# Angry doesn't even begin to describe it



## Ruthie (Aug 25, 2009)

:angryfire:

We got a visit from animal control today. Seems one of our neighbor complained that we have a vicious dog. They can't tell us who or exactly what the complaint was. 

We evidentially have a neighbor who doesn't like us because we get the city called on us regularly. "Your trash cans are visible from the street", "You are storing things in your front yard" (a bag of soil for a landscaping project), "There is an abandoned vehicle" (A licensed and registered truck parked in our driveway that we use only for towing), "Your yard stinks" (Lawn was picked up the day before but Gator had diarrhea), and the list goes on and on.

But this complaint is too much, you don't mess with my dog. The only thing the animal control officer would tell DH was that he was "barking" and "growling" which is completely false. I have only heard Bison growl maybe 6 times and 4 of those were in SchH training the other two where when I was playing tug with him.

When animal control was here, DH let Bison out in our fenced yard to be "evaluated" by the officer and I guess he ran and got a ball and brought it to the fence then jumped up to say "HI". DH told him to "sit", so he put his ball down, sat, looked at the officer, then the ball, then the officer... DH told him about all the training that he has had and that he has even won first and second place for obedience (Rally legs). Finally, the officer reached his hand over the fence and Bison licked him. He just cautioned DH about perception because Bison looks intimidating.

I am so angry that I am shaking just typing this.


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## Jax's Mom (Apr 2, 2010)

We have a neighbor like that too. He makes no secret of it though. He complains about us all the time... I told him it's really unfortunate that he cant afford to live in a better neighborhood with cleaner neighbors because he's clearly higher class than us (said it with a straight face with the utmost sincerity)... He STFU after that


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

You'd think they'd have the neighbors who constantly complain on a "list"!
I don't blame you for being mad, especially when you know your dog and his temperament!


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## Zoeys mom (Jan 23, 2010)

Oh I remember the days of having my dobe Zeus and animal control was a regular visitor to our home as well. We had a crazy old lady who thought it was okay to allow her cats to free roam- by cats I mean more than 20 Her wonderful cats pooped in our yard daily, left us dead presents, and tormented my Zeus to no end. She would call and say a vicious dog was loose when he was in the house with me, would say he approached her growling which just never happened, and the final straw was one snowy morning while I was walking him leashed and one of her psycho cats ambushed us from her bushes. Zeus barked but did not lunge nor bite and this windbag came commando with a snow shovel and whacked him.....and then called animal control to say she was bit by him. Well thank god for common sense because the officer looked at her and then my dog and said "look lady if that dog bit your arm as you suggest damage would have been done". He then said he would issue her a citation for false complaints if she didn't stop with all the crazy phone calls. Really with no evidence of viciousness your neighbor is just going to eventually tick the wrong officer off and when it happens remember to smile


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## frillint1 (Sep 2, 2010)

Oh wow that has got to be very frustrating. I am sorry.


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## shadow mum (Apr 8, 2008)

That's terrible. Luckily Bison presented his bestest behaviour for the animal control officer. Training shows.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

i would be seriously ticked off. i've had neighbors like that. Only they got pissy because their dog kept getting into our yard. They claimed we had a dog who was in heat and we were leaving her in the yard to attract males to get her pregnant. AC came and told us the complaint and asked to see the dog. I pulled out her entire vet record and showed him. She was adopted from the humane society and the officer remembered her. He laughed and wrote a fine for the neighbors for false complaints. another neighbor used to be good friends with us until we refused to let them borrow our truck. They'd totalled 4 cars in 2 years. They started complaining about aggressive dogs. AC never came out because they knew it was bogus. I hope things get better! thats ridiculous! People are so stupid sometimes.


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## Caitydid255 (Aug 28, 2010)

*Similar issue here*

 We had a neighbor that claimed that my collie ran out into the street, attacked her dog, then went back to his yard. When animal control stopped by we calmly explained that 1) Teddy is restricted by an electric fence and has NEVER gone through it, 2) if he ran through it, why would he bother running back home while getting zapped again and not go explore the neighborhood. 3) The "date and time" that the "attack" occurred, Teddy was at the vet getting his shots. Animal control left after that. Two days later I watched this lady walk her dog, stop on our driveway, slowly walk her dog partway down our driveway, and call to Teddy. After a "nice discussion" she never walked by our house again, nor did we receive any more complaints.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Reading this post has convinced me that I should list my neighbors under the blessings section of my prayers, and thank God daily for them.

