Need dog advice..neighbor's pitbull

[dirty ethel rackham]

I think there is a lot of reporting bias when it comes to dog attacks. We hear about the pit bull attacks because it fits what people's preconceived notions about these dogs may be and it feeds media hype and sells ad spac. No one is going to report on a golden who went crazy. Those don't make news the way the pittie attacks do. Irresponsible dog owners do seem to be attracted to pit bulls because they think their "fighting cred" makes them cool, macho dogs.

 

My sister was attacked by two German Shepherds growing up - they were her best friend's dogs. Her family bred them for guard dogs. They insisted that the dogs were nice and gentle, all the while they snarled and snapped through the door. Once they got out and nearly shredded sis' back. At the shelter, big GSDs and Rotties give me pause - much more than the pit bulls, many of whom have come from terrible circumstances. The worst was the blue-tick heeler that nearly ate a yorkie for lunch ... had his teeth in him and would not let go. It took 3 workers to separate the two dogs. By some miracle, the yorkie survived. I am usually reluctant to work with any Chow mixes because they seem to have very ambiguous body language. I really can't tell if they are happy or aggressive.

[ktgrok]

I think there is a lot of reporting bias when it comes to dog attacks. We hear about the pit bull attacks because it fits what people's preconceived notions about these dogs may be and it feeds media hype and sells ad spac. No one is going to report on a golden who went crazy. Those don't make news the way the pittie attacks do. Irresponsible dog owners do seem to be attracted to pit bulls because they think their "fighting cred" makes them cool, macho dogs.

 

My sister was attacked by two German Shepherds growing up - they were her best friend's dogs. Her family bred them for guard dogs. They insisted that the dogs were nice and gentle, all the while they snarled and snapped through the door. Once they got out and nearly shredded sis' back. At the shelter, big GSDs and Rotties give me pause - much more than the pit bulls, many of whom have come from terrible circumstances. The worst was the blue-tick heeler that nearly ate a yorkie for lunch ... had his teeth in him and would not let go. It took 3 workers to separate the two dogs. By some miracle, the yorkie survived. I am usually reluctant to work with any Chow mixes because they seem to have very ambiguous body language. I really can't tell if they are happy or aggressive.

 

 

All very true. Come to think of it. the dogs that I KNOW attacked and severely injured people, never made the news. One was an Akita that was aggressive from a puppy. He came to the clinic for "daycare", to sit up front with me and the staff dogs, and at the end of the first day I told the vet that he was scaring me. To put that in perspective, I'd been working in vet medicine for 10 years at that point, and that was the first dog to truly scare me. He had a look in his eye that was...wrong. Just wrong. We were friends with the owner, and warned her. She kept the dog, and at 5 months old he attacked her son. He had to have major reconstructive surgery and will always have scars. No news report. The other was a black lab that twice almost killed their shih tzu. Again, gave me the willies...didn't trust him at all. He scared me. Again, owner's wouldn't listen. They had a baby, and that baby almost was killed. He was in the hospital for a week with skull damage, scars, etc. THEN they put the dog down. Also didn't make the news. But a pit bull attack probably would have, especially since the second owners were telling EVERYONE how their dog "turned with no warning". My mom got her nails done one day and came home and told me a horror story about a sweet labrador going nuts one night and almost killing a baby. yeah..turns out it was that lady. I explained that there certainly were many many many warnings. sigh.

 

And yes, heelers/cattle dogs seem a bit less domesticated than other dogs. And Chows are actually PURPOSELY bred to be hard to read...that's what made them good fighting dogs it seems. Akitas as well.

 

I do think we have a lot of cruddy, mentally unstable pits right now because a certain segment of the population has latched on to them as cool dogs, and breeds them indiscriminately, even preferring aggressive ones. But the breed used to be "the nursemaid dog". sigh again.

[Mergath]

I think there is a lot of reporting bias when it comes to dog attacks. We hear about the pit bull attacks because it fits what people's preconceived notions about these dogs may be and it feeds media hype and sells ad spac. No one is going to report on a golden who went crazy. Those don't make news the way the pittie attacks do. Irresponsible dog owners do seem to be attracted to pit bulls because they think their "fighting cred" makes them cool, macho dogs.

