Property Owner Seeks Advice To Deal With Neighbor's Aggressive, Trespassing Dog
A 28-year-old woman is dealing with a neighbor’s massive, aggressive dog that keeps showing up on her property like it owns the place. It’s not just annoying, it’s scary, because the dog came close to getting her hit, and that’s when her patience finally ran out.
To make it worse, she says she even caught the neighbors trespassing, which turns the whole thing from “misunderstanding” into something darker. And the complication is that she wants a fix that does not involve going over there and having another conversation with the people who refuse to cooperate.
So she’s weighing her next move, including calling animal control, while cameras keep rolling and every new incident feels like a countdown.
The original poster (OP) explains her side of the story.
The neighbor's dog is large and aggressive.
The dog almost got hit by the OP.
She even caught her neighbors trespassing.
The OP wants a solution that doesn't involve talking to the neighbors.
The OP is thinking about calling animal control if her neighbors won't do something about it.
How a property owner dealt with a problematic neighbor with a dog.
I once had the same problem.
I own rental properties and do not allow pets in my rentals.
One of my tenants was having issues with a neighbor who would let their dog run free and do its business. I approached the neighbor who owned the dog and asked them to keep their dog off my property, but they told me to pound sand.
I then met with the animal control officer, who said that as long as the animal is not aggressive or running in the street, they can't do much.
I had a survey done on my property and installed fences with gates. That worked for about two months.
The dog dug under the fence, entered the yard, did its business, and then went back under the fence.
I fixed the fence by adding a buried fence underground. I dug a trench along the fence three feet deep and then added the buried fence along the bottom of the other fence and filled in the trench.
That stopped the dog from getting inside the yard. However, it did not stop the dog poop from getting into the yard.
The house has security cameras outside watching the sides and yard. The neighbor was caught picking up his dog's waste with a scoop and throwing it over into my yard.
I took that video to animal control (animal control works for the police here), and they showed it to an officer who informed the neighbor that continuing to toss dog waste onto others' property would get him arrested. He then began harassing other neighbors' lawns with his dog, and about six months later, the dog was hit by a car.
He moved out and sold his house a year after that.
It also mirrors the debate over whether neighbors can demand the dog stay indoors during outdoor activities.
As much as the OP wants to avoid her neighbors, she should at least try talking to them.
Ask your neighbor first. If it continues, call animal control. The neighbor will have to pay to get their pet back.
If the neighbor still refuses to do anything about the dogs, it's time to get the authorities involved.
Tell your neighbor not to let her dog stray. If it's causing damage or being annoying, I think you can complain to the police or dog warden.
Hold those neighbors accountable.
Ask your neighbor politely not to allow their dog to run free. If it happens again, remind them of their promise and that if it happens one more time, you will call animal control.
If the OP doesn't want any trespassing animals, she needs to put up a fence that prevents dogs from coming in.
If your neighbor’s dog is simply passing through and walking on your property to get somewhere, what is the problem? Relax.
If your neighbor’s dog is pooping on your property, then you need to have a conversation with your neighbor. Tell him you do not want dog waste on your grass, and if it lands there, he’s responsible for cleaning it up.
The only other solution I can think of is fencing in your yard or calling the police and reporting your neighbor’s dog to the authorities. Tell your neighbor you will do this if his dog continues to choose your yard as his outhouse.
Be friendly, be calm, tell him dogs will be dogs, but that there’s a limit, and his dog has reached it. Good luck.
Not exactly the best solution if it's an aggressive dog.
Grab some cheese and give that nice pup a treat for being so friendly. As a bonus, you will automatically be friends with your neighbor too.
She can take a look at her leash laws and complain if the neighbor is breaking any of those.
First, you must check to see if your area has strict dog leash laws. If it does, contact the local authorities and file a complaint.
People who let their dogs run free usually don't care about any damage that said animal might cause to another's property. But first and foremost, have you tried communicating with the dog's owner?
Let them know you are concerned for your safety or the safety of your children or pets.
OP isn’t just dealing with dog poop, she’s dealing with a dog that nearly hit her and a neighbor who, according to her, won’t change anything.
The story gets uglier when OP starts catching the neighbors trespassing, because now it feels like the problem is bigger than a loose gate.
Even the rental-property owner in the past tried the “ask nicely” approach, only to be told to “pound sand,” which is exactly why OP is trying to avoid talking to them.
It escalates fast once outdoor cameras catch the neighbor tossing waste over the fence, and that video becomes the moment things stop being “a dog issue” and start being consequences.
Even if the OP doesn't like her neighbors, she should still at least try to talk to them, convincing them to keep their dog within their property. She claims it's aggressive, so that's enough reason to persuade them to control their dog.
If that doesn't work, she could then look into leash laws and involve the authorities by filing a complaint.
The real twist is that nobody wants to fence-proof their entire life because someone else refuses to control their own dog.
Want to see how liability can hit when a trespassing dog bites? Read the neighbor’s broken-fence, biting-dog liability concerns.
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