Twice a day my dogs bark -- bad. That is when I am feeding them. they all give me a round seranade -- Me! No Me first! Me Me Me!!! Feed me Seymore! Feed Me NOW! No!!! Don't go in HER kennel, she's a bitch, give me mine first! 

Your neighbor would probably have a stroke being forced to listen to that for even a day or two. 

I would be beyond mad. What business is it of animal control's if you DO have a viscious dog, so long as you are keeping it contained and it has not had an incident against it???

As for the lady walking the dog up the driveway and calling the dog -- looking for a lawsuit maybe?

And people wonder why I prefer to spend time and money on dogs.


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## trish07 (Mar 5, 2010)

Neighbors can be so annoying....

Have you an idea of who it could be?

My neighbors is "special" too....

Each time she sees Phenix, she adopts a different attitude (means hypocrite). She told our landlord Phenix has peed and pooped on her side, which is totaly false because I don't let Phenix pee or poo in the yard. I bring him on a wasteland near the house and hopefully, our landlord knows it.

Also, she look a him a very special way. She say she don't like him, but each time she can get close to him she try to pet him or whatever with her "I'm the boss attitude". Phenix don't like her either.

I'm concern by the fact she may try to get bit or something to get us rid of Phenix.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

trish07 said:


> Neighbors can be so annoying....
> 
> Have you an idea of who it could be?
> 
> ...


 
i would say keep a VERY close eye out. It does sound like she's trying to get bit intentionally so she has something to complain about to that would make you have to get rid of your dog. sadly that would mean no unsupervised yard time.


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## clearcreekranch (Mar 18, 2010)

I have a crazy neighbor too. He hates me because I went to animal control and adopted his dog that he turned in for being an escape risk(got in my yard all the time) and dog aggressive(went after their other puppy when he was tied up because they couldn't keep him in the yard). They turned both dogs in; I cried for a day before hubby let me adopt the older dog. He has turned me in to the city for "manure floating across his property"-land is sloped the other way and tried various other ways to get at me. I just ignore him now; he better not ever turn me in for having a vicious dog or all bets are off. LOL


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## W.Oliver (Aug 26, 2007)

This is ironic, because the samething happened here at my home yesterday, except it was a police officer responding to a call regarding a vicious GSD roaming the neighborhood and threatening people.

Dayna and I had just returned from a quick round of obedience and she was laying in her open crate, in the back of my Ford Flex with the tailgate open, on my property...when the police officer pulled-up.

When the patrol car stopped, she gave it a lazy Woof, Woof, Woof from inside her crate. When the officer exited his vehicle, she exited her's....when the officer moved to the nearest end of his vehicle, she moved to the property line and gave him some pretty intense Woof, Woof, Woof action.

I approached and asked, "is there a problem?" He demanded I put the dog in the crate. I told Dayna, "crate", and she immediately stopped barking, turned, trotted over to her crate, and jumped-in. The officer then demanded I close the door of the crate, which I did.

I met he at the end of my driveway, and he told me about the complaint. I specifically asked if it was a neighbor complaining about noise, and it was not. What was conveyed to me was a person walking by felt threatened and phoned it in. I explained that she was not running wild in the neighborhood, and that even when he approached with presense and a gun, she still stayed within the parameter of my property. He said he felt threatened, and if I had not been present, and if he had been approaching the house when the dog approached, he would have, "pulled his weapon, and shot the dog".

There is more to the story, but I have family stuff I am taking care of today, so I gotta run......needless to say, I was pissed!


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

I'm blessed with pretty good neighbors. My neighbor right next to me is an older woman who is a bit 'off'. She has gone all to the neighbors telling them that hubby and I are dirt poor (when Hubby was dx with cancer) and wanted to take a collection up for us!

You should have imagined our suprise when our closest neighbors came to us angry because we didn't let them know we were dirt poor!


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## bianca (Mar 28, 2010)

Lilie that is so sweet of them!

