A few weeks ago, I was walking home with my Siberian Husky after a nice neighborhood walk. Suddenly, I hear some heavy barking, and a pit-bull charges out from one of my neighbor’s backyard and starts barking at us crazily.
If he were a truly aggressive pit-bull, we would have been toast.
Instead, I backed away from him slowly and shouted out to my neighbor. Of course, he was doing yard work at the time, and did not hear me over the noise of his lawn mower. He had left his gate open so that he could get easy access to his recycling bin.
Dude! … I mean really?!
Luckily another neighbor heard me, came out, and secured the dog.
Several days later, I was charged by an Akita. She came over, and started bullying my Husky girl. A boy came running after the dog, and then just stood there. He did not know what to do.
I raised my voice and said Stop to the Akita, which surprisingly, she did. Maybe she was just momentarily startled. I asked the boy to please remove his dog, but he just hit his dog on the muzzle. Since the dog did not have a collar on, the boy was unable to effectively remove her.
However, since the Akita was no longer focused on my dog, I was able to move away, and then Akita Inu finally followed the boy home.
Dude! … I mean really?!
And then today, I was charged by a large Labrador. He was being walked off-leash in the neighborhood even though he had 0% recall.
Then one of the owners said, “Don’t worry, he is not aggressive”.
Another one said, “I am doing off-leash training with my dog and I did not see you.”
Dude! … I mean really?!
- Point – Someone who lets an untrained dog run about off-leash in public neighborhood streets has no understanding of dogs. I very much doubt they know whether their dog is aggressive or not.
- Point – Leaving a dog with no recall, off-leash, is dangerous to other people, other dogs, and to the dog himself. There are not too many cars in my neighborhood, but all it takes is just one.
- Point – Perhaps the Labrador is not aggressive, but then my dog could be aggressive. In which case, a fight could have broken out when the Labrador invaded my dog’s space and forced a butt sniff on her.
- Point – One DOES NOT do off-leash training on public neighborhood streets. Find a private enclosed area to start recall training, and once the dog is more advanced, take him to an off-leash hiking park.
What to Do When Charged by Off-Leash Neighborhood Dogs?
I usually just ignore the owners and walk away as soon as they get control of their dog.
I don’t really want to converse with them, because I would likely lose my temper and that would upset the dogs even more.
I am not sure if that is the best thing to do though. I would like to try and convince them not to leave their untrained dogs running around off-leash.
What do you think?
- What do you do when charged by off-leash neighborhood dogs?
- How do we get our neighbors to keep untrained dogs on a leash?
My dog is completely blind and has been in numerous scary altercations with other off leash dogs barking in his face. These dogs keep getting off their properties and rushing at my dog. I have gotten a lot of the same responses as everyone else but my normally friendly and happy dog is terrified to walk around the neighborhood and reacts to every person and dog now in the area. Thankfully I can still take him to the park and the pet store because the dogs are leashed and he has not made the association of all dogs and people being scary. People in the neighborhood act like my dog is the aggressor probably because he is a pitbull mix. If he was a tiny dog I doubt we would get the same reaction. My dog has no eyes and is on a leash. I’m not sure how he is the intimidating one in this scenario. He was fine until this all happened and now I am working with him to try to lower his anxiety. I can’t stand irresponsible pet owners.
Leaving your dog off leash is not only a bad idea, it’s illegal in most communities! I was chased, attacked, bitten and frightened by numerous dogs in the days I had a paper route. Complaining to the local police didn’t do much most of the time – they said it was difficult for them to enforce the law and they had to catch a dog’s owner in the act to issue them a citation. Fast forward many decades later, it seems to be less of an issue but I still know it’s possible I’ll be out walking with my four year old boy and a loose dog comes running at us through the street. Then I have to watch out for the both of us.
