To think it's not me that needs to dog proof my garden?

[TheCarrotsDontWork]

Next-door neighbour's dog keeps darting through the hedge when it hears my dog in the garden.

Neighbour thinks it's my problem and I should put up a fence if I'm bothered.

My dog is always supervised in the garden and has never gone through the hedge.

AIBU to think that she needs to put up the fence if she can't keep her dog in, not me?

It's the neighbours responsibility. I'd call the dog warden for advice.

Chicken wire is effective and very cheap - maybe you can push it into the hedge so you can't see it.

Can wild animals like foxes and badgers read notes about barbed wire? Is the OP happy to deal with injured or entangled wild animals?

Putting barbed wire up, especially hidden at low level, is bloody stupid and irresponsible.

No I wouldn't feel differently.

Harming an animal just because you are pissed off at it's owner is wrong. Even if the owner is irresponsible.

It's still no excuse to deliberately harm the dog or put it and other animals at risk of harm.

And potentially harm other people too. Imagine if the OP or her neighbour had visitors and a child or visiting pet was hurt on the barbed wire.

In the case of turning the dog onto the road, the potential accident that doing so could cause might not just hurt the dog, it could cause a crash that kills or injures somebody else as well.

I don't agree with any of the people on here encouraging the OP to hurt the dog, poison the dog, or put the dog in a situation where it might be hurt or killed, possibly in a prolonged and painful way. Not on a barbed wire fence, or through poisoning, or under the wheels of a car, note to inform the owner or not.

I don't understand any owner who doesn't want to ensure the safety of their pet, but equally I can't understand anybody else who advises causing harm to an animal, directly or indirectly, just to get at that animal's owner.

Any other sort of fence would work equally well, and it would still be at the OP's expense, so why go for barbed wire out of all the other options available? The only reason I can think of is to be deliberately cruel to the dog and stick two fingers up at the owner in the process.

From the askthepolice website -

Using barbed/razor wire and broken glass in order to stop people getting in to your home is not advisable. You are making yourself liable to civil action as you owe a duty of care to ensure that visitors to your property are reasonably safe. The use of such a preventative measure could also be seen as being detrimental to the neighbourhood.

If my dog was injured by irresponsibly placed barbed wire it would work out very expensive for them indeed as they would either be paying the vets build or I'd be claiming on their insurance. What a stupid and ignorant thing to say.

It's your neighbour's responsibility to control her dog. My previous neighbours dog used to jump a 6ft, secure fence into my garden. What exactly was I supposed to do to stop that? Then when the neighbour fenced off a bit of her garden with a 6ft fence to try and keep the dog in, it used to jump both fences. It was bored, not walked enough, not trained and wanted to play with my own dogs. Hardly my responsibility!

In regard to the OP's garden not being secure for her own dog, my dogs wouldn't even go out of the garden if the gate was left open. They could jump the previous 3ft fence we had, but didn't. They know they're supposed to stay in the garden.

Sure, you can't use barbed wire to stop people getting into our home, although I am not convinced that the law should not allow it. But this is about dogs, not people, and the boundary between two back gardens.

If the NDN is given warning then the barbed wire has not been placed irresponsibly - it is she who will have been irresponsible in failing to control the dog, and the vet's bills would be her problem.

It's not rocket science. If you want to keep a dog you must look after it and keep it under control. People matter more.

• your home

"It's not rocket science. If you want to keep a dog you must look after it and keep it under control."

I don't think anyone on this thread is arguing that point, the neighbour is at fault. The OP shouldn't have to fence off her garden but if the neighbour is being unreasonable and this makes the OP's life easier then somebody fencing off the gaps in the hedge safely is a good idea.

But why are you so keen to promote using a type of fencing which will cause harm to the dog?

The dog is not to blame for it's owner being a selfish, thoughtless cow.

Yet you seem very keen to encourage the OP to use barbed wire so that the dog is injured and the neighbour is punished in some way.

You say upthread that you don't like dogs and you'd like the OP to ignore an injured animal yelping because it's the neighbours dog and the neighbours problem.

The OP has said she just wants the dog to stay out of her garden. She hasn't said she wants to hurt it.

There's something very odd about people encouraging her to injure or potentially kill it (to say nothing of any other animal or even person who might come across the barbed wire) just because they don't like dogs, as you have said that you don't.

You seem very sure that the neighbour would do nothing, despite a warning about the barbed wire, and advise the OP to ignore an animal yelping in pain as not being her problem, as some sort of "fuck you, I warned you this would happen" to the neighbour.

It's a person causing this problem, yet you are encouraging an action that might cause harm to an animal in retaliation. That's wrong, and seriously messed up.

I really don't like dogs but some of the posts on here are horrible!

It's not the dogs fault it keeps getting through but the owners. If it was a child that kept getting through would you all be saying let it out on the road, but up barbed wire, leave dog poo for it to step into, chuck a bucket of cold water on it, leave some rat poison in sweet wrappers?

Horrible, animals deserve to be treated with the same respect and care as children as they are just as reliant on their owners for their safe guarding and wellbeing in the same way that a child is to a parent. If that owner isn't meeting it's needs it's not fair game to then put it in danger.

Call the dog warden op.

Andrewofgg God forbid that you ever get lost in the wilds or go blind or deaf or need your luggage checked for explosives or need a burglar catching in your area. You might suddenly find a dog quite useful.

Your casual disregard of one of humankind's most loyal, hardworking, supportive and loving companions is really, really sad.

Don't worry - under no circumstances could I do anything to hurt or endanger this dog. Apart from anything else, it seems like a very nice friendly dog. I just don't want it in my garden.