 

My sister was attacked by two German Shepherds growing up - they were her best friend's dogs. Her family bred them for guard dogs. They insisted that the dogs were nice and gentle, all the while they snarled and snapped through the door. Once they got out and nearly shredded sis' back. At the shelter, big GSDs and Rotties give me pause - much more than the pit bulls, many of whom have come from terrible circumstances. The worst was the blue-tick heeler that nearly ate a yorkie for lunch ... had his teeth in him and would not let go. It took 3 workers to separate the two dogs. By some miracle, the yorkie survived. I am usually reluctant to work with any Chow mixes because they seem to have very ambiguous body language. I really can't tell if they are happy or aggressive.

 

 

If you look at the statistics for fatal dog attacks, however, the vast majority are pits. Perhaps if you just look at dog bites it evens out, but a pit bull is far more likely to kill you than any other breed, for the reasons already stated- they're freakishly strong, and once they start attacking, they don't stop. On the other hand, fatal attacks by retrievers are very rare.

[gardenmom5]

I think there is a lot of reporting bias when it comes to dog attacks. We hear about the pit bull attacks because it fits what people's preconceived notions about these dogs may be and it feeds media hype and sells ad spac.

 

no - it's because pits are the breed most likely to kill their human victim. of 16 fatal dog attacks in the US this year (six months) 14 were pits. that's statistics, not hype. yes, other dogs will attack/bite, but they don't kill as often. You also need to look at the percentage of dog population by breed to see just how out of whack it is.

[TravelingChris]

"He commented some homeowner's insurance policies will not cover pit bulls."

 

This is entirely correct. My insurance will not cover several breeds including pit bulls, Rottweilers, Akitas, and a few others.

 

On a different note- which cattle dogs are bad? We have rescued a mini poodle/corgi mix. He is louder than my previous pure poodle about warning of people coming to the house. He is an indoor dog so he won't be rushing any fence since our yard is not fenced. (We do take him out and will be walking him when he is recovered from surgery). If we open the door and let the person in, he is fine and doesn't bark or challenge them. He seems to act much more like a poodle than a corgi but does bark a bit more. I am training him to bark once (I do want the bark, but not three or four barks). He trains easily so once his recovery is done, we will get back to working on that.

[beaners]

"He commented some homeowner's insurance policies will not cover pit bulls."

 

This is entirely correct. My insurance will not cover several breeds including pit bulls, Rottweilers, Akitas, and a few others.

 

On a different note- which cattle dogs are bad? We have rescued a mini poodle/corgi mix. He is louder than my previous pure poodle about warning of people coming to the house. He is an indoor dog so he won't be rushing any fence since our yard is not fenced. (We do take him out and will be walking him when he is recovered from surgery). If we open the door and let the person in, he is fine and doesn't bark or challenge them. He seems to act much more like a poodle than a corgi but does bark a bit more. I am training him to bark once (I do want the bark, but not three or four barks). He trains easily so once his recovery is done, we will get back to working on that.

 

 

ACDs (heelers) tend to be "hard" dogs at best, in my experience. I'm assuming that's the breed they're referring to.

 

Regardless of anyone's personal view of bully breeds (and I'm on the side that there are many less stable breeds), it sounds like the dog the OP is dealing with IS aggressive. I'd keep my pyr contained, take a short video of the dog freaking out at the fence, talk to the neighbors, fence if it was at all feasible, and be prepared to call the police to deal with the dogs if they get out again.

[ktgrok]

 

ACDs (heelers) tend to be "hard" dogs at best, in my experience. I'm assuming that's the breed they're referring to.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, that's the breed I meant, and the related ones. They tend to do well on a farm with lots of land and not a lot of people. Inside a small exam room? Not so much. Don't corner one.

[Alia_in_FL]

I talked to my neighbor that lives 2 houses down yesterday and we were talking about the neighbor's pits and she said that it (neighbor's pit -- the one that was hit by the car months ago, which I mentioned in my earlier post), had attacked & killed her Schnauzer (sp?) ih their yard (the Schnauzer's yard) this past January.

[Scarlett]

This thread is making me not ever want another dog. I have a gentle Brittany....9 years old now......even she got aggressive with my friends year old male dog.

 

I think any dog can go nuts....the post on here about the cyclist who was attacked out of the blue just gave me chills. I also agree Pitts that go nuts are extra dangerous.

[Pawz4me]

This thread is making me not ever want another dog. I have a gentle Brittany....9 years old now......even she got aggressive with my friends year old male dog.