I am also blessed with lovely neighbours. On one side I never see her, and on the other...well they just love Molly, if she sees them she races up to the fence for some lovin!


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Scary neighbors do scary things. I've heard nightmares of them throwing poisoned meat over...

What I would absolutely never do, is leave your dog out in the yard unattended anymore. That way you KNOW there is no barking/chasing/growling going on that they can complain about. And no poisoned food items will be tossed in the yard you don't know about.


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## irongrl (May 24, 2010)

W.Oliver said:


> He said he felt threatened, and if I had not been present, and if he had been approaching the house when the dog approached, he would have, "pulled his weapon, and shot the dog".
> 
> There is more to the story, but I have family stuff I am taking care of today, so I gotta run......needless to say, I was pissed!


That is really upsetting!  

I'm so glad your dog is ok.


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## SchHGSD (Dec 20, 2001)

All these posts have convinced me to move FARTHER into the middle of nowhere!!

Honestly, how scary. I have no neighbors nearby, but there are some farther down the street. Unfortunately animal control does not care about the 6 dogs in a fenced enclosure with no one living there, or the two tied out pit bulls, or the boxer and pit bull puppy that run into the major streets and in front of our cars because the owner can't fix the fence.

I'm not sure which is worse- having an animal control that cares, or one that doesn't.

But- shooting the dog? $%^hole.


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## Vandal (Dec 22, 2000)

I am not in a normal neighborhood. I am surrounded by horse people and a couple of dog kennels. Still, when I moved here, the first thing that went up was the fence. Since then, I have taken down the chain link fence that ran across the front of the property and replaced it with a solid, six foot high, privacy fence. I did that for a couple of reasons, the most important one, was for the protection of my dogs. I also have video cameras that point down the road in both directions. Those are also for the protection of my dogs, just in case some idiot thinks about throwing something over the fence.

I have had a number of clients with neighbor problems, one in particular had a neighbor who was complaining but also harassing the dogs in order to make more complaints. My client called me to get some advice and what I recommended was this. VIDEO CAMERAS. Really visible ones that are not only pointed at where the dog stays in the back yard but also at the neighbor. He followed my advise and it cleared up his neighbor problem.

My cameras record to my computer but you can also hook them up to a regular video recorder and have them record at the slowest speed. Have seven cassettes and replace daily keeping them for at least seven days before you record over them. That way, when someone claims your dog is barking, biting, growling WHATEVER, you have everything the dog has done recorded. There is not more powerful proof than that and it makes people think about what they are considering lying about. Cameras are really rather inexpensive nowadays and you can also hook them up where you can access them from a computer when you are not at home. Another one of my clients is a sheriff in this area and she told me she installed them in the front and back of her home. As a result, she was given a discount from her insurance company. 

I figured out a LONG time ago owning a GSD means you have to protect the DOG more than he protects you. Society is loaded with fools and idiots who simply don't have anything else to do but complain.


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## ken k (Apr 3, 2006)

W.Oliver said:


> This is ironic, because the samething happened here at my home yesterday, except it was a police officer responding to a call regarding a vicious GSD roaming the neighborhood and threatening people.
> 
> Dayna and I had just returned from a quick round of obedience and she was laying in her open crate, in the back of my Ford Flex with the tailgate open, on my property...when the police officer pulled-up.
> 
> ...



Wayne, you handled it better than i did, I had a neighbor call and tell the cops that i was training Max to attack him, 2 farmington hills cops came out and accused me of doing so, make a long story short, when they said they would shoot my Max I went ballistic, told them to get the $%*& off my property, called their Sargent and told him how i was treated in my own home his reply was "maybe their having a bad day" i went and made a formal complaint, thats just BS treatment for the amount of taxes I pay to live here


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## bellamia (Feb 7, 2010)

i'm so sorry and angry u have to go thru this. reminds me to thank Him up there for giving me wonderful neibhs. will miss them when we move. 
I swear one of these days i am going to win a huge lottery and buy up a community/ appartments where *only ' top five aggressive breeds are allowed'*. i've had it with misconceptions. so Bison looks intimidating so hes supposed to look like that and not look like a goat!


