This is why places have laws against certain breeds. It's not that they go out and knock on doors and seize the dogs, but the law is there in case of a situation like this. It gives the neighbor an option to report the dog, and then the older is told they have to get rid of the dog or animal control will take it.

I'm a dog person. I love dogs. And I know there are friendly pits. But there are also a lot of terrifying pits, and unlike a small dog that you could easily defend yourself against, pits are strong and powerful. People should not have to live in terror in their own backyards.

OP, the first thing to do is to talk to the neighbor. Tell the neighbor the dog is terrifying to your kids and you. Ask if the neighbor would at the least agree to not leave the dog in the yard unattended.

If the dog doesn't even really belong to the neighbor, that might just be the impetus she needs to rehome the dog. If she is leaving it outside alone a lot, it doesn't sound like she's particularly attached to it.

There's a lady in our neighborhood with two rotties. She has a high fence, but they go crazy when we walk by (on the road). The one even attacks the other one. Every time I walk by that house, I feel bad for her neighbors. She just leaves the dogs outside. They're vicious to EACH OTHER, so I have no doubt they'd tear me or my dog apart if they got out.

I feel angry with people who have dogs like that. I think they do it for "security," but the reality is that their dogs are a liability and a menace to the neighborhood.

When I was a kid, there was a scary dog that barked at me from inside a neighbor's fence as I walked home from school each day. Vicious barking that made me very scared. I wouldn't want to go to and from school for this reason. My mom decided to take me to the neighbor's house to talk about it. Maybe she thought that once we were inside, we'd meet the dog and I wouldn't be scared anymore. It was the most terrifying experience of my life. The owner put the dog in an upstairs bedroom where it barked viciously at the door and I thought I was going to get murdered while I sat on the couch and was embarrassed.
I would build a tall barrier fence and find excuses to call animal control. Enough complaints and the owner will eventually rehome it.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. And I should say that I like my neighbor. I don't know her well but we're always pleasant to one another. I believe she took the dog in from her nephew. And i have NEVER, not once, seen him walked on a leash. He is only ever in the house or in the yard.

oh-oh, there were few very recent articles about the same arrangement - female took a dog from her son/son's friend - and ended up in a hospital or six feet under.
The dog is obviously very territorial and dominant.
Be very careful.

Anonymous wrote:If you are friendly with the neighbor you could also ask if you and your children can give the dog training treats (which are little bits of treat). When the dog exhibits a positive behavior (e.g., stops barking), give the dog a treat. The dog will begin to associate you and your kids with both the good behavior and the treats. It will take time, and it would certainly help if your neighbor were also working on positive reinforcement training with the dog.

.

Are you crazy? OP, don't let your kids anywhere near that dog, and watch them like a hawk near the fence. Look what happened here:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pit-bull-attacks-kids-strapped-car-seats-inside-182050055.html

I would buy some stew meat and feed the beast. Don't hand feed him, he might grab the meat along with your fingers unintentionally, just push peaces through the chain link and talk to him nicely.
He will be a different dog in no time, he will love you.

Make sure the owner either does not see you doing it, or talk to him first about making friends with the dog.

Watch your kids closely and have some weapon handy, pits (and other breeds, too) get over the chain link fences like an acrobats.
Actually, it's better to have an axe handy. It sounds awful, but pits have very high pain tolerance and may not respond to the blow of, say, baseball bat.

In a long run - fence with buried a foot deep chainlink at the property line, some dogs are diggers but when they start digging under the fence and hit the chainlink, it discourages them from continuing.

If you are friendly with the neighbor you could also ask if you and your children can give the dog training treats (which are little bits of treat). When the dog exhibits a positive behavior (e.g., stops barking), give the dog a treat. The dog will begin to associate you and your kids with both the good behavior and the treats. It will take time, and it would certainly help if your neighbor were also working on positive reinforcement training with the dog.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in a row house in Petworth. Our neighbor, who we share a fence (low, chain link) with has an enormous, very scary pit bull. It barks incessantly at us when we are in our yard and follows us aggressively along the fence as we move. I have two children. I have no doubt this dog would like to do us harm. I try to speak kindly and soothingly to the dog. I feel like we're living next to a time bomb. What are our rights? Should I film him and complain to the police, animal control? We do not feel safe. And I love dogs. But this one seems right out of central casting for killer pit bull.

You can call animal control, but the outcome is not certain. One counter-intuitive strategy: since you like your neighbor, you should think about getting to know the dog. Go over there when the dog is inside and have your neighbor introduce you to it, give it treats, walk it, get it to think of you as a second owner.

It's a freakin pitbull!! They grab by the throat when they attack and do not let go.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3774709/Pit-bull-savages-tiny-beagle-owner-gets-injured-trying-save-pet-horrific-scenes-streets-Boston.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4087546/Scarface-pit-bull-mauling-owners-tried-Christmas-sweater-him.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4615928/Ten-year-old-girl-arm-severed-pit-bull-Detroit.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3813982/Woman-stabs-loose-pit-bull-attacked-son-backyard.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4390836/Dog-shot-dead-baby-mauled-banned-pitbull-type.html

+1

A pit bull killed his perfectly healthy 30-something year old female owner recently. (Don't remember if she was in her 20s or 30s. The neighbors tried to help but he wouldn't get off. This breed should be completely eradicated.

She was probably one of those people who said he wouldnt hurt a fly

Anonymous wrote:OP here. And I should say that I like my neighbor. I don't know her well but we're always pleasant to one another. I believe she took the dog in from her nephew. And i have NEVER, not once, seen him walked on a leash. He is only ever in the house or in the yard.

