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You do or up and back a different street. It's a no-brainer.
Take your dog in the car to another walking area.
Keep a written record of their texts. Record their dog barking without your dog present. Build a file against them. It going to get worse. - because they are crazy and crazy people become more unhinged
It's your problem. Fix it. Take your dog in the car to another walking area.
Send a letter, hopefully from a lawyer. AC staff changes. If you tell one staff employee, but another employee sees the citations, you've lost. Everything must be in writing.
It's not going to be dropped. Your wishful thinking doesn't change the facts. Don't explain, send a written letter - hopefully, from a lawyer. This is harassment.
Obviously, this is exactly what they are working on. They will continue to file false claims until you handle the matter. Send a written letter to AC with proof of your travel - plane reservations, hotel reservations. Tell AC that this is harassment.
Yes. AC also can take dogs with excessive barking. It goes both ways.
For all you know, your other neighbors have contacted AC about their dog's excessive barking. So now they are fighting fire with fire.
Honestly, if their dog is that aggressive, your biggest worse worry is their dog will attack your dog. Keep your dog as far away as possible. Don't walk your dog anywhere near their dog. Don't put your dog's life in danger - by attack or by AC.
I would not walk my dog around the other dog either. If one day it gets out it could harm him. I had a dog that was attacked by a loose German Shepherd. Mine was an Aussie and he screamed so loud that people came out of their houses and cars stopped in the road. It scared me so much I never felt really comfortable walking any dog after that.
The owner, a contractor working on a house, did come and get his dog but I was ready to try to personally drag him off of my dog, which probably would have resulted in my being hurt.
I suggest going to the city code regarding "dogs", and see what the code says. Most cities have this online. This dog sounds aggressive, which would be a problem in our city, as would be the barking.
I am just wondering if the owners of the German Shepherd have been reported, and if they don't know who actually reported them, they may be reporting anything and everything out of revenge.
My worst fear would be the German Shepherd getting out of the yard, and attacking me or my dog. I would call the ACO, and ask if he/she would stop by to visit with me about both the citation and the neighbor's dog. All of the ACOs that I have encountered are nice and reasonable people that have ideas on how to approach problems with neighbors that probably aren't as smart as their dogs!
Our dog is a 100 pounds, all muscle dog park dog that is very friendly. They live on a corner lot and our small neighborhood only has two options for walking. Around the loop (they are on the corner) or up and back a different street.
I told them that I have the right to walk the block which makes them upset. (BTW - when I walk, I don't walk on the same side of the street as their house - I always walk on the opposite side) They sometimes shine a spotlight in my face after dark as I walk by and have done other things that I interpret as trying to intimidate me. Normally my dog is not bothered walking by their fence. He watches their dog and sometimes slightly will pull but normally we just keep walking and ignore the barking. With that said, three different times in the last three years my dog has pulled his lease out of my hand and charged their fence wanting to run back and forth with their dog.
...I don't know if they were to connect if my dog would fight.
... It was very flustering as it was hard for me to catch my dog for 2 minutes as he runs back and forth on their fence.
...they told me they would take my dog if we had repeated offenses. I do understand that legally I lost control and my dog was on their property so I am at fault with those 3 times. I am super scared of losing my dog.
I see few inconsistencies here:
1. You stated that:
"don't walk on the same side of the street as their house - I always walk on the opposite side"
Then you said:
"Normally my dog is not bothered walking by their fence."
So, which is it?
2. ."..I don't know if they were to connect if my dog would fight"
That's a bit unsettling. So, you don't know if your dog could be aggressive with another dog ...
3. "...legally I lost control and my dog was on their property so I am at fault with those 3 times.
How did your dog enter THEIR property??
That's a clear case of you not being able to control your dog. If you want to win this argument, you need to learn how to be in charge, and also teach your dog how to obey your commands.
If you decide that you both need to take classes, then this documentation should be very helpful. It shows that you want to improve.
4. "Yes, everything I said is true and I have now received 3 citations for the 2 times (in almost 3 years) that my dog pulled the leash from my hand and reached the neighbor's fence."
It seems to be 3 times, and you admitted your fault.
5. "I had my dog back in my possession in less than one minute each time"
Then:
"It was very flustering as it was hard for me to catch my dog for 2 minutes as he runs back and forth on their fence.
It seems that when he is loose, he is also hard to catch. You didn't timed it, so maybe it was longer than that.
The dog is also "able to pull me when he wants to".
"My dog is an inside dog and has never run loose in the neighborhood" - obviously he was.
Again, you're not in control of your animal.
I am not picking on you. I just want you to have your story straight when/if the authorities start to investigate.