I have nothing against dogs in general – I know they make great pets for many people and many of them are completely harmless but I am SO SICK of people saying, “my dog’s very friendly”, “she won’t hurt you” and other BS. None of that matters when one of them is running towards me (and my child) at 40+ mph, jaw wide open and saliva dripping. Sorry, I’m finicky like that.
Dogs of course don’t like being on leashes, I get that. Sometimes dogs gotta go out and run free, I get that. Well, you as the dog owner made the choice to own a dog, so it’s YOUR responsibility to find some large empty field with nobody around so the dog can do what it wants and not pose a threat to anybody. There are also dog parks in many cities with fenced in areas for your dog to run around to its heart’s content (just watch out for other dogs). Too far to drive to? Not convenient? Well then I guess you are keeping the leash on – obey the law!
Don’t even get me started on all the times I’ve seen dog poop laying on the sidewalk by some entitled A–HOLE who felt it was alright to leave it there.
I see this blog post is around five years old – sorry I had to vent.
We have a horrible neighbor directly next door to us. They let their untrained dog off leash to wander the neighborhood and leave surprises for us in our front lawn. When we first moved in we did not have a fenced yard for a while due to construction of our detached garage. This untrained dog wandered into our backyard and charged into our house though our doggie door. Luckily our dog charged back and chased it away keeping us and our 2 year old daughter safe inside. Our dog stood between us and the intruding dog. We had enough and contacted police. This happened about 4 years ago. Since then, the awful neighbors still allow their dog to wander around and mostly on our property. It’s the husband that does it and thinks we don’t see it or take notice. We now have a new puppy we are training. Hoping we can keep this nuisance dog away from us and our puppy for the remainder of our time in this house. It’s so stressful to have awful neighbors and unsafe dogs living right next door!
I was charged by my neighbors dogs 3 of them while walking my dog. My dog has never had to defend herself or me and the dogs were a terrior, lab and pitbull. This is the second time this has happened and i want to know if there is a safe spray that will not hurt them too much but let them know I mean business. My neighbor stood on the porch and called them but to no avail, he didn’t even have the decency to come try to help me. I’m 66. I need some kind of spray what does anyone reccomend?
Do you have any possible explanation as to why off-leash, friendly dogs continue to walk right up to my German Shepherd even though the closer they get the more my dog displays abundantly clear, aggressive body language indicating that he is unfriendly and wants them to go away?
I was attacked by a pit bull and had 11 deep puncture wounds and a chunk out of the back of my leg. It took them 2 days to get the bleeding to stop. They normally don’t like closing animal bites because it can trap the infection in and lead to more problems. However, the bleeding would not stop so they had to close them up. I could not walk or take care of myself for 4 mo. and I will have problems with my leg, back, hip and walking for the rest of my life, I’m so glad everyone else finds such humor in my pain. Since that happened 2 years ago, I am now terrified of dogs. Numerous times I have encountered these idiot dog owners who think they are more important apparently than everyone else at “where ever” public parking. They leave pit bulls unrestrained in there vehicles with windows all the way down so people like me can’t even get out of there car. I would like to know why people need to keep there dogs restrained at home but can bring them to a public parking lot and leave them as a threat to everyone and the useless police do nothing except laugh at you. I’m sure they would not be laughing if it was their child, or sister or wife that was attacked. Then 2 mo. ago I even ran into another idiot that either thought it was funny, or thought this was some sick way to cure someone of their fear of dogs and I was locked in a room with a barking jumping pit bull for 5 min. I went into shock, was not acting normal from what I was told, I quit my job and was curled in the fetal position for 5 days in bed. The police also thought it was funny and said that they couldn’t arrest someone cause it was only 5 min.? Funny, I would think locking someone in a room or holding someone against their will for 1 sec. should be illegal. When people laugh at others pain, I think God has a way of turning things around. I would be willing to bet that it won’t be long before they have an encounter themselves, and they will no longer find this soooo funny.
you really need to report that behavior (i.e. taking you hostage and terrorizing you) to the police and investigators, that is crazy. That is a dangerous individual that would do that.