 

I think any dog can go nuts....the post on here about the cyclist who was attacked out of the blue just gave me chills. I also agree Pitts that go nuts are extra dangerous.

 

 

Dog/dog aggression is completely different than dog/human aggression. There are *many* reasons dogs will display aggression to each other. And sometimes what a human thinks is aggression really isn't. Dogs engage in posturing much more frequently than true aggression. But it can be hard to tell the difference if you're not experienced (and sometimes even if you are). It's also quite possible that what you viewed as aggression was in fact your adult dog correcting the youngster for a doggy transgression. Older dogs correct puppies all the time. It can look quite harsh, but it's very rare for an adult dog to hurt a puppy/adolescent. That wouldn't be good for the long-term survival of the species.

 

I have a Brittany, too. Although any dog can of course show aggression to humans, it would be *very* unusual for a Brittany to do so. They're among the most gentle breeds, and thankfully haven't been harmed by the horrible breeding that almost always comes with popularity. And let's hope that never happens.

[BlueTaelon]

Electric fencing is cheaper then regular fencing and carries a heck of a deterrent, dogs usually won't try crossing it twice.

[jennynd]

I will be very paranoid if there is a pit live right beside me. I will definitely make sure to vedio tape it and warn my kids to get in the house. if they see the dogs are out,

[zoobie]

 

I brought this up with dh. He commented some homeowner's insurance policies will not cover pit bulls. if an owners pit attacks someone, etc. - the homeowner's policy will not bail out the owner - it will be their own pocket. I would consider asking the owners just what kind of coverage they have, and if it covers a lawsuit from a pit attack? they may think their homeowners policy covers them, but it may well not. Just as different car makes/models have different insurance costs associated with them because insurance companies have found there are makes/models they are more likely to pay out on - so those cost more to insure.

 

Some policies are subject to cancelation entirely if you have a certain breed (or trampoline, etc.). People with empty pockets aren't going to be scared by insurance not covering someone else's damage, kwim?

[Alia_in_FL]

I talked to my parents last night about my posting our incident with our pit attacking the biker on here. My parents reminded me of some things about her that I thought would be important to add.

 

My dad allowed our pit to have 1 litter of pups before we spay her. He said she was about 2 years old when she had the litter. My little sister (8 years younger than I) who was age 6 at that time would get IN THE DOGHOUSE with the pit bull and her 8 newborn puppies and would spend long periods of time moving her pups from one teat to another to get this one or that one more comfortable, etc. She'd YANK each pup (and the teat would be pulled great lengths with the pup since neither she nor I knew about breaking the suction; it had to have been a major pain and nuisance to the mama dog. The pups would whimper when they were taken off a teat which makes any mama dog -- especially a first-time mom --- angry anyway. She would sit in there and rearrange the pups to whatever order/purpose, and our pit wouldn't growl or anything at this intrusion. So you can see why we perceived her to be harmless. And, yet, she snapped and mauled that man severely for NO reason. (and no, she wasn't rabid).

 

My dad also reminded me of something else. My dad was a minister so we regularly had company over -- usually on Wednesday evening and Sunday afternoons. When we had company over, we tied her up as we didn't want her barking/intimidating people(we knew she looked intimidating) and we also didn't want her trying to eat peoples' burgers and begging for scraps. So she was accustomed to occasionally being tied up for a few hours and never minded it. Her clothesline/leash was completely in the shade near her doghouse, water and food so she was quite comfy. Dad said that she attacked him on a Sunday afternoon. He said we had 1 family over (3 people) on that particular Sunday and that he had her on her leash. He said we were all out on the porch when the biker appeared and she commenced to barking violently and pulling at her rope even with him well over 100 yards away!. She BROKE the rope and ran him down. In short, her drive to get him was THAT strong.

 

I also want to add that my caution with dogs isn't limited to pit bulls. I feel that any dog that possesses the size and/or strength to harm a child in a moment lapse of stability when its unpredictable animalistic instincts shift, shouldn't be left alone and in close proximity to a child. No matter how "sweet" they act, they never earn that level of trust for me. For me personally, an animal's being esteemed as trustworthy and even their presence near us (those "benefits") never outweigh the potential risks (sliced cornea, permanently scarred face, ripped off earlobe, etc. -- and the list could get more gruesome). Whether it's a Chow, a German Shepherd, a Boxer, a great Pyrenees, a Mastiff, a great Dane, a Schnauzer, a Lab, a horse, a cow, etc. When I had my first baby, my little rat terrier dog was instantly demoted to outdoors and was never left near my babies/small kids.