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## Ruthie (Aug 25, 2009)

Thanks everyone for the commiseration. I am much more calm about it today. DH was kind enough to call animal control today and asked if there was a record now that we had a vicious dog complaint. That was my biggest concern. If there was, I was going to get statements from his vet, instructors from the classes we attend, a CGC (haven't found a place to do it yet)... Also, wanted to know what happened if this person complains again just cause they don't like Bison.

The Animal Control officer was really nice. He said that it is recorded as a ordinance complaint and isn't registered with animal control because it was false. Then said that they take harassment seriously and if there were repeated calls that turned out to be false that it would be turned over for prosecution. 

I feel much better now.

At least the AC officer was really nice, and it wasn't like Wayne and Ken's experience. 



trish07 said:


> Have you an idea of who it could be?


I have a pretty good idea who makes all the ordinance calls about us, but I am really not sure on this one. 

The only thing we can think of was that it was an incident that happened several weeks ago. I was in the front yard with Bison taking out the trash to the curb. Bison has been trained to stay in our yard, he isn't even allowed to step foot on the sidewalk. While I had my back turned, one of the neighborhood kids came into the yard. He has come over several times to play ball with Bison. Bison turned around and saw him before I did and took off running at him. I can't remember, but I think he barked too. The kid got scared and ran and Bison followed. I called Bison back to me and he turned around immediately before even leaving our yard. The boy was scared and asked, "Why did he do that?" Honestly I thought it was because Bison was startled and the kid was an 'intruder' and he chased him out of the yard. But, I told the kid, "He wanted to play with you, remember you throw his ball for him?"

I was scared that something would come of it because Bison is intimidating, so a couple days later a bunch of the neighbor kids were out playing including the boy who got chased. So, I took Bison down on a leash. I explained to them that as long as I am not threatened, Bison is a very friendly dog. They all petted him and each took turns walking him on the sidewalk with his leash, including the one he chased. I thought all was well and like I said, that was SEVERAL weeks ago.

Monday, I had him out in the front yard with me while I was reading and was throwing his ball for him. Then I did some obedience with him. One of the new neighbors' kids came down and asked me if he bites. I said "He doesn't bite nice people". 

Who knows, maybe I brought this on for not just saying "No, he doesn't bite", but the fact is I don't really want to advertise that either. I want people to be scared to come into my yard or house uninvited. I live in a good neighborhood, but we are close to some areas that aren't.


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## W.Oliver (Aug 26, 2007)

Ruthie,

Thanks for talking with me while I drove to the air port...I still cannot believe this happened to both of us on the same day!!

Long story short, and after the snot nosed kid with the gun/badge left.....Dayna and I went down to the police station and I took her right in. We spoke directly to the Captain, and he got to see said vicious dog for himself. They extended an apology, and it is noted in my address that the dog is present and although she will bark at the parameter, that officers are OK to proceed calmly.


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## ken k (Apr 3, 2006)

W.Oliver said:


> Ruthie,
> 
> Thanks for talking with me while I drove to the air port...I still cannot believe this happened to both of us on the same day!!
> 
> Long story short, and after the snot nosed kid with the gun/badge left.....Dayna and I went down to the police station and I took her right in. We spoke directly to the Captain, and he got to see said vicious dog for himself. They extended an apology, and it is noted in my address that the dog is present and although she will bark at the parameter, that officers are OK to proceed calmly.



said to say, their mentality on this is they will still shoot the dog and clam they felt threatened, thats their training, when it doubt, shoot


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## Ruthie (Aug 25, 2009)

My DH was a reserve officer in the same area as Farmington Hills. He says that they were taught to treat an animal threat just like any other threat in escalation of force, assess the situation and determine the best course of action. He said that they are encourged to use non-leathal force like pepper spray first depending on the situation. But just like anything, it is situation dependant.


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## liv (Sep 1, 2010)

My brothers are both cops, and they're trained to taser a threatening dog first (_actually_ threatening, not hanging out in it's crate!) , it will usually knock them down, without doing any permanent damage to the dog, and they can avoid killing it if at all possible. 

My brother was called to a "vicious pitbull at large that was terrorizing the neighborhood" and when he got there, they found a very friendly olde english bulldog mix lumbering down the street with no collar or tags. They had a great time with him - they arrested him, put him in their backseat and then went to a park and played ball with him before taking him to animal control.