To answer any questions - my garden is not secure in other ways either (not just to my neighbour's garden. There is only a hedge on the other side to the other neighbour, so this dog could easily go all the way through. Also, my gate is often left open by postie/milkman/visitors etc. so it would be easy for a dog to get out on to the busy road in front. Obviously I shut that gate when our dog goes into the garden, but I don't monitor it to see if it is shut at other times.

Any fence put up would have to go on the neighbour's side (because the hedge is ours and marks the boundary). I can't see her taking kindly to me just booking someone to come and put a fence up in her garden. If I put a fence on our side, then it wouldn't be possible to maintain the hedge, plus I would be putting a new boundary further into my garden than the actual one, which might cause boundary issues IYSWIM.

What I want is for her to keep her dog out of my garden, by whatever means - supervision/fence/black magic/hypnotism she sees fit! And, also, not to give me lectures about how our dog should be 'better socialised' to enjoy playing with other dogs. (after I told her it wasn't fair on our dog to allow another dog to invade his garden, especially one that behaves in ways he isn't allowed to in that space). I found that absolutely galling, but was too trapped in some sort of middle-class politeness strait-jacket to say so!

AliceLidl If the neighbour knows that letting the dog try to reach the next garden will cause it pain and injury it might encourage her to be neighbourly and restrain it.

MsAdorable I am talking about pet dogs ffs - working animals are another matter. Even as pets they are fine if they don't trouble others.

That doesn't really answer my question about why you would choose barbed wire over a less harmful option.

If the OP is going to the expense and trouble of having a fence put up because her neighbour won't, why do you think a barbed wire one is the way to go? A normal, less harmful fence would do the same job, so why suggest something harmful that still requires a careless, possibly neglectful owner to take further steps?

She's already proved that she won't/doesn't want to put up a fence of her own or supervise her dog.

Forcing her hand with a barbed wire fence could end up with a bleeding, blind, or dead dog.

And yes, it would be her fault for her non-action. But the dog would still be the one with ripped open wounds, gouged out eyes, or injuries that killed it. It's still punishing the dog to prove a point to the owner.

But to some extent it would also be down to the OP's actions as well.

If she chose a fence that could harm the neighbours dog, with the motive that doing so would either force her neighbour to step up and build a second fence or do nothing and have an animal take the consequences, I think it would be partly the OP's fault if the dog was hurt. When she could just chose a fence that does the job without harming an animal. As I said before, the barbed wire choice smacks of actively wanting an animal to be hurt just so you can say "I told you so" to the owner. Which is wrong, and cruel.

The OP would also be risking her own dog should it ever decide to walk near or through the hedge into the wire, put visiting animals or children to any of the gardens at risk, possibly harm wandering cats from surrounding houses, or harm whatever wildlife happens to wander though the gardens, just so she could say that this owner deserved it because she didn't restrain her own harmless, friendly, but slightly annoying dog.

Thankfully she's said she's not going to take this cruel option.

Because unbarbed wire is no challenge to a dog. Anything else that will keep a dog out is going to come expensive and I do not see why the non-dog-owner should be put to great expense.

The OP agrees with you and that is her privilege. If we debate fruther we will be hijacking the thread.

Fencing of any sort doesn't seem to be an option for OP, for the reasons she gave before.

If it was an option, no, in an ideal world she shouldn't have to foot the bill, her neighbour should be securing her own pet.

But if the neighbour won't and it makes the OP's life easier, then perhaps it's worth the cost to be free of the stress, and to avoid a potential neighbour dispute that other routes might result in.

Sometimes it's worth weighing up the cost to you in money against the stress it can release you from, fair or not. And trying to make the neighbour pay for the fence indirectly through vets bills for the injuries caused to her dog, well perhaps it would serve her right but you've still badly injured or killed an innocent animal to prove a point.

But I disagree that other affordable fencing won't be up to the job if it doesn't injure the dog. There doesn't seem to be much difference between the cost of barbed wire and chicken wire, or green wire fencing.

I grew up with my parents owning dogs and I have dogs of my own now. We've lived in all sorts of houses with all sorts of garden fencing, from the cheap green wire stuff that was all over 1970's council estates, to chicken wire, to brick walls, to wooden panels, and it's all been good enough to keep the dogs where they should be.

Even winding that green garden tie wire from the Poundshop between the trunks of the hedgerow could be a sufficient deterrent if it blocks up the gaps, and that won't cause the sort of injuries that barbed wire can either.

perhaps then you could look at how to work with the hedge you have. flower pots might fill some gaps. plant tough fast growing plants in the gaps. in your shoes, altho i understand your annoyance, i would be asking if i could put wire across on their side. you can buy cheap rolls of green wire about a metre high and several metres long, use stakes to tie it to, instant fence. as others have already suggested.
will give the plants on your side a chance to groe. pyracantha (sp) is very spiky quick growing and tough

Oh pet dogs. So you like any other kind then. That's alright then. Ffs.

Ah right OP - i see that your garden is un-secure right around it's boundary.

That's fine, this means you can report the dog to the dog warden and ask to remain anonymous if you wish. Your neighbor will have no idea which neighbor has reported her, seeing as it's possible for the dog to roam through to other gardens as well as yours :)

Electric fence... £120 job done

Any fence put up would have to go on the neighbour's side (because the hedge is ours and marks the boundary).

Are you sure about the boundary? If the hedge literally lies on the boundary then it's jointly owned. If it is your hedge then it lies on your land.

I still think a chain link fence is your best option. It's cheap, and you can grow a hedge through it.

hedges usually by their nature overgrown both sides

It sounds like a word with the dog warden would be the kindest thing to do.Even if OP could secure her garden, a wandering dog stands a very good chance of being hit by a car, eating dangerous rubbish or getting lost. Irresponsible dog owners make my blood boil.

Regardless if you have a dog or not - your neighbour needs to control theirs and stop it going into your garden - ie a fence