People like this suck. Dogs need to be walked. It sounds like she didn't really want him.

Is it really a pit bull or is every barking dog a "vicious pit bull" now?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in a row house in Petworth. Our neighbor, who we share a fence (low, chain link) with has an enormous, very scary pit bull. It barks incessantly at us when we are in our yard and follows us aggressively along the fence as we move. I have two children. I have no doubt this dog would like to do us harm. I try to speak kindly and soothingly to the dog. I feel like we're living next to a time bomb. What are our rights? Should I film him and complain to the police, animal control? We do not feel safe. And I love dogs. But this one seems right out of central casting for killer pit bull.

You can call animal control, but the outcome is not certain. One counter-intuitive strategy: since you like your neighbor, you should think about getting to know the dog. Go over there when the dog is inside and have your neighbor introduce you to it, give it treats, walk it, get it to think of you as a second owner.

OMFG!

Don't do this. You dog people are f*cking crazy.

Hey now, I'm a dog person to the highest degree but I would be just as angry as the OP about a scary dog next door if I had kids. I get pissed off all the time at unleashed dogs as especially their owners.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in a row house in Petworth. Our neighbor, who we share a fence (low, chain link) with has an enormous, very scary pit bull. It barks incessantly at us when we are in our yard and follows us aggressively along the fence as we move. I have two children. I have no doubt this dog would like to do us harm. I try to speak kindly and soothingly to the dog. I feel like we're living next to a time bomb. What are our rights? Should I film him and complain to the police, animal control? We do not feel safe. And I love dogs. But this one seems right out of central casting for killer pit bull.

You can call animal control, but the outcome is not certain. One counter-intuitive strategy: since you like your neighbor, you should think about getting to know the dog. Go over there when the dog is inside and have your neighbor introduce you to it, give it treats, walk it, get it to think of you as a second owner.

OMFG!

Don't do this. You dog people are f*cking crazy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in a row house in Petworth. Our neighbor, who we share a fence (low, chain link) with has an enormous, very scary pit bull. It barks incessantly at us when we are in our yard and follows us aggressively along the fence as we move. I have two children. I have no doubt this dog would like to do us harm. I try to speak kindly and soothingly to the dog. I feel like we're living next to a time bomb. What are our rights? Should I film him and complain to the police, animal control? We do not feel safe. And I love dogs. But this one seems right out of central casting for killer pit bull.

You can call animal control, but the outcome is not certain. One counter-intuitive strategy: since you like your neighbor, you should think about getting to know the dog. Go over there when the dog is inside and have your neighbor introduce you to it, give it treats, walk it, get it to think of you as a second owner.

It's a freakin pitbull!! They grab by the throat when they attack and do not let go.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3774709/Pit-bull-savages-tiny-beagle-owner-gets-injured-trying-save-pet-horrific-scenes-streets-Boston.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4087546/Scarface-pit-bull-mauling-owners-tried-Christmas-sweater-him.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4615928/Ten-year-old-girl-arm-severed-pit-bull-Detroit.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3813982/Woman-stabs-loose-pit-bull-attacked-son-backyard.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4390836/Dog-shot-dead-baby-mauled-banned-pitbull-type.html

+1

A pit bull killed his perfectly healthy 30-something year old female owner recently. (Don't remember if she was in her 20s or 30s. The neighbors tried to help but he wouldn't get off. This breed should be completely eradicated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in a row house in Petworth. Our neighbor, who we share a fence (low, chain link) with has an enormous, very scary pit bull. It barks incessantly at us when we are in our yard and follows us aggressively along the fence as we move. I have two children. I have no doubt this dog would like to do us harm. I try to speak kindly and soothingly to the dog. I feel like we're living next to a time bomb. What are our rights? Should I film him and complain to the police, animal control? We do not feel safe. And I love dogs. But this one seems right out of central casting for killer pit bull.

You can call animal control, but the outcome is not certain. One counter-intuitive strategy: since you like your neighbor, you should think about getting to know the dog. Go over there when the dog is inside and have your neighbor introduce you to it, give it treats, walk it, get it to think of you as a second owner.

It's a freakin pitbull!! They grab by the throat when they attack and do not let go.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3774709/Pit-bull-savages-tiny-beagle-owner-gets-injured-trying-save-pet-horrific-scenes-streets-Boston.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4087546/Scarface-pit-bull-mauling-owners-tried-Christmas-sweater-him.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4615928/Ten-year-old-girl-arm-severed-pit-bull-Detroit.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3813982/Woman-stabs-loose-pit-bull-attacked-son-backyard.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4390836/Dog-shot-dead-baby-mauled-banned-pitbull-type.html

Anonymous wrote:I would move.

I agree. I might try to work with the neighbor if it were just me, but with two children? No way. This is an unusual situation, the odds are extremely low that your next neighbor would have an enormous scary pit bull next door that tracks your children especially if you do your due diligence and ask around the neighborhood about it, before you move in.

Anonymous wrote:We live in a row house in Petworth. Our neighbor, who we share a fence (low, chain link) with has an enormous, very scary pit bull. It barks incessantly at us when we are in our yard and follows us aggressively along the fence as we move. I have two children. I have no doubt this dog would like to do us harm. I try to speak kindly and soothingly to the dog. I feel like we're living next to a time bomb. What are our rights? Should I film him and complain to the police, animal control? We do not feel safe. And I love dogs. But this one seems right out of central casting for killer pit bull.

You can call animal control, but the outcome is not certain. One counter-intuitive strategy: since you like your neighbor, you should think about getting to know the dog. Go over there when the dog is inside and have your neighbor introduce you to it, give it treats, walk it, get it to think of you as a second owner.