My neighbor lets her aggressive pit run free. It doesn’t listen to her, so she kicks it, which does not elicit a response either. I have contacted “law enforcement” 4-5 times about this, but her behavior has not changed. This situation will not end well, and she certainly knows it. When her dog ultimately mutilates a child, she should be convicted of first-degree murder. This behavior constitutes premeditation. Unfortunately, homicidal dog owners have no fear of consequences. Oh well. I will testify against her when it happens. And I will testify against local “law enforcement” too. They are complicit.
What about using a strong, foul smelling spray in addition to any deterrent spray? I think Amazon has at least one option…think about something along the lines of any skunk/fart-gag/malodorous smelling sprays (which may also act as a deterrent if you are lucky).
Regarding pepper sprays….I’ve heard that pepper sprays work best before the dogs engage. From personal experience, I’ve seen dogs engaged in a fight will not disengage when sprayed in the face with pepper spray at near point blank range, directly in the eyes and snout (it seems to bother them later, but they were too adrenalized in the fight to notice). FYI… the quickest way we were able to get them to 2+ dogs to disengage was using 3 people – 1 on each dog lifts a single rear leg (it’s important that it’s one rear leg to destabilize them – this worked better than lifting both legs, believe it or not). If you only have 2 people, each waits for their respective dog (and know that the waiting here feels horrible, but it’s necessary) to try to regain their footing – whether they are advancing or pulling away. Usually there is a moment where both dogs adjust and you can break their holds on each other – but it is only for a moment and you must be ready for it, and pull them back towards you to intervene. Then, ideally there is a 3rd person, but it could be one person if needed if there is only 1 aggressive dog. I wrapped my hand and arm in a big piece of cloth – think blanket, sheet, heavy jacket – as thickly as possible and insert it between the dogs faces – hopefully neither can see each other and the hand/arm will break their ability to lock onto each other. The expectation is that they will bite me, so I wrapped my hand/arm thickly to protect myself. Once their hold was broken, each person pulled their dog off in the opposite direction and restrained them and then one was moved behind a door or to a safe area while the other was held still by pinning it down. …. Now, we had to do this with dogs that were well known to us, and it would be risky to do it with strange dogs – but if you are going to jump in anyway, this info can give you a starting point of reference….Also, google, “How to break up a dog fight” there are WikiHow articles and other information and the time to learn is not when you are in the middle of a dog fight for the first time, it’s extremely disturbing and it’s not intuitive if you have a serious fight on your hands – you don’t have much time to do the most effective things, and forewarned is forearmed.
Regarding the skunk/fart spray for less-than-life-threatening situations ….Maybe if the offending off-leash-dog-owner had to wash their foul smelling dog then they may think twice about letting it off leash, at least if the dog lives indoors with them.
It seems like irresponsible owners will continue to offend until their actions somehow end up in inconveniencing them instead of everyone else.
Our young hound mix has anxiety and fear with other dogs. We are working with a trainer to get over his fears which requires going on walks in our neighborhood. We walk our dog on a leash but have a neighbor who walks her dog off leash. She has absolutely no control over her dog and I am terrified my dog might bite him out of fear if he comes running over to my dog. Her dog is always running into our yard which really upsets my dog. Not to mentioned I’ve almost hit him with my car twice driving down our street because he come bolting out of the bushes!
Put your dog on a leash or go practice in a private off leash area.
There is a stray pit bull coming in my yard for a couple of days now. At first he seem pretty harmless, still in puppy stage I think. He is still big however. Now he has started to stand in my males face and constantly barking at him. What does that mean?
My neighbors just introduced two pit bull puppies to the neighborhood. They leave them off leash. They claim that it’s all good because they are service dogs.
It means the dog owner doesn’t have much sense.
My neighborhood is full of bad dog owners. If I see an unleashed dog ahead, I turn around and simply call the pound. They are probably sick of getting my calls but I don’t care, perhaps they can educate the owner on leash laws or can remove the potentially dangerous dog from the area.
