What is it with crazy people and their dogs?!

[Live2Ride]

This is going to be a bit long... sorry! :tongue_smilie:

 

I have an interesting neighbor clan...well, that's not a good word really...a little nutty would be more appropriate, but we'll go with interesting just to be nice.

 

They are all a little off...I'm not sure of the deal, but they can be nice one day and then weird the next. I don't deal with them much at all anymore since they have been pretty aggravating neighbors for some years now.

 

Their dogs have dug under my fences killing almost 50 chickens over the last few years. They chase my livestock. They chew on things from my barn. The granddaughter (who lives there) is a piece of work herself in that she can't control herself, her children, or her dogs. I actually sold the rest of the chickens after the last incident because I didn't want to put the poor chickens at risk anymore. The people had no intention of keeping their dogs under control, so I felt it better to sell them than risk them getting attacked again. I miss my chickens though...

 

They have owned various dogs...who either get hit (and then stated that it was 'the dogs own fault'), run off, given away, or sent to the pound. They don't train them so they just do anything and are yelled when they won't behave. DUH.

 

They recently added two Pittbull puppies to the mix (that makes 8 dogs). Now don't get me wrong, I like a nice Pitt. I have a mixed Pitt and we love her to pieces. She is an exceptional dog, but I've helped her to become a model dog citizen. We also have a GSD and a beagle.

 

The husband came by the barn yesterday and asked to buy a bale of hay for the dog house in the pen he has for two of the dogs-the others get to roam free unless I catch them on my property...And in the next breath said that I should get hay from so and so because he's nice (that's where all mine came from!) and that if said neighbor needed a bale then he could just call nice hay guy to let him know and the next day a bale would be by his back porch. I told him that he should give him a call then or he could buy one from me for $3 since that is what I paid from nice hay man. Like I'm going to give it to him for free...

 

He then told me and I quote: "You need to do something with your GSD because he's a mean dog". Seriously!? I told him outright, that the dog doesn't like some people and will treat them accordingly so don't fool with him. He then stated it was mean to my other two dogs and I told him that he obviously didn't understand how GSD's play and that they are just fine towards each other. They play rough. He's told me this many a time. I will not get rid of my dog. He protects our place keeping away anything that doesn't belong here.

 

So on to last night. At 11:30 pm I had to put one of my horses in one of the paddocks I have near my house that we use for various purposes. It's safe and has a tall sturdy fence. This horse was not happy about it. He has separation anxiety and we're working him through it. As of now he's still pacing the fence, though now it's at a walk instead of a frenzied trot like most of the night. The neighbors dogs were barking non stop (though that's not unusual at all), but they were worked up about the horse and I being in there.

 

I headed back inside, put my GSD in his kennel for the night since he was also barking excitedly at the horse when he would come near the fence that borders the backyard. I did that because each time he would bark, the neighbors dogs would get louder and so I thought it would help them to settle if he wasn't out there going nuts.

 

11:40 pm and I get a phone call from said neighbors and it started with,

 

Neighbor: "Hi, this is _________, M's granddaughter. Did you know you had a horse out".

 

Me- Well no, I did not. Where is it?

 

"It's in the pen next to the house".

 

It's not out, I put it there.

 

"Well it's causing our dogs to bark and being a good neighbor..."

 

I cut her off right there and told her that I already put my GSD away for the night so that he wouldn't encourage theirs to bark more. That the horse was going to stay in that pen because it needed to and that I was sorry that her dogs were bothering her, but that maybe she should put them inside.

 

SERIOUSLY! I have to move my horse on my property because you can't control your own dogs yappy mouths?! I think not.

 

I should have reminded her that the dogs they leave to roam their property, run up and down my fenceline constantly antagonizing my dogs and thus 'making' my dogs bark at theirs. But I surely don't call them to tell them to put their dogs away because my dogs are bothering me with their barking. I simply call my dogs to the house and kennel them for a little while until their dogs leave because there is no longer a dog to chase. Their dogs can roam their property all they like, providing they stay on their property. The neighbors know that once I find the dog on my property, they are not getting it back. It's a shame that I have to be that way, but it's all that they seem to understand. Getting a summons to court for the last chicken killing spree while picking up one of their dogs that I left at the pound, was finally enough to let them know I was no longer being nice. I'd had enough. Though they were warned that the next time the dog would not return. They've been mostly vigilant since then, but now we have moronic owners that can't control their little schnauzers owning two pittbulls...yay.

