SHould I report neighbours dog for this?

[tundrah]

On sunday my little boy (2) sneaked in to the neighbours garden. The neighbour let his 5 dogs out and they surrounded my boy barking, snapping and snarling at him. The dogs are not very well trained but usually the neighbour would call them back. This time he made no attempt to call them back, I had to grab my boy who was bawling and shaking like a leaf. The neighbour jsut gave me a foul look.

I am constantly telling my boy not to go in there, he is well aware he shouldn't. THE only good thing is he might not try to get in There again. I am absolutely livid that the neighbour seemed to be letting his dogs scare my child like that!

Should I report it?

there is more to the story, too. We are farmers and our fields surround these neighbours, I have also had 3 sheep killed and 7 aborted since these neighbours moved in. I have reported the worrying to the police (you should always do that) but I don't know for certain it was them. Judging by Sunday I have suspicions now that it was them.

questioning dropped the ball, yes. We all have and like you we learn from it. Not shrug our fresh from the shop barboured shoulders and say oh well bribery and telling off didn't work so hey ho. Around large livestock, no I haven't. And that's not a lie as she's still here in one piece.
sdt the dog issue is really fuck all, which ever way you look at it, compared to the fact she's not supervising her ds on a farm. You appear to be viewing it in the same light as if he'd got lost in a shop, or gone from one urban garden to another. And it's not comparable. It's really hypocritical to get your brand new country wear knickers in a twist about dogs barking at your 2yr old if you see no problem with leaving said 2yr old in actual danger from livestock etc.
Kids that get knocked over by dogs do sometimes end up scared. But the harsh fact is a 2yr old knocked over by a bull would be bloody lucky to just be left scared. Hence why anyone with half a brain wouldn't be risking it.

"Why are you asking me a question with the answer you want contained in it?"

Because you seemed to be minimising what happened to the little boy, as if it is fine that he got terrified by the dogs, just as long as he wasn't bitten, Elke.

*SDTG I'm not even going to attempt to reply to that. You obviously have your own idea in your head and are ignoring all red flags in the OP's story.

Squinkies I would report this indecent and also the sheep injuries, I'd also shoot any dogs worrying my sheep

Well, the OP hasn't actually seen any dogs killing the sheep, but in view of it being a badly fenced, boundary-free farm with her son wandering at will, that's kind of par for the course. So of course if she does think this is a problem neighbour then she go to the police with her tall tale of his activities in his own garden. I mean, obviously, he should run his whole life so that his neighbour's son isn't worried in when he goes wandering the countryside.

But the OP's not going to go to the police, is she? Because they'll question her for the correct version of events. She'll moan on her, but won't do anything about it.

And depending on the size of the dogs, a 2yr old getting in doesn't mean they can get out. My dd could get through things at 2 by a combination of crawling and climbing that a dog the same size couldn't. And again warning off trespassers isn't synonymous with sheep worrying.

I wouldn't get my knickers in a knot over a dog barking at a child, Lurked - but I would get them well bunched about five dogs surrounding a child, growling and barking at him, and terrifying him.

I suppose, Elke, you aren't going to answer either, if I ask how you know the dogs are regularly exercised by the neighbour in his garden? Because unless I have missed a major post by the OP, she hasn't once said that - so you are just making stuff up.

I am basing my opinions on what the OP has said - I think that is better than fantasising wildly and basing opinions on that.

And I think I am going to hide this for now - I have said all I am going to say.

And sdt if those 5 dogs had been reached by passing a near a deep unused quarry, or a motorway, would it actually be the dogs causing the knicker bunching? Or would you be eternally grateful for the fact your kid was scared from the former rather than dead from encountering the latter two?

I didn't say the dogs were regularly exercised in the neighbour's garden SDTG. However, the fact that they were in the garden indicates that they were benefitting from exercise, and are not barred from the garden.

What stands out for me from this thread is the unwillingness of the OP to take responsibility for the consequences of her son wandering off. It always seems to be someone or something else's fault - the neighbour, his dogs, the lack of boundary fence.

Do you know how many fatal accidents there are on farms? Or serious injuries? It sounds like utter chaos and not like any well run farm I know.

Assuming the op is in the uk it's the wrong time of year to put a bull in with cows.
Da dah end of thread!

I've read your thread op, yabu, hugely.
You know your child is a bolter yet you say 'who can control their child all the time???'
Are you serious?
I can understand once or twice but if they have a habit of it then you watch them At all times or you make it impossible for them, especially if you know there are 5 big dogs next door!
You said you saw him do all this when posts weren't going your way, yet at the begining you insinuated that you didn't, as the posts were 'he sneaked in whilst i were talking to a friend'.
Then you complain because the dogs scared him?
I seriously doubt this bloke set his dogs on him, more likely he just let his dogs out and weren't expecting your child to be in his Garden.
What's he to do, check every nook and cranny of his garden incase your son is there before he lets his dogs out?
The dogs were in their garden, your son was not.
It's sad your son was scared but that was your fault.
Secure the garden from your side. If you're outside you'll have to hold his hands or use reins till he's old enough to understand.
I would be really pissed off if someones child kept coming into my garden.
People are sympathetic, but they are sympathetic to the little child, not the op.

Your both as bad as each other. You- for leaving a 2 year old unsupervised long enough to enter the neighbours garden, and this is clearly a frequent thing so why havent you done anything about it in regards to asking the neighbours to block off acess (at your expense of course)

But if your neighbour really think its appropriate to set a pack of dogs on a 2 year old- well, I wouldnt be able to control myself. Sure it could be a coincidence- but highly unlikely.