If I can not avoid the unleashed dog, I yell a warning, hoping the owner will hear. If the dog charges at me I kick it in the head. The owner usually appears when I do this, and they usually want to argue thinking it is ok to have an unleashed dog charging at people in public. I warn them that I will call the pound if I ever see their dog loose again and I will not hesitate to kick their dog if the situation happens again. I do not think it is the dog’s fault it is free to run and chase after others, but I protect myself and my dog first. So far the kick to the face method has worked 100% of the time in educating the owner.
I should have done the same thing. Had a loose dog approach my dog things did not go well. Whole situation could have been avoided. I’m with you. Start reporting.
I’m curious, do the authorities do anything when you call? I’ve been charged by loose dogs four times over the past two months and am completely over it. People’s behavior needs to change regarding how they deal with their pets, but it doesn’t seem that there is an appropriate legal way to handle these situations. Talking to people, though a good step, rarely does anything. It stands to reason that if people are ignorant enough, or obnoxious enough not to respect other people’s space they would need to be compelled in some way to respect the social contract. Of course this is what the authorities are for, but as was mentioned in one of the above comments, the police rarely take these kinds of claims seriously. From what I read most laws that deal with holding dog owners responsible have a lot of built in mechanisms to protect the dog owners from malicious prosecution, which is all well and good expect it makes it effectively impossible to manage situations like these in legitimate ways. Sorry for venting! I am very curious if reporting has worked for you. It seems like the responsible way to handle these situations at the very least.
Just got home from a walk with my husband and two dogs. Our dogs are both on gentle guides. Neighbors dogs are in the front yard unrestrained and come after us. One of their dogs jumps one of mine and tries to bite his ear. I kicked the dog and the owners finally got control of their animal – and then yelled at me for kicking their dog. I’m so furious. I love dogs and would never hurt one except to protect myself or someone in my family (which includes my dogs). I told them they were lucky I didn’t kick the dog hard and I’d start bringing pepper spray. I’m not sure how I can deal with this neighbor in the future.
I just aame in from. a walk with my 14 pound 5 month old that I adopted from spca last week. She’s now trained to walk with me on the leash, but as we neared home a very big pitbull came charging at us. I dropped my dogs leash do she could hide and I screamed at the pitbull Stop and Go home, but he was not hearing me. Then ever so slowly the stupid woman who owns the pittie came walking towards me and I kept yelling at her get your dog, get control of your animal. She’s saying oh don’t worry he won’t hurt you. Then her husband showed up to ask me why I was yelling at his wife. I told them both this is your fault for leaving him run loose, and that I will call the police and animal control if I see the dog out again. As soon as they walked away my little dog came up to me shaking. I went in and called the police and they took my name & tel & made an incident report. The officer said if the dog is loose again call them & they will charge that couple with whatever. I’m still shaking, I mean come on, it’s a pitbull.
When I go out my front door / or my neighbors garage door opens / or my neighbors drive up, they continually let their 1/2 Chow run and charge me. This dog scared the hell out of me today. I was in my front yard and the dog came around their car and charged within 3 ft. of me. I have asked both neighbors numerous times to control their dog, they say? : Oh yeah, she does that” , “or ” we all just have to get along”..Im practically a prisoner in my own house. How is THAT getting along ? The dog is MEVER on a leash, just free to charge. Scares the hell out of me. Baseball bat !!!??? Pepper spray and my cell phone for a video. I like dogs.. my dogs Always under control or Leadhed. But this Owner is asking for a Lawsuit. And so is the neighbor who owns the house.!!!
