got an anonymous nastygram in the mail yesterday. Jake has been out off-leash a few times lately. Our fault for being lazy. He's generally really good and stays in the yard.

The writer claims that he has been barking and snapping at people and that he has actually caused an injury. She said in her unsigned letter "We are going to do something about this. The proper authorities have been contacted."

I called animal control and the police department, and they haven't received any reports.

I really don't know what to do. Somebody in the neighborhood is a real dog hater. They are constantly calling the police or animal control the second any dog gets off leash even for an instance. Last time this happened, RB Pepper got loose while my son was taking her out. I was getting dressed to go find her when I got a call saying she had been hit by a car. It was odd that she was hit so quickly, because we don't have fast traffic in our neighborhood. I think this person really is out to get our animals and I suspect she purposefully hit Pepper.

We're being extra careful with Jake and Max now. We've always been careful but you know how dogs are - especially Max! He's broken screen doors by jumping through them in the past.

Anyway - sorry for rambling. I'm just upset.

[wolfie]

We thought that Daphne stayed in the yard too - then she got hit by a car.

Never take any chances with your dogs - get a fence (invisible or above ground), or tie them out. We tie Daphne out now until we get an invisible fence. If this person is a dog hater then don't give them anything to complain about. Keep your dog in your yard. Don't risk another dog getting hurt.

[stacwase]

Oh - we've had Jake for going on 8 years and we haven't let him out in the yard until lately, when we had some unusual circumstances come up. We usually take him right to the kennel. I would hate for anybody to think I was the sort of person not to keep my dogs restrained.

That's what upsets me - that this woman was watching so closely that she knew immediately when he happened to be out off leash. What does she do? Sit in her window waiting?

[tatsxxx11]

I feel badly that you're so upset. That letter must have been very upsetting. But please don't let them out in the yard unsupervised, even occasionally. A dog may be good 99% of the time, but it only takes that one time for disaster to strike, as you know. Here we have very strict leash laws and after one warning of a loose dog, you are fined $100.00! Dogs have been taken from owners for not obeying the leash laws repeatedly. Not only is it not worth the monetary loss, it's not worth risking Jake's safety or inciting dog hating neighbors, who may report you or cause trouble, even if Jake was not misbehaving, i.e., charging at someone, biting, etc. Just like you, we don't want anything to happen to Jake, or for you to get upset! Don't give those neighbors any ammunition! Maybe you could look into invisible fencing?

[K9soul]

I remember when my husband and I were staying with my mother-in-law for awhile while we were looking for our own place. I had Cody and Willie then, Cody was about 11 years old, did not run or even trot anymore really due to arthritis. Mother in law didn't have a fenced yard, and some new neighbors had just moved in behind her. I took the dogs out and was with them every time I was out with them. I could outrun, or even outwalk Cody easily so I didn't worry too much about him but he liked to shuffle around and sniff for awhile when he was out. He was deaf too by this time so I just usually walked along close by him.

Anyway, the exact moment Cody would put one foot on the property line, a man would fling open the door and yell to keep my dogs out of his yard. Every day when I took them out, I'd see him watching out the door, ready to jump out and yell. I just got to where I kept them from even approaching that area, but for the life of me that man irritated me to no end, staring at me every time I had the dogs out. It was so rude.

Some people just seem to look for opportunities to cause trouble about dogs. I know a neighbor a couple houses down, their hounds were always getting out and I imagine they were pooping in that guy's yard and he just assumed it was my dogs.

I guess you just have to do whatever it takes in order to not give people like that any opportunity because unfortunately if they go to the law it's more likely that the law will be on their side and if someone decides to handle things on their own, it'd be awfully hard to prove anything

Best wishes in dealing with this

[micki76]

Originally posted by stacwase
That's what upsets me - that this woman was watching so closely that she knew immediately when he happened to be out off leash. What does she do? Sit in her window waiting?

Not necessarily. Could be that Jake causes a stir in her neck of the neighborhood when he’s out. I have a neighbor whose dog heads straight for my house, because he knows I have dogs. It causes a huge barking problem and chaos for the entire time he’s out. I have to pen my dogs in the house during this time, even though we have a fenced yard. The barking on both sides is out of control.

Don’t assume she’s a dog hater. Maybe she does dislike Jake, I know I dislike the dog in my neighborhood, and his owners.