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 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!