Next door’s massive dog

[ElizaPankakes]

I moved into my house last summer and found that the house behind us had a new puppy. Cute. The couple seemed nice and we exchanged pleasantries.

Fast forward 9 months and the dog is huge and appears quite aggressive. It barks everytime I go into my garden and one day, I tried to warn the owner that I was going to be painting the fence and would it effect the dog and the dog launched itself at the fence which wobbled. I’m pretty sure that the dog could knock the fence through as it’s only thin wooden panelling. She says the dog is friendly but when it’s barking and growling with it’s heckles raised I’m not convinced.

WIBU to ask her to strengthen the fence? It’s a Doberman btw.

If the dog has actually damaged the fence then she should fix it. However, try not to assume that becuase it's a big dog that its aggressive, barking is part of play as well and most dogs bark if someone is messing with the boundary. Even our dog trainer said my big dog looks terrifying but she's not aggressive just hyper. Their dog is still just a puppy, its hyper, its learning. Maybe try talking to the dog so it gets used to you being there.

Maybe try talking to the dog so it gets used to you being there.

Yes, this, definitely say “hello dogname” whenever he barks.

Define 'appears aggressive'. Because it's a Doberman? Because it's barked? Did it throw itself against fence in a frenzied attempt to get to you? YABU.