Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Romanos
If this next door neighbour's dog is behaving badly then it could be a civil case for you to take up - breaking a fence or parts of it; acting aggressively and belting out loud and long winded intimidating sounds, making your pup's and you and your family members life a misery etc.
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Our city ordinance here is not as simple as destoying property or threatening barking. For legal action, a dog has to (1) have bitten or scratched 3 people, or bitten or scratched 1 person where a doctor states that the person's life was endangered; or (2) seriously injured or killed another animal. In other words a person or animal has to be seriously injured or killed before you have a civil case.
I do think the responsibility is on my shoulders to train Charlie,
even more so because we live next to an unstable dog whose owner doesn't care. Part of normal dog training is to have your dog think you are the most interesting thing in the world, and come to you regardless what the distraction is. I just need to learn to be more fun, interesting, and entertaining than the vicious dog next door. How hard can that be? LOL
This morning, Charlie went straight to the fence and barked once (first) to get the Pit Bull's attention. Which he did...the dog came bounding over, slammed into the fence a few times barking, growling. Sad to say, Charlie was actually the instigator today (though he seems to be wanting to play, not fight). I followed him out and clipped he leash on and we sat, back to the fence for a few minutes and I kept Charlie from making eye contact. That does quiet the neighbor dog down.
After a few minutes with both dogs quiet at the fence line, we were able to carry on with our more normal routine. Fed Charlie breakfast, went out front to get the paper, played soccer, tossed other toys for Charlie to chase, then Charlie quietly chewed toys for awhile ignoring the neighbor dog. The Pit Bull sat right at the fence "guarding" and watched us play for over an hour. You almost feel sorry for him...not having his owner's attention or training. It looks like the guys next door throw the dogs out in the yard when they are home, and put them in the house when they aren't home. Kind of backwards...the dogs are just left to make up their own rules.
It looks like ColColt gave us a workable solution here. I also think its a good time to start working Charlie on a longer distance recalls on a long line to get him to come to me even with great distractions.