It depends?? Really just on how the dog is acting. If they come up slowly and are acting exploritory, I’ll make sure that I stay between them and my dogs and call out to them a few times to remind them that I am there. This has actually lead to a few dogs following us home. The walks were pretty pleasant and, in the case of one of my neighbor’s Pitbulls, I started bringing another leash with me and I would just leash her up when she came out and we’d walk all together and then I would walk her home. She hated going home. Her welcome back was never warm 🙁
Anyway, if they come charging then I sorta charge right back. One of my neighbor’s german shepherds has gotten out of his fence and attacked my dogs FOUR TIMES. But all four times I jumped into action. Shouting very loudly, blocking his path, and then walking toward him with angry screams and arm outstretched to grab him, which would cause him to back up until he was back in his own yard. That is all I have found to work on dogs like that.
The third type of dog is the one that charges while I’m bike riding with my German Shorthair. In which case I shout “hike hike!!” And he takes off and nothing has caught us yet XD. Even at 7 years old and out of shape I’ve never seen a dog that could outrun him.
I am so glad I found this website. My dog is very prey driven. We walk her with a gentle leader, which works, but she is still smarter than the leash, and when I walk her I need to be prepared for any sudden movements on her part, as she can start to pull, and jerk the leash from side to side, and make things really difficult. She is strong, and stubborn, and completely immune to prong collars.
She is very over-protective, of both my husband and I, and she attends a doggy daycare frequently, where she receives excellent care, and is grouped with the mellow males, as she is alpha female, so we’ve been told. Anyway, we have stopped walking her in our neighborhood altogether because, she is damn scary when she starts barking, growling and pulling, when we are walking her, towards other dogs. I rarely, and with great precaution, walk her in our neighborhood, when I see another dog coming, I just walk the other way. I walk her at night, and just avoid other dog walkers altogether. The subject of dogs, not walked on leash, or not controlled to stay in their yard, has me more than a little nervous. First of all, walking without a leash, unless it is in a park or something just seems crazy to me. I often had wondered about what I would do if a dog senses(which has happened,) her alpha protective nature, and just lunge at her, I’ve yelled NO NO NO, sometimes this scares the other dog, but now that I know about the pepper spray, or bear spray, you BET I’m going to consider that. I have wondered, worried about, if I could really hurt the other dog with that?? I don’t know.
I used to be able to take my dog to the park, before she grew into her personality, first she got along with about 85% of the dogs, then it gradually became a 50/50 deal. Then she really started to act aggressive towards bicyclists, ….no more park. We have a fenced in yard, but she really needs another outlet, something. We plan on moving anyway, needless to say we are looking for a large yard, in a rural area, without houses in close proximity to each other. I love my dog, and I do absolutly everything to protect her, and protect other peoples dogs too.
A lot of neighbors, do not like me for even having a dog like her, like its my fault, even though I’ve taken above and beyond all precautions to keep everyone safe.
With my Shiba Inu, dog-to-dog desensitization exercises helped him to be more calm and relaxed around other dogs.
I think you are a very conscientious dog owner. That you should not be faulted by neighbors when doing the right thing and taking precautions to keep everyone and your dog safe. I recently learned to never let your guard down and now keep my gate closed 24/7. I lost my beloved dog to an attack by my neighbors 2 German Shepherds which were always in a fenced yard, but somehow were roaming free on this day. This tragedy has changed my life forever, as I loved my dog so very much, I cry everyday. I never saw this happening to me. It has been a very painful lesson.
My parents were the epitome of ignorant and irresponsible dog owners when I was growing up. One of my childhood dogs wandered the neighborhood aimlessly all of the time. Didn’t know any better when I was younger, but makes my blood boil just thinking about it now. I’m honestly kind of surprised she didn’t end up dead somehow (Though, somebody did find her once, thought she was a stray, and decided they wanted to keep her for a few weeks before searching for the owner. Easily could have never seen her again there if things went differently.)