[jennynd]

A few things:

 

The number one dog breed responsible for bites is the Labrador retriever.

 

 

where di you see that??

 

http://images.bimedia.net/documents/Dog+attack+stats+with+breed+2012.pdf

 

lab is not quite 2% with the mixes and pitbull is 60%

[La Texican]

This issue makes me so mad, now that I have kids. It is illegal for a person to make threats against another person; you can press charges if they do. I have a problem with loose packs of aggressive dogs in my town. I googled to find a federal law forbiding aggressive dogs from chasing people down the street. There is no law in America against aggressive dogs that growl, and bark, and chase you down the street. It is up to the city to pass a law or it's not illegal. I found another citys "dangerous dog law" online and insisted that my city pass it. It took almost a year of me showing up at the town hall meetings to get the dangerous dog ordinance law passed and make it illegal for you to let your dog chase people down the street. It's just wrong that dogs have more freedom and rights to roam the street, taking that right away from families to take walks or children to ride their bikes.

I researched the problem. Dogs are considered property. If the city takes a viscious dog without giving it's owner due process it's considered government seizure of private property, unconstitutional. So it's bureacratic red tape instead of common sense that says if an aggressive loose dog bites my 2 year old she could easily be disfigured, lose an eyeball, or a finger. Dog people want to say their pets are people. If they were people they would be arrested for making threats. I don't care what kind of dog it is, I like my kids better. Control your property. You don't leave your other belongings out in the street, you keep them at your house or keep them with you.

 

Emotional issue. I used to walk and bike with my kids. I had my baby in a sling while my five year old rode his bicycle with training wheels to the store to get an ice cream. Someone's stupid german shepard chased my kid two blocks while I was running trying to catch them and I couldn't. The owner called the dog off, but that should have been illegal.

[La Texican]

eta: it is now. I researched and showed the city how the law applied and how to give the owners due process. The streets still are not safe yet, but they're building a kennel and working with a vet to safely, humanely, and legally euthanize dangerous dogs. If an owners dog chases me now they can go to court to keep their dog, pay a $500 fine, kennel the thing securely, and have it legally registered forever as a dangerous dog, wherever they go, if they leave the state, even if the dog gets sold the dangerous dog restrictions go with it.

 

signed,

mamma

[gardenmom5]

I talked to my neighbor that lives 2 houses down yesterday and we were talking about the neighbor's pits and she said that it (neighbor's pit -- the one that was hit by the car months ago, which I mentioned in my earlier post), had attacked & killed her Schnauzer (sp?) ih their yard (the Schnauzer's yard) this past January.

 

did your neighbor report that? if she hasn't, she needs to.

Some policies are subject to cancelation entirely if you have a certain breed (or trampoline, etc.). People with empty pockets aren't going to be scared by insurance not covering someone else's damage, kwim?

 

a college professor (the pit owner) who owns a home doesn't have empty pockets.

[La Texican]

eta, etc.,

Here's the law if anyone needs to copy it for their city. My city's lawyer approved adopting it here.

http://www.polksheriff.org/InsidePCSO/LE/SOD/BOSO/AC/Pages/DangerousDogLaws.aspx

 

Here's the part that's not automatically law unless a city passes it:

 

(d) Has, when unprovoked, chased or approached a person upon the streets, sidewalks, or any public grounds in a menacing fashion or apparent attitude of attack, provided that such actions are attested to in a sworn statement by one or more persons and dutifully investigated by the appropriate authority.

 

Unless this law is passed in your town aggressive dogs are not considered dangerous until after they bite you. This is OT because OP lives outside of town. Just sharing my information in case it helps some reader. It takes a long time to get it passed, then even longer to get it enforced, but if your town has this problem you'll appreciate this solution.

[Scarlett]

 

 

Dog/dog aggression is completely different than dog/human aggression. There are *many* reasons dogs will display aggression to each other. And sometimes what a human thinks is aggression really isn't. Dogs engage in posturing much more frequently than true aggression. But it can be hard to tell the difference if you're not experienced (and sometimes even if you are). It's also quite possible that what you viewed as aggression was in fact your adult dog correcting the youngster for a doggy transgression. Older dogs correct puppies all the time. It can look quite harsh, but it's very rare for an adult dog to hurt a puppy/adolescent. That wouldn't be good for the long-term survival of the species.

