To dognap the spaniel in our alley and give him back after summer?

[D0oinMeCleanin]

Every summer the owners leave their backdoor and gate open so the dog can get into the alley freely (which is illegal, but I also let my dogs loose in the alley, only mine are supervised, but still against the law)

Every summer it sticks it's nose under my gate and starts barking at my dogs. Every summer my dog barks back for hours.

So he either spends the entire summer not being allowed in the yard except to toilet, upon which he realises the spaniel is there and starts pacing the back of the house whining for hours on end because he wants to go out to bark at the spaniel or I let him in the yard and he barks from morning until nightfall (with a two hour break at lunchtime when he's walked) or I dognap the spaniel and hold it hostage until the bad weather returns and they close their doors again.

Well AIBU?

I shall take your silence as agreement, now how does one go about dognapping an aggressive spaniel?

Any less criminal ideas would be appreciated.

I will give you my spaniel if you like.
You can even have him for longer than the summer.
He is beautifully clean and smelling lovely right now, as a bonus.
[generous]

Does he bark? If he doesn't bark I'll take him for the summer and you can take The Devil Dog, who unfortunately does smell after rolling in something at the beach last night.

Barking, rarely a problem. However, he has no manners, no recall and is hyperactive.

And I reckon he will start to smell again in about 3 days but he is currently Groom Room at Pets At Home fresh.

If it is illegal grass them up. Being caught might make them keep it in?

Water pistol/hose, under the gate every time he does it. Mind you, don't spaniels like water? If you are lucky you will shock him with the water and he will stay away from your gate.
I did it with my cat who was stalking birds, it seemed to work!

Everyone lets their dogs loose in our alley, including me and the lovely old lady up the road, wouldn't reporting them cause trouble for everyone?

Everyone else supervises their dogs but local by-laws state that dogs should be kept on leads in the alley.

It is only the spaniel who is ever out unsupervised and therefore able to stick his nose under my gate.

Put gate at either end of the alley and open everyone's ..... The you can have a dog thunderdrome. Only one may leave.

Not in a dog baiting way btw. Just a dog irritating the fuck out of each other way till they all get bored and go home.

Encourage the spaniel back into his own garden and shut the gate, or put a note through the door saying he is harassing your dog when out unsupervised.

It's aggressive Doris, I do sometimes go out with the yard brush and shoo it away (I don't hit it with the brush btw, but I often feel like twatting the owner with the brush)

You can take our dog. Lovely, funny, loving and doesn't bark. Slight tendency to roll in any poo possible and to attempt to chase flies. May also try to eat dead animals, if any are found in the park. But that doesn't matter, honestly.

I would dearly love to burgle next door's cat. And then send it far, far away. I can then, and only then, rejoice in cat poo free garden! The dog tries to eat it, which is even worse.

If it's aggressive could you have a word with the council dog warden?

Yes I could try the dog warden, although she doesn't really like me that much, she does seem quite interested in doing her job.

I don't want anything bad to happen to the dog. I just want it not to be in the alley barking all summer long and as I've pointed out to the owner several times if my dogs ever did manage to get past my gate, they outnumber his three to one. His poor dog wouldn't stand a chance if it chose to start fighting with them, which it would do as it's also dog aggressive as well as people aggressive

Can you put something at the bottom of your gate so it can't poke its nose under? I agree about shooing it back into its own yard and letting the owners know what it is doing.

We've already taken the door as low as we can Jestrin, because our yard slopes we have to leave a certain gap or we wouldn't be able to open the gate.

I could try and find something temporary that I can put against the gate to stop it sticking it's nose under, but I think it would probably still bark. It also winds up the JRT further up the alley.

I've had our gate strengthened too, by way of adding extra bits of wood criss crossing it and added extra hinges, so it is very unlikely my dogs would be able to break through it or get under it, but that's not really the point. There is a chance they could follow me out if the DC open the kitchen door while I have the gate open to get the bins in/out etc. and the spaniel is often there snarling it's wee head off at me.

They know what it does, I've spoken to them before, they claim they go out when they hear it barking, which is bullshit, they only go out when they hear people shouting at it or opening their own gate, even then they only go out to warn people not to touch it because it is aggressive

I like the idea of enticing dog back into its own yard with treats then using one of those plastic tie things to fasten the gate closed, pin note to gate.

Repeat as necessary.

Well I would report them, and I'm not a reporting sort of person, but the dog is aggressive and therefore should not be roaming unsupervised. FGS they come out and warn people so they are fully aware it isn't safe and yet they still let it out? Are they waiting for someone to get bitten? That would concern me far more than the barking which is just an annoyance (not that I'm belittling it, next door has yappy dogs and they drive me demented but at least they are in their own garden).

Certainly contact the dog warden - if the dog is unsupervised surely that means that no one is cleaning up after it- doesn't that leave the alley terribly messy?

I'm not worried about him actually biting a person, but he could very well start a fight with other dogs and end up coming off worse, poor thing.

His aggression seems to be fear based/territorial. He'll rush at you barking and snarling with all his teeth on show, but he stops about three feet away and barks loudly. If you have to move forward, say to fetch your bin, he moves back. Unless someone was daft enough to challenge him he wouldn't escalate I don't think.

He's either trained to go only in his own yard or the pop out and pick up after him because I've never noticed any mess.

I am loathe to report them, I don't want him being handed to the pound or pts or anything but I really cannot cope with another summer of him winding up my dogs. I have tried and tried to train Devil Dog not respond to the barking, but it's sooo rewarding to him. Barking at the spaniel is like the best game evah

He did so well at learning not to bark at kids playing out, then this bloody spaniel moved in.

What is their gate like? Can you not throw a treat into his garden for him, and then shut the gate when he's gone after it?

They are being very inconsiderate to do just let him bark and bark.

You could practise your dognapping skills on the fucking yappy little rat thing next door to us. Am going to buy a catapult and give it something to yap about!

If your gate has to be slightly higher to let you push it open up the slope - could you change the hinges so that the gate opens into your garden? Then maybe you could lower the gate - sorry I'm rubbish at DIY so that might be a stupid idea :)