Scared my dogs will hurt next doors dog

[Alittlebitfat25]

I have four golden Labradors who are all family, as in we have the mum who is 12 and dad who is 10 and two of their puppies who are now 9 years old.

One of the puppies had an incident with a small dog when he was only a year old and was bitten on his leg during a training class and ever since then he is extremely aggressive when it comes to small dogs. When he goes out for his walk, he has a muzzle and we walk him early in the morning and late at night to avoid other dogs and of course he is on a lead so can be restrained.
Our next door neighbors moved in around a year ago and unfortunately for us have a Jack Russel who is very barky and snappy. The fence is also falling apart making it easy for the dogs to get through and it is there side of the fence as in they are responsible for it and we do not have the money to offer to replace it. Its also worth noting he is a builder so could easily install new fence panels. We have dropped multiple letters to the house, spoke to them when we have managed to catch them and basically begged them to mend the fence and warned them repeatedly what would happen if the dogs got through. It makes it worst that we have four because of obviously the pack mentality and if one started attacking they all probably would.
The obvious solution is to muzzle the aggressive one in the garden but as summer is here it doesn't feel very fair at all and it would mean muzzling all of them in this heat. Is there anything we can do to almost force them to mend the fence? I am terrified the poor little dog is going to get hurt.

Realised that your 'puppies' are fully grown adults.

I hope they're all neutered.

You say you can’t afford to fence your dangerous dog in, but presumably you can afford to pay your neighbour’s vet bill/cremation costs?

op...repost this in the doghouse section

you can't sell a 9 year old dog....theres literally no market for them!

Insurance for four Labradors aged 12, 10, 9 and 9 must be eye wateringly (is there such a word) expensive. My quotes for two (with one under 5) nearly gave me a heart attack!

misses point of the thread.

It won't usually offer cover for where the animal is already known to have aggression and the owner hasn't taken any steps to mitigate a potential claim - for example, by putting chicken wire up to prevent all the dogs escaping or being stolen, never mind tearing a JRT to pieces.

I would just pay to have something fixed as you are the one with the aggressive dog. I would rather shell out than potentially having my dog hurting someone and it (or all of them) getting destroyed/taken off you in the worst case scenario.

This is very true. The onus is on op to take measures to prevent her dog from attacking the neighbour’s dog.

Cheap quick fix - get a metal dog playpen - one that you can open out - and secure that to the fence your side. Then save up and replace the fence yourself - if it’s only a few panels that need replacing that’s not too expensive especially if you do it yourself. You must be paying huge amounts in dog food and insurance vets fees etc, so just price it up and get it done. This needs to be a priority.

You have the dangerous animal - it’s your responsibility to make sure it cannot get out of your garden.

What difference is that going to make? If you have pets, the onus is on you to stop them escaping. Even if the fence is next door's responsibility.

I am sympathetic but the guy next door doesn't have to have to replace the fence unfortunately.

I am sympathetic but the guy next door doesn't have to have to replace the fence unfortunately.

But doesn't he have to keep his dog in? I'm obviously not excusing the fact OP has an aggressive dog but surely the JRT has to be kept in as well. Otherwise what's to stop my neighbour getting a dog and deciding she doesn't want a fence between us?

As most other people have said, the laws pretty clear. Your dog causes damage to others, your fault. It's tough luck that the NDN has a little dog. Surely you would want to be the one sorting the fence, as you then know it's been done well/by legitimate people, seeing as it's your dog which it's going to keep in. NDN may be a builder, but he does not have to spend his free time doing his usual job just to keep his dog safe from yours.
"I'm sorry my dog killed/hurt theirs, Officer, but I have told them to fix the fence or it might happen"...doesn't sound too good, does it!

Could you put a long lead attached to a stake in the ground so he couldn't get through?or work on training your dog?
Don't understand why your neighbours won't work with you on this.
Hope it works out and no dogs are hurt.

We bought this to fence in our lab(we have one of those fences with just the posts and four horizontal wires). He's never so much as chewed the coating off nevermind break it.
www.screwfix.com/p/apollo-50mm-pvc-coated-wire-netting-1-x-10m/55784

You need to erect your own fence NOW. Controlling your dogs is your responsibility not theirs.

IF they attack ND's dog then next door has all your messages in writing admitting you know the risk and have done nothing about it. That's evidence they'll be showing the police/court. You won't have a leg to stand on.

Do you think your neighbours would be more willing to sort the fence if you offered to pay half the costs?

Is there any evidence the JRT is trying to get through the fence to the OP's dogs? A lot of dogs won't go beyond the boundary

YABU. You can’t have an aggressive dog and expect other people to protect themselves and their dogs from it: the onus is on YOU. Put a fence up or don’t use the garden.

I don't know but as dogs aren't legally allowed to roam surely both parties should be keeping their dogs secure.

My idiot neighbours who had a JRT didn't bother about it getting into other people's gardens and digging and crapping everywhere. Our garden is secure with a sturdy fence as it's cat proofed but if the yapping thing had ever appeared in my garden I was going to call the dog warden and report it as a stray!

Not all dogs do roam though. My neighbour's dog is a soft old git who never leaves their garden. My dog is stupidly territorial. So it's my responsibility to keep the fence between our gardens secure even though they're technically their fences - because their dog isn't wanting to get into my garden, my dog wants to get into theirs (well only if their dog is there to tell him to keep away from my dog's imaginary 5 metre boundary around our house)

Just mend the fence, take out a loan if necessary. You've asked them, thars all you can do. You need to take responsibility now.

You have to do something makeshift for now. The solution cannot be that the other dog gets killed. I have a dog like yours—muzzled—and would try to put up something where the other dog can’t be seen. Even piling brinks or something.

If you can't afford to secure your garden properly you can't afford to own four dogs.

(You can't be that hard up if you are paying for food, veterinary insurance, dog poo bags, leads, etc for 4 labs).

I would offer to pay for half the fencing costs and see if that helps.

In the meantime you will have to take control of your space and put up a temporary/semi permanent fence on your land. Posts and chicken wire would work, you can get wire mesh that's specifically for dog proofing.