Also, while I do believe your struggle, we only know your side of the story.
If the neighbours dog is so reactive that it barks at absolutely anything going past the house then that dog is the problem. It should not have access to the fence line. The OP losing a grip on the leash seems like a fairly minor footnote to this whole saga.
In what world is this acceptable? I would have told them where to stick their text message.
As far as I can see there is one dog that should be reported to the local authority and it's not the OP's.
Minor it might be. However, THAT'S the reason the doggy PO PO has been called and responded. And now OP is concerned that they MIGHT take their dog away.
I'd tell those people to pound sand in many, many different ways. Who do they think they are telling EVERYONE not to walk by their property because their dog is an ahole and they can't control it?? If it happens again with any type of "threats" from them, they'd be hearing from an attorney and I'd blast them on every SM I could with pictures, etc.
You need to file a report with police and AC immediately!!!
1. You stated that:
"don't walk on the same side of the street as their house - I always walk on the opposite side"
Then you said:
"Normally my dog is not bothered walking by their fence."
So, which is it?
2. ."..I don't know if they were to connect if my dog would fight"
That's a bit unsettling. So, you don't know if your dog could be aggressive with another dog ...
3. "...legally I lost control and my dog was on their property so I am at fault with those 3 times.
How did your dog enter THEIR property??
That's a clear case of you not being able to control your dog. If you want to win this argument, you need to learn how to be in charge, and also teach your dog how to obey your commands.
If you decide that you both need to take classes, then this documentation should be very helpful. It shows that you want to improve.
4. "Yes, everything I said is true and I have now received 3 citations for the 2 times (in almost 3 years) that my dog pulled the leash from my hand and reached the neighbor's fence."
It seems to be 3 times, and you admitted your fault.
5. "I had my dog back in my possession in less than one minute each time"
Then:
"It was very flustering as it was hard for me to catch my dog for 2 minutes as he runs back and forth on their fence.
It seems that when he is loose, he is also hard to catch. You didn't timed it, so maybe it was longer than that.
The dog is also "able to pull me when he wants to".
"My dog is an inside dog and has never run loose in the neighborhood" - obviously he was.
Again, you're not in control of your animal.
I am not picking on you. I just want you to have your story straight when/if the authorities start to investigate.
Also, while I do believe your struggle, we only know your side of the story.
This is really good. Very important to be absolutely clear about what has happened. I do believe that many if not most dogs do not respond to commands in a situation like this. How is a dog going to obey a command when it is under attack? One of my dogs has reacted when another dog attacked her. This has been rare occurrence. Fortunately, things de-escalated quickly because each time the dog park was full of responsible, educated, experienced and calm dog owners. If you make it impossible for your dog to get away from you, then if your dog is attacked it is clearly the fault of the other owner.
Always carry a cell phone to begin documenting anything that takes place. This is very important.
Quote:
Originally Posted by himain
I'd tell those people to pound sand in many, many different ways. Who do they think they are telling EVERYONE not to walk by their property because their dog is an ahole and they can't control it?? If it happens again with any type of "threats" from them, they'd be hearing from an attorney and I'd blast them on every SM I could with pictures, etc.
You need to file a report with police and AC immediately!!!
This is how I would act in this situation as well. It's always best to head things off at the pass rather than respond to something where you are at a disadvantage. Right now you are at a disadvantage and I hope you take steps to strengthen your position with authorities who count. Who have power to act in this situation.
I think it's pretty nervy of the neighbors to expect other neighbors not to walk around the neighborhood.
But...there's probably not much AC or the police can do about the way the shepherd acts while on its own property. Fence aggression usually isn't a violation of anything...maybe the barking, but most jurisdictions specify that it has to be continuous for at least 15 minutes before it's actionable.
Idk what the answer is; I wouldn't want some neighbor telling me I couldn't use the sidewalk, so I don't blame you for being upset. On the other hand, you say that the shepherd was barking while your dog ran up and down your neighbor's fence for two minutes — I can see why the neighbor would be upset with you over that as well, especially since it sounds like it's happened more than once.
Quote:
Can AC really take my dog if he is not dangerous in any manner because he got off the leash a couple of times? Am I being too stubborn? What do I do?
That depends on your local ordinances, but the answer is probably yes, so the first thing you need to do is work on getting that third citation dropped ASAP.