 

I have a Brittany, too. Although any dog can of course show aggression to humans, it would be *very* unusual for a Brittany to do so. They're among the most gentle breeds, and thankfully haven't been harmed by the horrible breeding that almost always comes with popularity. And let's hope that never happens.

 

I do believe it was adult dog correcting puppy.......she is very sweet and gentle to humans.

 

 

[Scarlett]

I talked to my parents last night about my posting our incident with our pit attacking the biker on here. My parents reminded me of some things about her that I thought would be important to add.

 

My dad allowed our pit to have 1 litter of pups before we spay her. He said she was about 2 years old when she had the litter. My little sister (8 years younger than I) who was age 6 at that time would get IN THE DOGHOUSE with the pit bull and her 8 newborn puppies and would spend long periods of time moving her pups from one teat to another to get this one or that one more comfortable, etc. She'd YANK each pup (and the teat would be pulled great lengths with the pup since neither she nor I knew about breaking the suction; it had to have been a major pain and nuisance to the mama dog. The pups would whimper when they were taken off a teat which makes any mama dog -- especially a first-time mom --- angry anyway. She would sit in there and rearrange the pups to whatever order/purpose, and our pit wouldn't growl or anything at this intrusion. So you can see why we perceived her to be harmless. And, yet, she snapped and mauled that man severely for NO reason. (and no, she wasn't rabid).

 

My dad also reminded me of something else. My dad was a minister so we regularly had company over -- usually on Wednesday evening and Sunday afternoons. When we had company over, we tied her up as we didn't want her barking/intimidating people(we knew she looked intimidating) and we also didn't want her trying to eat peoples' burgers and begging for scraps. So she was accustomed to occasionally being tied up for a few hours and never minded it. Her clothesline/leash was completely in the shade near her doghouse, water and food so she was quite comfy. Dad said that she attacked him on a Sunday afternoon. He said we had 1 family over (3 people) on that particular Sunday and that he had her on her leash. He said we were all out on the porch when the biker appeared and she commenced to barking violently and pulling at her rope even with him well over 100 yards away!. She BROKE the rope and ran him down. In short, her drive to get him was THAT strong.

 

I also want to add that my caution with dogs isn't limited to pit bulls. I feel that any dog that possesses the size and/or strength to harm a child in a moment lapse of stability when its unpredictable animalistic instincts shift, shouldn't be left alone and in close proximity to a child. No matter how "sweet" they act, they never earn that level of trust for me. For me personally, an animal's being esteemed as trustworthy and even their presence near us (those "benefits") never outweigh the potential risks (sliced cornea, permanently scarred face, ripped off earlobe, etc. -- and the list could get more gruesome). Whether it's a Chow, a German Shepherd, a Boxer, a great Pyrenees, a Mastiff, a great Dane, a Schnauzer, a Lab, a horse, a cow, etc. When I had my first baby, my little rat terrier dog was instantly demoted to outdoors and was never left near my babies/small kids.

 

My sweet Brittany was 10 weeks old when we got her. Ds was 4. As she grew I NEVER trusted her around babies or toddlers. When friends brought their kids over I crated her. She never displayed aggression....I just wanted to be careful. All it takes is a snap to the face of a baby and you have scars for life.

[Supertechmom]

eta, etc.,

Here's the law if anyone needs to copy it for their city. My city's lawyer approved adopting it here.

http://www.polksheri...ousDogLaws.aspx

 

Here's the part that's not automatically law unless a city passes it:

 

(d) Has, when unprovoked, chased or approached a person upon the streets, sidewalks, or any public grounds in a menacing fashion or apparent attitude of attack, provided that such actions are attested to in a sworn statement by one or more persons and dutifully investigated by the appropriate authority.

 

Unless this law is passed in your town aggressive dogs are not considered dangerous until after they bite you. This is OT because OP lives outside of town. Just sharing my information in case it helps some reader. It takes a long time to get it passed, then even longer to get it enforced, but if your town has this problem you'll appreciate this solution.

 

 

Thank you for that. I am going to pursue this in my area.

[Danestress]

. All it takes is a snap to the face of a baby and you have scars for life.

 

That is exactly right. If there is a breed that can be 100% depended upon to never hurt a human, I haven't met it yet. Any dog ownership requires caution.