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## Ruthie (Aug 25, 2009)

W.Oliver said:


> Ruthie,
> 
> Thanks for talking with me while I drove to the air port...I still cannot believe this happened to both of us on the same day!!
> 
> Long story short, and after the snot nosed kid with the gun/badge left.....Dayna and I went down to the police station and I took her right in. We spoke directly to the Captain, and he got to see said vicious dog for himself. They extended an apology, and it is noted in my address that the dog is present and although she will bark at the parameter, that officers are OK to proceed calmly.


 
Sure! Like I said, your situation was worse than ours, but it did encourage me to get more proactive to get his CGC.


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## W.Oliver (Aug 26, 2007)

I don't agree, I think your situation is more significant. I live on a golf course, so what I am dealing with are random passerbys who see a GSD in the landscaping, and assume it is loose as opposed to simply being in my yard......you've got neighbors to deal with. 

What bothers me about your incident is that the neighbors didn't even speak to you about their concerns before going to authorities. You still have "stuff" to deal with....I would have a conversation with said neighbor and see if there is a bridge that can be built.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

ken k said:


> said to say, their mentality on this is they will still shoot the dog and clam they felt threatened, thats their training, when it doubt, shoot


And this is why I will not leave dogs unattended in a yard. Since my kennels are covered over and secure, it would take some doing for officers to claim that they were chasing a perp and the dogs charged them. If they were simply in the yard, and officers could go over or through my fence and feel terribly threatened by my dogs. 

I think that the barking and carrying on would keep perps from trying to run through my yard. 

One time someone wrecked their car in my next door neighbor's ditch. They were not home at the time. The people in the car walked down the road and someone picked them up and drove them away. The State Highway Patrol came to my door to ask about the car, I knew nothing about it at the time. He told me that he had gone all the way around my neighbor's houses on both sides of me checking doors and windows. 

He did not go in my back yard. He banged on my door, he tried to peer inside, I told him I did not see or hear anything. Not sure if he was totally convinced but when I said ENOUGH to my dogs and they all shut up. He gave up, he did not try to come in. I just got the impression that he did not believe me. 

So, what did he think, really??? That I was hiding the drunk motorist, that I was the drunk motorist, or that I had my dogs protecting my meth lab. Just one of those things I will never know...


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## Ruthie (Aug 25, 2009)

W.Oliver said:


> I don't agree, I think your situation is more significant. I live on a golf course, so what I am dealing with are random passerbys who see a GSD in the landscaping, and assume it is loose as opposed to simply being in my yard......you've got neighbors to deal with.
> 
> What bothers me about your incident is that the neighbors didn't even speak to you about their concerns before going to authorities. You still have "stuff" to deal with....I would have a conversation with said neighbor and see if there is a bridge that can be built.


Yeah, it bothers me that they didn't talk to me first too. I would love to have a conversation with the neighbor who has a problem, but I don't know which one does. The kid in the incident that I described is in one of those houses that has people in and out all the time, not even sure who lives there. I am just not the type of person to go knock on the door and introduce myself.

Yeah, and the "stuff" that my family is dealing with right now, my neighbors know about, that is why it is a double slap in the face.


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## W.Oliver (Aug 26, 2007)

selzer said:


> And this is why I will not leave dogs unattended in a yard.


Just so we're clear, and after talking with Ruthie on the phone today, in either incident, neither Bison nor Dayna were unattended in the yard. I was outside with my dog, no more than 50 feet away. I do not keep my dog on a leash while we're knocking around the yard. Actually, I was doing some chores, and she was sleeping in the crate.


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## Lorelei (Aug 9, 2010)

Vandal said:


> I figured out a LONG time ago owning a GSD means you have to protect the DOG more than he protects you. Society is loaded with fools and idiots who simply don't have anything else to do but complain.


What a great comment. I've had a large dog before, but never a dog that other people considered an aggressive breed, so this thread is a big eye-opener. I just don't know how I would react with an officer saying he would shoot my dog, or a neighbor trying to get my dog to bite, for a chance at suing. I would feel so frustrated and enraged, but more than anything, I'd feel terrified and helpless, especially where the officer was concerned. Where we live, we are on a little under 30 acres, so we don't have neighbors within close distance, but I know that doesn't mean we will be immune to having to deal with any of this. This thread made me realize, just because we can't see our neighbors doesn't mean I can ignore these kinds of possibilities, and that I should take a proactive stance on this if I want to protect my dog. 

