Neighbours kids keep looking over our fence

I think the whole point of this suggestion is that the hose would be in op's own garden so if the water hit the child it would be her/her parents' own fault because she is trespassing of sorts? I don't know.

Chuck the dog shit over the fence.

Water your garden in the nude. If she cops an eyeful, so be it.

I’m pretty horrified at some posters advocating for setting a hose on a tiny child in her own garden (which would be criminal - assault and battery - by the way) simply because she LOOKS in the direction of a neighbour’s garden. And before anyone says ‘clearly, I’m only joking’ please be aware that you’re encouraging child abuse on a public parenting forum and run the risk that you are taken seriously, particularly when there’s more than one of you saying the same thing.

Be careful with your words.

My adult neighbour joins in convos when I'm in my garden, usually when I'm talking to gardeners/workmen. What's bizarre is that the rest of the time she ignores me, and indeed all of our neighbours in our very friendly/considerate road!

Bizarre. Does my head in. No filter.

I haven't been able to look all the way through the thread (it's now at 18 pages) but have read all of your posts OP and plenty of responses.

Has anyone else suggested that you video her (and the dog's reaction) and take this as proof to your neighbours?

Don't back down on this one. It's incredibly inconsiderate and a huge invasion of your privacy.

Yes, that's really safe for a five-year-old to be doing unsupervised.

Doubt her parents would be pleased if she ran into the house soaking wet.

Anything to excuse poor parenting.

Oh, don’t be so ridiculous

'he is allowed to bark in his own garden'

And the child is allowed to stand on a table in her own garden too!

Blimey, you're nice.

This. Or a trellis with a Clematis to screen. It'll grow loads this summer.

The OP's dog is defending his territory from a perceived threat, that's all, and he is allowed to bark in his own garden. Bloody kid!

Are you a bit hard of thinking?

A child doesn't need to change her behaviour to manage the dog either 🤷‍♀️

But she does need to change her behaviour full stop. Which is kind of the point.

I don’t really see it’s a massive deal if a little girls looks over at your garden occasionally and don’t realistically think you can stop her anyway (she’s not trespassing, she’s in her own garden) so I’d suggest you accept it, reframe it and move on, otherwise your annoyance at this tiny thing may cause unnecessary harm to your mental health. She’s just a little kid; I’d be more worried if it were a middle aged man peering in!

Maybe just smile and say ‘good morning’ if you spot her looking and then carry on with whatever you were doing. It doesn’t cost you anything to be civil. If you’re more relaxed your dog may be less likely to bark too.

She may even be looking over as she’s scared of you - hence the running away - and so if you let her see that you’re not a scary monster after all the novelty could wear off and she may find that things in her own garden are more exciting anyway.

Yeah she’s only young too. Probably left to her own devices a lot.

This is annoying. This might sound crazy but have you thought about inviting her over, maybe to meet the dog? This could stem her curiosity and hopefully stop the behaviour.

The dad does sound inconsiderate with the gym though and if so he’s maybe not bothered about his daughter doing this, which is wrong. Sadly these types almost never change.

The kid being lonely (or nosy) is not the op’s problem. The dog is barking as a direct result of this kid’s head appearing over the fence and barking at him. There’s a very simple way to stop both of these things. It involves the parent parenting though which some of you don’t think is necessary.

Poor kid sounds very lonely

Is she actually leaning over into your 'airspace' or just standing up on something high?
Whose fence is it?

The OP has already spoken to the child's parents and the only response they have given was to deny that their kid is doing it at all

A child doesn't need to change her behaviour to manage the dog either 🤷‍♀️

If the main concern is privacy, then tell the kid to stop being so nosy, and have a word with the parents.

Regarding concern about the dogs behaviour: train the damn dog.

Not least because any other approach gives the parents wiggle room to brush it off.

"Please teach your child it's rude to stare and be nosy" is better than "tell your child to change what she's doing in her own home because it's bothering poor lickle Snuffles (who I can't be arsed to train)".

Barking its stupid head off, and probably bothering everyone in the vicinity.

It is not difficult to teach the dog not to respond that way.

OP doesn't really have any grounds to demand the neighbours control their child even she can't even control her dog.

Sort out your own house first, THEN start criticising what other people are doing.