Throughout the years, I’ve gained enough experience to know that there is nothing good about off-leash dogs and their friendliness is irrelevant. I own a dog who used to be reactive towards strangers before working with her and can see just how dangerous it would be for a friendly off-leash dog to mosey up to a reactive strange dog and get into some serious trouble. And the unfriendly dogs (ESPECIALLY ones that have a known history), just don’t even get me started…
A neighbor of mine has two large dogs that are always running loose. One of them has an especially bad rep. when it comes to other dogs. I’ve personally had her run up to my on-leash dog while coming home from a walk, sniff, and start growling immediately. I’ve also heard from another neighbor that when a friend of his came to visit and brought their dog, the other dog ran up to him and started a fight. I will more often than occasionally walk my dog outside and one of the dogs will be on the treeline in my backyard staring down me and my pup. Creepy as all hell.
They have an electric fence for them. Clearly isn’t doing squat and they’ve got to be aware of that at this point. If your dog cannot be trusted outside (because they wander or for any other reason) and you haven’t got a fence, then you will have to stop being lazy and take them out on-leash to use the restroom. Plain and simple. We have an online neighborhood message board where in the past somebody has called out another dog owner with a similar problem dog warning them that if they saw the dog wandering again, they’ll call Animal Control. Guess who has been seen actually walking their dog ever since? I’ve had enough, though, and am likely to call AC the next time I see them out. Gets ridiculous especially when you start becoming wary about taking your dog out onto YOUR OWN PROPERTY.
I am understanding about the (very) occasional situation where a dog gets loose, though.
You are EXACTLY right!!
This is a big problem in my neighborhood. I now carry both citronella spray and pepper spray. If I know the dog and know it’s just obnoxious, I spray citronella. If I don’t know the dog or don’t know what it is capable of, I am ready with the pepper spray. I haven’t had to use it yet, but you better believe I will. A neighbor’s little dog was sent to intensive care by a dog whose owners let it run loose every day. Their response when the little dog’s owner confronted them was to threaten that other
neighbors would be mad at her if she reported them to Animal Control. Some dog owners are just nuts. You have to protect your own dog.
*Bleep* neighbor allows his hundred pound “puppy” to run free. Once out the door, the animal makes a bee-line for my front yard leaving behind feces & urine. All he says is…not my fault…can’t control where she does her business…she broke away…you animal hater. So tired of cleaning up after this dog. Is there a super-strong repellent I can spray on my porch & in my yard? Thanks.
There is Critter Ridder
but the reviews are mixed and it is not something I have tried. In the one-star reviews section, there are more suggestions for alternative techniques.
I carry pepper spray and have used it for off leash dogs running at us. I don’t “wait and see” if they are friendly- an untethered dog running at a tethered dog is stressful. I spray them from 10-20 FT away and make sure they don’t get any closer. I have zero problem being more invasive if the pepper spray doesn’t deter them at a distance. I exercise my right to defend my personal space… period.
My neighbor’s 3rd dog was hit by a car today for running in the street. Poor Bella. Luckily she survived. RIP Cruncher. RIP Princess. Isn’t this animal abuse? Should I report them? It breaks my heart and it’s traumatic to witness!
One possibility is to call up some local shelters or rescues and get their advice.
This thread has a good discussion on what can be done in cases of neglect-
http://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/comments/1y51g8/my_next_door_neighbor_is_neglecting_his_dog_and_i/
I don’t care if the dog is well trained or not. I do not know these dogs and do not want them off leash near me. I was once approached by a dog off leash, the owner promised me the dog was well trained and non agressive. Next thing I knew I was on my way to thr hospital covered in blood. I found out later the dog bite 3 more people in a park after he bite me. Each one said the owner told them the dog was safe. The dog was unleashed and was hit and killed by a car.
All I see on this thread is people protecting their own dogs which is great but I do not have a dog, just me and 2 roaming dogs. I have tried to discuss this with their owners who have been nothing but rude and refuse to keep their dogs on their property. I don’t feel safe walking down my own street any more. Any tips on how to stop this?
Bring some Bear spray works well
I was bitten yesterday by a neighbors dog. They claimed it was not theirs and did nothing to restrain the animal. It was horrible. I am pretty upset.
Do you think Petco carries bear spray?
Amazon does!