 

I would be very upset if my neighbors had dogs like those the OP describes. I would also be very upset if the OP were my neighbor and just trusted her dogs to be unconfined. It's so ill advised.

 

I love dogs, and I love my dog extra. But all dogs require some caution and objectivity.

[Cera]

No breed is perfect but there is an agressiveness with pitts that isn't there with other breeds. Combined with their strength and drive they can be very, very dangerous.

 

We had a doberman who was 4 1/2 when our first child was born. I walked our neighborhood daily with the baby in a carrier and the dog on a leash (and she was very well behaved...lots of obedience training). There was a friend/neighbor whose house we passed every day and stopped to talk with her while her dog (pitt, generally off leash but seemed to listen well) and mine laid together on the lawn. After over a year of this we stopped one day for our usual chat, left to continue our walk, and were attacked by her dog from behind once we were about 200 yards away. Her dog was after me, not my dog. It managed to knock me off my feet, onto my back on top of my 1 year old. My dog attacked in response and held it off long enough for me to get up and the owner's husband to sprint to where we were and pull it away. My child's arm was injured where I landed on it, my back was injured, our dog needed numerous stitches and the owner's husband had very deep puncture wounds across his forearm. We were incredibly lucky that was all that happened (and of course they still said the dog was nice and ours must have scared it).

[Rebel Yell]

Posted 25 June 2013 - 11:19 AM

 

Rebel Yell, on 25 June 2013 - 10:54 AM, said:

 

If you put up a fence, make sure it goes a bit underground. Our neighbor's pitbull broke through the basement door inside their home, crashed through the kitchen door AND the storm door, dug under their chain-link fence, and was in *MY* yard scaring my children. :cursing:

 

consider yourself very lucky that's all it did.

Kristen

 

Yes, we were very lucky. My girls knew NOT to run, they just walked into the house. I called the neighbor (after this happened a few other times, I got his cell number) Neighbor was at work, and insisted dog was locked in the basement. After I gave a complete description of the dog, down to it's collar (YES, the dog was THAT CLOSE to my patio door!) and also the damage done to his kitchen door, he finally believed me and left work to get him. I don't know what he does now, but the dog hasn't escaped since- at least not that we've seen.

 

Although the way that dog puts up a fuss at the front window whenever it;s loose in the house and someone walks past- I wouldn;t be surprised if it crashes through the front window one day. :cursing:

[gardenmom5]

the way that dog puts up a fuss at the front window whenever it;s loose in the house and someone walks past- I wouldn;t be surprised if it crashes through the front window one day. :cursing:

maybe it will get some really good lacerations when it does. enough to slow it down from blood loss. ;p

[Dory]

If the dog has attacked the neighbours dog, they need to report it. Any dog that will go into another dogs territory and attack it isn't trustworthy. Even my overly territorial, grumpy cocker would never dream of acting dominant on another dogs turf.

 

Also, large, dominant dogs should never be unsupervised around small children or strangers. They need someone they know and respect handling them. If that isn't possible than they need to be crated or in a dog run away from other people and dogs. People seem to expect dogs to act human and then get upset when they act like dogs. If they aren't given so much leeway, people would see the signs long before the animals snapped.

[jeninok]

If the dog has attacked the neighbours dog, they need to report it. Any dog that will go into another dogs territory and attack it isn't trustworthy. Even my overly territorial, grumpy cocker would never dream of acting dominant on another dogs turf.

 

 

 

 

 

This is so true, my female heeler mix is very territorial, and the neighbors have a very territorial female lab mix, there have been two confrontations, one on each property when we first moved here. The neighbor's labs had claimed part of our yard as theirs while the house was empty, my girl had words with them one day and there was a lot of posturing and even some slobber on the neighbor dog's flank, but no blood shed and the lab backed down immediately and now stays out of her range.

 

About a month ago Edy was loose and tried to pee in their yard, I was trying to grab her and was close enough to watch and yell at the kids to get back, but not close enough to stop it. Once again there was posturing, noise and some slobber but no bloodshed. Edy now stays out of their turf and will even get on the other side of me if we are walking by with her on leash.

 

 

Their dogs stay in their unfenced yard quite well, and never come over and bother us. We have a large fenced in area, but she is like a mouse and can squeeze through tiny openings, and I am constantly having to outsmart her. But she doesn't run off, she walks the larger perimeter and pees on everything. Both sets of dogs are well aware of boundaries.