Neighbour’s aggressive dogs

[Tsc2011]

Hi, I wondered if anyone had any advice.

We own a small field at the back of our house which our children (4 and 6) use to play in. It’s alongside a neighbour’s field which also runs along the back of our garden so we’re pretty much surrounded by his land. We got on really well with him (although the constant peering in to our back garden was getting quite annoying) but then in lockdown he got two German shepherd puppies.
They’re not socialised and he disciplined them by hitting them and pulling their tails (awful to see). It’s resulted in the dogs being VERY aggressive!
Whenever we go out on to our land they go crazy, running at the 4ft stock fence, barking and growling. They track our girls as if hunting them and they stick their heads through the wire on to our land trying to bite us. It’s terrifying.
He reassured us he was going to get behaviour training for them and get them neutered but he’s since said that the vet refused to neuter them because they were too aggressive to have in the vets!
He’s said he likes them aggressive so he’s not going to do anything about it.
They’ve bitten him twice to the point he’s needed stitches and they bit my partner really badly, breaking the skin and causing swelling and bruising.
Since then someone (not us) has contacted the police about them. He’s decided it must have been us so he’s being very hostile with us now.
He admitted to the police he should have done something about their behaviour and he said they’re now jumping our fence. He told the police he’d replace the fence with something bigger but has since told us he won’t and we have to do it (the quote was £10,000!!).
We’re now not sure what to do. Does anyone know if thick hedging would keep them out (gorse/ hawthorn etc). The 4ft stock fence has to stay (he won’t let us replace it) so the hedge (would eventually grow to around 2m) would be in front of that.
Any advice about fences/hedging and how to deal with our terrible neighbour welcome!

I'm a Rottweiler owner and I say your neighbour is an absolute jerk! Report report report. Inform rspca and the police that your parter had been bitten and that you are being asked to pay for his dog to be kept out of your property. When neighbours passing the front of our house felt unsafe with our barking rottweiler, we reenforced the gate and fence line immediately. Irony is, our dog is an absolute softy. You should not have to worry about your neighbour's dog coking into your property. This guy should not have a dog. Report everything and hopefully he will have his dog removed. I would even get litigious with this one. Good luck and I'm sorry this is happening to you.

I think your best bet is to put in an official complaint and have the police decision reviewed.

The dog doesn’t have to be put down but the police can enforce a voluntary control order on the owner which will stipulate certain conditions.

I would strongly argue for the dogs to be rehomed or for the owner to have them on a lead or in a kennel and run when not on a lead.

If the owner breaches the conditions, this can lead to further prosecution.

Dog control legislation can be difficult and it’s likely that the officers who you dealt with are regular response cops who aren’t too familiar with dog legislation.

Ask to speak to a dog legislation officer. Each force will have dog handlers who are specially trained in this speciality and they will be much better placed to deal with this dog than response cops will.

Just a quick update.

I contacted a solicitor who advised that Environmental Health had responsibilities to act where dangerous dogs were reported so I contacted the council. I received a standard letter informing me that the council wouldn’t take any action, they referred to laws applying to streets and public land, all complaints had to be made to the police or we had to take civil legal action.
In response I copied in our MP, pointed out to the council that under the 2014 update to the Dangerous Dog’s act that the law now applied to private land and I quoted the police website that states that the council has powers to act to prevent attacks. I asked them to confirm in writing that they would not be exercising those powers so I could pass this on to my solicitor in the event that one of us was attacked.

Lo and behold the council phoned me yesterday and had a complete change of heart. Yes they do have powers to act in advance of attacks and they would now be visiting the owner with the dog-handling police to do an assessment, make recommendations and advise him of his responsibilities. If he doesn’t take their advice an enforcement action will be issued and he could end up in court. They said that it was his responsibility to erect fences to contain his animals and if the 4ft fence was deemed too low for German shepherds he would be told to replace them.

They’ve said they’ll be keeping me up to date with how it goes.

Great news so far OP, well done

Take video footage of the dogs behaviour at your fence when in the garden & REPORT to the concil dog warden. They have the power to remove the dogs.

Well done OP!

Brilliant news, sometimes you've just got to speak to the right people, sad that the council tried to shurk their responsibility though
Dogs shouldn't be destroyed because of their stupid owners

BRILLIANT news. Well done! Fingers crossed for a good outcome.

Our next door neighbours gs could easily clear a 6ft fence. It wasn't aggressive, but as I am petrified of dogs after being attacked as a child it was scary when it happened. We couldn't leave our back door open as the dog would come in the house.

You should've reported the bite to the police. It could've been one of your kids and a whole lot worse...

There is nothing as effective as asking for written confirmation that an organisation will not take the action they are bound to do by procedure, legal obligation etc.

It really focuses minds as to exactly what their responsibilities are.

Simply stating what has occurred,
the consequences,
the efforts to rectify by the complainant,
the lack of action,
the organisations policies and finally,
the request for confirmation that they are refusing to take action and follow their own procedures.