However, aside from cameras, and 'GSD on premise' signs, and making sure my dog is well-trained and never ever unattended, I don't know what else to do.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

W.Oliver said:


> Just so we're clear, and after talking with Ruthie on the phone today, in either incident, neither Bison nor Dayna were unattended in the yard. I was outside with my dog, no more than 50 feet away. I do not keep my dog on a leash while we're knocking around the yard. Actually, I was doing some chores, and she was sleeping in the crate.


 
I am sorry you took that that way. I was referring to the long debate about leaving dogs out in a fenced yard or in an e-fenced yard. I did not mean either of these incidents, just the fact that if the cops believe your dog to be a threat and they are trying to do their job, they are going to protect themselves, and you and your dog will suffer for it. 

In one of these posts, the poster said that the lady came walking up her driveway calling to her dog. See, that would not be happening in my yard because the dog would never be in a yard where people and dogs could wander freely in and get themselves in trouble. I just figure that our dogs are not going to get the benefit of the doubt in a civil case. I cannot afford to let them get anywhere near a courtroom.

ETA: my back yard is fenced, my front yard is not. My dogs can be out in my front yard with me also, just never alone. But I did not think that either Ruthie or your dog was alone.


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## ken k (Apr 3, 2006)

Lorelei said:


> However, aside from cameras, and 'GSD on premise' signs, and making sure my dog is well-trained and never ever unattended, I don't know what else to do.


putting up a sign is a bad idea, in a court of law it would be taken as, you know there might be a problem with the dog, you said it the best "well-trained and never ever unattended"


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## fgshepherd (Sep 1, 2010)

Oh, I'm so sorry that ANY of us have to deal with bad neighbors! It isn't like being near a loudmouth in a theatre, where you can just leave. Ugghhh.... This makes me MORE driven to get Rocky trained up well and some day get the CGC certification. It also makes look forward to retiring to the middle of NO WHERE!!


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## StryderPup (May 16, 2009)

This is so sad, I am blessed with great neighbors. Stryder is in our fenced in back yard to do his business and give a shout out to the neighbors dogs and then he comes back in. In addition, he is tethered in the front yard if we are out there or on his leash for a walk and or to get into the van to leave. My neighbors across the street are always yelling across " I am glad he is watching our house too!"


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## trish07 (Mar 5, 2010)

KZoppa said:


> i would say keep a VERY close eye out. It does sound like she's trying to get bit intentionally so she has something to complain about to that would make you have to get rid of your dog. sadly that would mean no unsupervised yard time.


 Yeah I know, I don't let her approach my dog anymore.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

sounds like your neighbor doesn't like
you for some reason. don't worry
about it. you and your dog are doing nothing wrong.
i'm not sure about the caution from the AC. any dog
can look intimidating if you're afraid of them.
a stranger reached over your fence and got a lick from
your dog. sounds like a nice, friendly, trained dog to me.



Ruthie said:


> :angryfire:
> 
> He just cautioned DH about perception because Bison looks intimidating.


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## Gwenhwyfair (Jul 27, 2010)

Lorelei said:


> What a great comment. I've had a large dog before, but never a dog that other people considered an aggressive breed, so this thread is a big eye-opener. I just don't know how I would react with an officer saying he would shoot my dog, or a neighbor trying to get my dog to bite, for a chance at suing. <snipped>


Agree, very eye opening. I've never had to deal with neighbors like some of the others here.

My dog is never outside unattended, back yard is fenced, front is not. If I'm not home he is inside my home....but apparently even that is not good enough. I will, however, be even more cautious then ever because I do have some neighbors who are afraid of my GSD.

This thread reminds me of one legal aspect I learned of years ago regarding 'attractive nuisances'. Basically even having a fence is no guarantee. Someone could crawl over a fence, to pet the pretty dog, get bit and the owner may still be on the hook. This thread is a good reminder one must always be very careful and watchful.


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