 

Poor people won't be getting any sleep I guess unless they do something with their dogs because the horse will be spending the next few weeks in that paddock...is it wrong to feel a little of this :lol: about that? ;)

Edited November 14, 2011 by CountryGirl2

[Ginevra]

This is why I've decided cats are far better than dogs. :rolleyes: If other people have an unfriendly cat, this usually means it hides under the stickerbushes and nobody can pet it. If other people have an unfriendly dog, it's bad news for all the years they own the dog(s).

 

Unfortunately, it's become amazingly rare to meet other people's dogs to find them obedient, controlled and pleasant. :tongue_smilie:

 

IME, antagonistic neighbor relations never go well; you have my pity.

[Jennifer3141]

Your neighbors are nuts!!!! :lol::lol:

 

I'd be adopting horses to keep one in that paddock forever. Can you foster horses??? :D

[Aelwydd]

This is why I've decided cats are far better than dogs. :rolleyes: If other people have an unfriendly cat, this usually means it hides under the stickerbushes and nobody can pet it. If other people have an unfriendly dog, it's bad news for all the years they own the dog(s).

 

Unfortunately, it's become amazingly rare to meet other people's dogs to find them obedient, controlled and pleasant. :tongue_smilie:

 

IME, antagonistic neighbor relations never go well; you have my pity.

 

Amen, sister. I'm a horse lover, who feels that since wolves are the natural enemies of horses, that it makes for better diplomacy just to stick to being a cat person at home. ;)

 

OP--I'd be seriously peeved, and not a little worried about the pit puppies.

[melissel]

Unfortunately, it's become amazingly rare to meet other people's dogs to find them obedient, controlled and pleasant. :tongue_smilie:

 

IME, antagonistic neighbor relations never go well; you have my pity.

 

Thankfully, we've had a few very sweet dogs on our street, but we've had an equal number of awful, angry, barking dogs as well (one of which bit me the week we moved in here). But I seem to encounter and hear an increasing number of stories about horrible dogs (and their horrible owners) :(

 

My DH's former sales partner was attacked by a loose pit bull as she was walking her little toy-breed something or other. She quickly picked up her dog to protect it and the pit attacked her AND the little dog. She was in the hospital for days, and the little dog was killed right in front of her. As she was screaming and hitting the pit bull, the owner came out the front door, yelled at her for hitting the pit bull, took the dog inside, and closed the door. :scared: She is, of course, suing them. (And I'm not anti-pit bull at all. Of the four dogs we've had trouble with around here, three have been GSDs.)

 

Poor dog owners keep poorly behaved dogs. It's a shame there's seems to be an increasing number of them too.

[Live2Ride]

Your neighbors are nuts!!!! :lol::lol:

 

I'd be adopting horses to keep one in that paddock forever. Can you foster horses??? :D

 

I actually have four! I may just rotate them in and out each week, lol. Sounds terrible, but I am just over their mess. My husband just laughed when I came to bed last night and told him about what they said. He was like, "Um, the horse is on our property eating and walking around. It's their problem that they can't shut their own dogs up", lol...he is not the confrontational one here. He did ask, "you didn't go off on them did you honey?" Nope, I just laughed as she started to talk about what good neighbors would do, cutting her off before she got too far in over her head and ended the conversation fairly quickly before I did say something ugly.

 

I too love cats, we have 5 that all stay up front, but not when they sleep in my barn and poo on my hay as one of hers frequently did. That one disappeared last year some time...we do have coyotes here though...

[Brilliant]

I have an interesting neighbor clan...well, that's not a good word really...a little nutty would be more appropriate, but we'll go with interesting just to be nice.

 

They are all a little off...I'm not sure of the deal, but they can be nice one day and then weird the next....

 

Your story reminded me of the movie Winter's Bone. {Shiver}

[Live2Ride]

Your story reminded me of the movie Winter's Bone. {Shiver}

 

Shiver is right! I only saw a few snipets of that movie...it was enough.

 

Oh and where I live is it perfectly acceptable and legal to shoot a dog on your property that is harrassing your livestock...they know that I now own a gun and target practice in sight of them...

Edited November 14, 2011 by CountryGirl2