Every single time, letters following the above have resulted in people waking up and suddenly seeing the problem and taking swift action.

Well done OP.

Omg this is a scary one to read, I am a dog lover myself but this is such a dangerous situation.

It's great that you have acted and that the council seem to be doing something now but I would consider having a backup plan of your own 6ft fencing with wire underneath to prevent digging in case the owner tries to fob everyone off. I know it sounds extreme and it's totally unfair but you cannot put a price on your children's safety and sometimes all we can do is control our own actions. I would also be prepared to sell the house (to someone without children!!). It's not their fault but these dogs have been handled in a way that has made them very dangerous. Dangerous dogs, especially large ones, can and do kill children. I hope they are removed from this owner and rehabilitated :(

Could you put electric fencing around the edge of your field? Would prevent the dogs from breaking in...?
But as Pp have stated, report report report! The dangerous dogs act was recently amended to include private land to protect people like posties.

@Thetwomutts

I have a GSD and have kept them for years, they are my chosen breed.

They are wonderful loyal, protective, soppy with their family and brilliantly trainable dogs that can be highly dependable and steadfast in situations that would make other dogs nervous

But they take a good owner and he is clearly not one.

Stock fencing has no hope of keeping a GSD in - mine can jump our 7 foot fence and wall combo, he just chooses not to because we trained him not to. To be honest no fence should be relied on to keep them in.

As for hedges - no I don't think even thick brambles will work. They are stubborn and determined when they want something and will find their way through

This man has turned these beautiful dogs into a danger - even he isn't safe from them. German shepherds are the last dog I would expect to bite their owner - they are insanely loyal to a point of it being a weakness - if they are turning on their owner they don't see him as worthy of that loyalty and for a dog that is usually all about their family that is saying something

You need to report these dogs to the police, to the council, to the RSPCA and repeatedly until something is done. These puppies deserve a better home and life, they are not living up to their potential and will become more and more of a liability

As for him liking them aggressive.... if he thinks dogs like that will protect a property he is wrong. A well trained protection german shepherd is reliable and safe around the public, they are steadfast and unphased, they only protect when called upon to do so by command. These puppies are running on adrenaline, fear and instinct. They are no use to anyone as protection, their owner is more likely to get hurt by them in a guarding situation.

Really good post.

The thing with dangerous animals like that is that the fence/lead/muzzle whatever needs to be 100% effective 100% of the time. They only need to get out once - accident, hole the fence etc. to cause harm. You obviously can’t trust him to ensure that never happens, you can’t really trust a hedge. I’d imagine it would be a barrier if you tried to move house. I think your money is better spent on legal action now, and keep your children out of the field in the meantime.

I have a GSD and I've seen her jump 8ft from the beach up a sea wall. His 4ft fence probably wouldn't even register in her mind as she was jumping it. They are incredibly agile and if he thinks that fence will hold a GSD that hasn't been trained not to jump it then he has no business having one (not that it sounds like he should anyway)

Not acceptable behaviour from dogs or owner, I would be reporting it to the RSPCA so they can review the situation.
Those dogs have the potential to take your children's lives, I wouldn't be allowing mine to play anywhere near them.

We’ll done OP. Really hope he replaces the fence soon.

Well done OP. I agree it's very sad that the council tried to shirk its responsibilities but all they ever see is the cost. It would cost them a lot more if they were sued for their lack of action.

While the hedge is by no means guaranteed to keep the dogs out, it will give you and your children a degree of privacy from your unpleasant neighbour, so I would crack on with planting it if I were you. Especially as bare-rooted hedging plants are so cheap at the moment.

Those poor poor dogs.
Id say report but i doubt rspca will do anything.

Well done op!! Hopefully the laws you quoted can help others on mn!

Excellent news op. Hopefully they will visit very soon. In the meantime I hope you and the children stay safe.

Great update OP, looking forward to seeing what comes of this and hope your situation improves.

Great news, well done.
I wish this could be flagged somewhere to help others in similar situations

I know it's been a while since you've been back OP but I would love to know what came of the Council's visit to the dogs' owner?

Hi, Environmental Health and a member of the Police Dog Unit visited the owner, with some prompting from the local MP, and made “suggestions” regarding reducing the gaps in the fencing so the dogs can’t get their heads through. With some prompting from me they, apparently, were also going to recommend the height of the fence should be raised to 6 ft and the entire perimeter enclosed, although EH thought this would be very expensive for the owner (!). They refused to provide me with a copy of the letter so I don’t know what was actually advised.
They told me that if he didn’t do it they could then issue enforcement notices “if there was another incident”. I had to push them to agree that an “incident” included aggressive behaviour and not just an attack.
The neighbour is very hostile towards us but has started to build some sort of fence. We’re waiting to see what that will be, although it currently looks to be 5ft rather than 6ft.