I actually think it's really rotten for the neighbour to apparently stand their smirking whilst 5 dogs scared the 2 year old.

If he had a problem he should have directed it at the adult not the child whatever the circumstances or any history

But I have to say that talking/reasoning/explaining to a 2 year old? ... Forget it! I've had situations where I knew my kids might wiggle out of sight at that age and you have to hold onto them no matter what especially if they are going through a running off phase either reigns, holding hands despite wiggling, keeping hold of a hood or anything that clearly gives the message "I won't let you run off"

How big are the dogs?

My family has large dogs and toddlers, the dogs are taller than the toddlers.

If they were surrounding something I couldn't see in their own garden I'd assume it was a rat, not a random strange child.

If he knew it was a child then yes, he was BU, but you really ought to keep a closer eye on your child.

I'd not report it this time, just make sure your child doesn't go in there again.

If they harass you in public then of course report it, but in this instance both you and the neighbour were in the wrong.

The posters who are insisting that dogs should be able to differentiate between intruders and non intruders have been watching too many Lassie films.

Developmentally, a 2yo isn't going to be able to recall and act on historical instructions not to go somewhere/do something. If they could, we would only need to tell them once how to cross a road safely.

So block the gap - stop him escaping into their garden and stop the dogs escaping into your garden.

You were both to blame but you sound shockingly irresponsible in how you deal with a 2 year old on a farm!!! At the very least you should have been holding his hand

The thing is, that moment could have seen your toddler fall under the wheels of a moving vehicle.

The neighbour's behaviour was shitty, don't get me wrong. Who the hell lets 5 dogs go and scare a toddler, on purpose? Awful. BUT - it worries me that you don't watch a 2 year old more closely. And yeah, I do have a bolter. It was hellish until he was around 4 or so, and we lived in a flat so exercise meant city parks, which... um. It's hard, I know that. But if you know a neighbour has 5 large dogs, which you suspect have worried sheep, that is a danger to the child and you have to have eyes in the back of your head. Or reins.

Erm..I guess he has them as defence for his property. They didn't hurt your child & he was on the guys property when eh shouldn't be.

Your son is two.Are you really expecting him to be able to know what to do & what not to do?? Of course he isn't going to listen to you re not going in neighbours garden. This is why you need to supervise him all the time. It's your job to keep hi out, he is 2, he doesn't even understand yet!!

Not quite sure what you can report to be honest.

It seems to me that the dog owner probably didn't have time to actually call the dogs back before the OP turned up, as surely she ws hot on the heeels of her known-to-be-a bolter DS? Unless the OP took several minutes to notice her son was no longer with her which is a whole different kettle of fish!

Like PPs have said, I don't check my garden before letting the dogs go out, why would I?!

OP I get that it was a frightening experience for you but dogs are instinctively protective of their home, certain breeds even more so, so would growl a warning at anyone trespassing, not just a child.

As I read it, they were dogs behaving as dogs. If they had wanted to hurt your DS they would have done, and dogs in attack mode are very difficult to stop, so I too would encourage using a pushchair or leaving DS at home when you visit that part of the farm in future for everyones safety

I am going to offer some sensible advice here. You clearly cannot cope with your two year old, and keeping an eye all the time.

I know someone who has a large garden, a beautiful stream meandering through is. The boundary is also very difficult to maintain, being a mix of hedges, fence, wall and inlet and outlet for the stream.

When I went round there for a party, they had a two year old and a five year old.

Obviously not great ages to have so much freedom. What they did was do a smaller garden within the garden. A smaller, very well contained play area for the children to stay within. Now this was a lot easier to maintain. The children stayed safe. Something you might like to consider.

The man was in the wrong not to call the dogs off (if he saw them, I'm not convinced he stood and watched the whole thing unless he has a screw loose though)

But my dogs are often in the garden alone. If they bark I assume its a bird/rat/they are playing etc and wouldn't bother going to check straight away.

I wouldn't expect there to be a child in my garden and I am almost certain my dogs would bark and growl to alert me to the intruder, child or adult. If they wanted to maul the child they would have, not stood barking at it.

There is a lot of dog hysteria on MN in general. The child wasn't touched by the dogs. They barked which 99% of dogs would do faced with something wandering around the property. If I was the dog owner I would be annoyed I was put in this position in the first place, it's not his or the dogs fault your child was in his garden.

In future, keep the child off private land. Problem solved.

The dog trespassing on your land is a seperate issue, shoot it if it's worrhing sheep or call the police.

I would be holding my child's hand if I thought he was likely to disobey an instruction not to trespass.

Soncey Assuming the op is in the uk it's the wrong time of year to put a bull in with cows. Da dah end of thread

Although its obviously the most badly run farm in Britain, it wouldn't surprise me. It doesn't seem to have any health and safety policy for employees (which would include provision for children wandering into the workplace and around farm machinery) which implies it doesn't have any employees or even contractors so its either made up or a very small small holding.

Although the OP could be posting a few months after the event. In which case I would have expected her to have found more evidence for the dead sheep being the result of the neighbour's dogs.

Haha soncey and elke, I think we can discount the idea of op having any form of proper farming knowledge, so I wouldn't give a second thought to any discrepancy in her breeding practice. I'm not actually even sure she said she was moving it for the purpose of breeding, probably putting it in to allow it to do some father bonding time with that years calves or some other silly notion. There is no way op is any kind of knowledgable farmer whether she's uk or elsewhere.

" but you'll most likely get an ss follow up as standard for your toddler roaming off "

The mass hysteria on this thread was already beyond silly but this takes the .