Edit: I don't think I'd go in with guns blazing over this; you've got nothing actionable, except maybe the barking. AC can't do anything about "what might happen" if the shepherd gets loose, and they ARE keeping the animal confined to their property. It doesn't sound like the shepherd has gotten loose in the time you've lived there, which indicates a pretty small likelihood of that occurring. Also, fence aggression doesn't necessarily translate to the dog attacking anyone/anything if it managed to get loose. Edit: My comments are addressing the legal aspects of this only and not what terrible people the shepherd's owners are and how they should be training their dog or any of that.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 03-24-2023 at 04:32 PM..
I've been thinking about this thread while driving around for work today. I thought about what I would do were it me in this situation.
If I was truly worried about AC taking my dog because I lost control of my own dog, 3 times, then before I would address anything else, I would do the following:
1) Call around for trainers. Do not do the pet store nonsense. Get a real trainer. Find one, give them the money, and get started. Have at least 3 of the sessions under your belt before doing anything else with AC.
2) As stated before, gather up all of the evidence that you can get that this last citation was not your dog. Prove that you nor your dog were there on that day. Prove that you were both somewhere else...if you have that proof.
3) Go to AC, provide them with a) proof that your dog, nor you, were around that day of the alleged incidence, and b) that you realized your errors when you did lose control of your dog, and here is the proof that we are currently in training, here is the phone number for the trainer, here is the proof of payment, and here is the schedule, as you can see, we have completed 3 sessions with X number to go. (This shows that you understand your own fault for the legit citations, and that you are doing what you need to do to correct those issues to prevent any future issues with you losing control of your dog.)
Recall is absolutely necessary during this training. Even IF you do drop the leash, your dog should not be running off. Your dog should stop when you drop the leash, if that happens, (which it shouldn't). Your dog should not decide on his own what he's going to do during the walks you take. YOU are the leader, not the dog.
3) While you are training, gather up all evidence that you can - text messages, emails, letters left on doors, etc. from when the other dog owner told you not to walk on the sidewalk near their house. Provide any other evidence of the neighbor harassing you about you and your dog.
Talk to the neighbors and ask them to also provide evidence. You may find that the other neighbors don't want to get involved...because soooooo many people want to complain all the time, but don't actually want to do anything to resolve the issue(s). So, if no one steps up, let it go. You cannot speak for anyone else but yourself, so don't even bother with 'They have also said it to my neighbors....' because the neighbors have to speak for themselves.
Once you have gone through training, once you have successfully secured 'recall', and you have successfully secured a good leash and collar so that your dog does not, and will not, fly off away from you, then, and only then, should you gather up everything: proof of full training, proof of quality leash and collar, and any and all evidence of your neighbor dictating to the neighborhood how they are to use their own dang neighborhood, and go to AC. It may be that AC won't handle that. You can inquire as to who you talk to about that.
The neighbors do not have the right to act like tyrants and tell everyone when and where they will walk in the neighborhood, and harass people about it who live in the neighborhood. They need to cease and desist. And when they get that notice telling them that they do not have the right to do what they are doing, you will have already proven that you and your dog are NOT part of the problem, as you have been in the past with dropping the leash and your dog taking off.
And, most importantly, while you are doing all of this, don't walk that way anymore. You do have the right to walk that way, but to make things easier for yourself while you are doing what you have to do to rectify your own part in all of this, and to prevent them from complaining about you and your dog, yet again, stay away from their fence, their yard, that sidewalk until you have done everything above.
I also asked myself, 'Would it be worth it to go through all of that?'
Training my dog? Yes.
Showing AC that I have already started to fix the past issues, proof of the last one that it wasn't your dog, and that the dog is now trained and is 100% under my control? Yes.
Fighting your neighbor over their demands that no one walk near their fence? I'm still going to say 'yes'.
Why? Because that's just who I am. You don't dictate to me where I walk in public. AND, even more importantly to me, is the fact that so many DON'T do anything, and that is why we have a rude and selfish society like we have, today.
It's up to you how far you take this; however, for the sake of your dog, your obligation is for you and your dog to get trained, and prove the last citation was not, and could not have been, your dog.
The neighbors do not have the right to act like tyrants and tell everyone when and where they will walk in the neighborhood, and harass people about it who live in the neighborhood. They need to cease and desist. And when they get that notice telling them that they do not have the right to do what they are doing, you will have already proven that you and your dog are NOT part of the problem, as you have been in the past with dropping the leash and your dog taking off.
There really isn't any public agency, certainly not AC, with the authority to issue any such "notice." Local LE might be able to charge the neighbor with harassment IF the OP tells the neighbor not to contact him/her any more and can prove that definitively, but that's about as far as it could theoretically go. LE would probably just call it a minor civil dispute between neighbors and tell the OP to block the neighbor's texts.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 03-24-2023 at 08:19 PM..
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