Neighbors dog came over the fence and came after me

[Anonymous]

Is it a pit bull?

[Anonymous]

OP here. The dog is clearly aggressive. Several weeks ago, the neighbor was telling me that if I just made friends with the dog, it could work out. I held out my hand for the dog to sniff and she snapped at my hand. I told the neighbor, I was not going to try that again. A few days later, she was walking the dog on a leash. I was passing by with my daughter. We said hello and tried to have a chat. The chat was cut short because the dog was eyeing my daughter and trying to get over to her—not in a friendly way. The neighbor had to grab her dog by the collar to keep her away from my child.

The dog can see us through the glass doors at the back of our house and barks at us while at are in our kitchen. And we we exit the kitchen door to the driveway she barks at me daughter. My daughter keeps saying I’m scared I’m scared and doesn’t want to come out the door to get in the car. The dog is barking and snarling behind the fence watching us. When my mom comes over the dog harassed her as she gets out of the car. My mom came inside shaken a few weeks ago and told me that dog is not right. I think the neighbor is delusional that this dog is okay.

I tried to tell the neighbor this dog is a liability and to please take a couple of days to think about keeping it. She shut me down and wasn’t receptive. I find it mind-boggling she wants to keep this dog.

[Anonymous]

You need pepper spray.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need pepper spray.

You know it doesn't work on a lot of aggressive dogs right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The dog is clearly aggressive. Several weeks ago, the neighbor was telling me that if I just made friends with the dog, it could work out. I held out my hand for the dog to sniff and she snapped at my hand. I told the neighbor, I was not going to try that again. A few days later, she was walking the dog on a leash. I was passing by with my daughter. We said hello and tried to have a chat. The chat was cut short because the dog was eyeing my daughter and trying to get over to her—not in a friendly way. The neighbor had to grab her dog by the collar to keep her away from my child.

The dog can see us through the glass doors at the back of our house and barks at us while at are in our kitchen. And we we exit the kitchen door to the driveway she barks at me daughter. My daughter keeps saying I’m scared I’m scared and doesn’t want to come out the door to get in the car. The dog is barking and snarling behind the fence watching us. When my mom comes over the dog harassed her as she gets out of the car. My mom came inside shaken a few weeks ago and told me that dog is not right. I think the neighbor is delusional that this dog is okay.

I tried to tell the neighbor this dog is a liability and to please take a couple of days to think about keeping it. She shut me down and wasn’t receptive. I find it mind-boggling she wants to keep this dog.

Nothing about this is ok. DH was mauled by a dog like this as a child, similar situation where neighbors continued to make excuses for a family pet that was aggressive towards DH's family but there were really no grounds to do anything until it was too late (dog was never aggressive towards its owners). If their dog came into your yard, I think you have grounds to call animal control and you should. It's going to make it tough with your neighbors but they have already shown they are not going to take their pet's behavior seriously. Anyone who knows and cares for dogs needs to be able to acknowledge when their animal's behavior is dangerous towards anyone - it's heartbreaking when your pet is aggressive to outsiders when they have never been aggressive to you, but it's part of being a responsible pet owner. If you can't keep other people safe, you can't keep the pet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it a pit bull?

There are other dogs who are aggressive.

[Anonymous]

The fact that it took the neighbor a bit to get the dog back to their yard is an indicator that the dog was not doing this in a playful manner.

I agree with the recommendation to call animal control. Given your repeated observations with this dog, I would be very concerned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The dog is clearly aggressive. Several weeks ago, the neighbor was telling me that if I just made friends with the dog, it could work out. I held out my hand for the dog to sniff and she snapped at my hand. I told the neighbor, I was not going to try that again. A few days later, she was walking the dog on a leash. I was passing by with my daughter. We said hello and tried to have a chat. The chat was cut short because the dog was eyeing my daughter and trying to get over to her—not in a friendly way. The neighbor had to grab her dog by the collar to keep her away from my child.

The dog can see us through the glass doors at the back of our house and barks at us while at are in our kitchen. And we we exit the kitchen door to the driveway she barks at me daughter. My daughter keeps saying I’m scared I’m scared and doesn’t want to come out the door to get in the car. The dog is barking and snarling behind the fence watching us. When my mom comes over the dog harassed her as she gets out of the car. My mom came inside shaken a few weeks ago and told me that dog is not right. I think the neighbor is delusional that this dog is okay.

I tried to tell the neighbor this dog is a liability and to please take a couple of days to think about keeping it. She shut me down and wasn’t receptive. I find it mind-boggling she wants to keep this dog.

You need to call Animal Control. Tell them this, ask their advice. They are really helpful. I had a dog come after my son on a walk, it was off leash and ran out of a house / yard without its owner. We managed to hold it back by waving a water bottle until the owner appeared and took it away. But we were scared and it was a path we took most days. We talked to animal control and they came out and spoke to the owner, listed the laws they were breaking, told them what they needed to do. They actually said because they had broken 3 laws we could take them to court over it. We didn't want to do that.

[Anonymous]

What kind of dog? Also jumping over a fence will not get dog taken away because you were not bitten. Those are facts. Honestly I would move. Life is too short to be battling over this. Our HOA doesn’t allow certain breeds and also has rule if a dog is deemed aggressive. I used to hate HOAs but have since changed my tune. If this dog is a Pitt Bull, Cane Corso, Rottweiler then I again would move. Chances are even if they give dog away they will get another. Some people are attracted to more aggressive breeds. I love dogs and know that there are some who socialize above animals to be wonderful but but but those folks are rare and even they have situations where they are surprised their sweet Pitt mauled someone.

[Anonymous]

They need to keep the dog inside and not leave it in the yard. We had a mildly aggressive dog who could hop any fence, so we kept her inside and never let her out in the yard unsupervised and always on a leash. It sucks but that's the compromise you make if you keep an aggressive dog.

[Anonymous]

That sounds extremely scary. I don’t know what I would do in your shoes. But if you go the route of having them build a fence, part of the requirement will need to be that they also include underground fencing so that he cannot dig underneath. end it needs to be a very very tall fence- around their entire yard.

[Anonymous]

I’m sure that was really scary, OP. We breed and train German Shepherd Dogs. I know how scary a dog running at you can be. Just a suggestion- Can you find out if the dog is truly aggressive? I worked with a large German Shepherd who would chase anything that moved, including people. But, once he caught them, all he wanted to do was play. I am NOT excusing the behavior. At all. But it does change the way you might proceed. A truly aggressive dog should never be tolerated. Maybe ask the neighbor to leash the dog while you assess? You might be surprised.

If the dog is aggressive, I would call animal control and report the incident.

[Anonymous]

What type of dog? This makes a difference. Just FYI, there are many dog mixes that get mistaken for a black lab.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need pepper spray.

You know it doesn't work on a lot of aggressive dogs right?

It’s better than nothing until a long term solution is worked out.

[Anonymous]

You need to document this event either by calling the police or animal control. Don't live in fear. Take control of the situation and make a call.