Dog jumping the fence

[Darksideoftheprune]

Can anyone suggest what my mum can do?

Next door (young guy, house owned by his parents who live elsewhere, house stinks of weed) has a medium staffy type dog that would often jump my mums fence and started barking at her in her own garden. My mum is terrified of dogs so my mum got someone in to build a 6ft fence.

This guys girlfriend moved in 2 weeks ago with 3 of her dogs. 2 are huge bullmastiff type things, they are never walked and bark non stop. Any noise sets them off. My mum thought the 6ft fence solved the problem but yesterday the biggest dog has jumped her fence and was in her garden barking and shitting on her lawn. I was over at the time so i knocked on next doors and explained my mum is terrified of dogs and afraid to go in her own garden. He just said sorry and hopped the fence to my mums to get the dog back as my mums gate was locked and I told him I wasnt going in to the garden to unlock the gate with the dog barking. He could hardly drag the dog back and was properly out of breath. I asked him how he got over and asked if he had his bins against the fence and thats how the dog got over maybe. He denied this and said no but there is a slide at the bottom of the garden he could have gotten over on. My mum looked out her side of house window and lo and behold the bins were against the fence. The bottom of their garden is full of crap (as is the whole garden) stacked up on top of eachother so the dog could have gotten over either end really.

This afternoon my mum has noticed a chewed up tennis ball in her garden, flower pots knocked over and soil all over the patio and flowers trampled so the dog (or one of them) has been over again.

My mum is now scared to go in her own garden. What can she do? The neighbour doesnt care and seems on another planet. She is planning to move because of the scuzzy neighbour but that is going to take time.

Maybe have a chat with the local dog warden? There are some breeds that’ll do a 6ft fence without a run up but these don’t seem the type so they must be jumping on the bins/junk. Should in theory be an easy solution.

When I had a problem with a neighbours dog I hit it with everything at the same time

In this case I suggest as well as the dog warden you contact the Police, Environmental Health and the landlords.

I suggest that if the place stinks of weed then the Police should be told that as well

The Council should know how to contact the landlord

Dog warden and if that fails 101.

It’s an offence to have a dog out of control. It ifs jumping out the garden it’s not under control.

Phone every single time.

Honestly I’d be temped to unlock the gate and leave it ajar for them to run off off where the warden / will be forced to deal with the issue.

You could put something up to extend the fence, when we got our rescue dog we used rolls of bamboo screening to elevate the fence to make sure he didn't jump out, turns out he didn't bother trying and we took it down eventually, you could use that or trellis is prettier to make it higher, which would discourage the dogs from getting over. They need to move what is on the other side.

But definitely report to 101/council/dog warden etc, get her to take pictures when the dog gets in the garden, and make notes of times/dates etc, record the barking etc.

What a pair of horrible arseholes they are.

Thinking about it

Given how big the dog is and the problems they have controlling it I would suggest 999 as it's an immediate risk to life and limb

Also it will get a definite response

Honestly I’d be temped to unlock the gate and leave it ajar for them to run off off where the warden / will be forced to deal with the issue

Or for them to run straight under the wheels of a passing car.

Please don't do this. Dogs have no sense of personal space or ownership of outside spaces. It's not the dogs fault and to do this would be very cruel.

If they can jump into the ops mums garden they could jump into the ally way frankly. Its not the mums job to contain someone else out of control pests.

Now if it was the owner that was run over,......

There is no landlord; the blokes parents own the house and they are as dodgy as their son.

If my mum reports this to police/dog warden etc will she need to declare when she sells her house?

Yes

But

As I have mentioned on other threads the landlords are liable for nuisance caused by their tenant if they could have forseen it which I suggest they could

But there is no landlord in this case

If your mums gate was locked both times how the fuck did he get the dog back over the fence?! They aren't exactly small dogs! He must have dragged it over

He hopped the fence, opened the gate and then dragged the dog out. I told my mum to leave it unlocked after that.

Yes. Don't.

Next time ring the police and report a dangerous ddog is on your property

Thanks to this neighbour who moved in a few months ago (his parents were there before for about a year) my mum (been in her house 35 years now) has decided the only way is to sell up and escape and she is scared to make reports if she has to declare when selling. I'm just wondering if there is anything we can do in the interim without ruining her chances of moving.

Not ideal but could your mom leave her gate open so the dog wanders the streets.

The best thing she can do is ignore them, hopefully this will de-escalate anything. If she has an issue or dispute she has to declare it could devalue her house or make it impossible to sell. I'm so sorry, some people are absolute fuckers.

The other alternative may be to rent out her house and for her to rent somewhere else I suppose, hoping they move out or calm down. But her tenants will have same problem.

@OhmygodDont

& risk the dog getting hit by a car?? Or scaring other people, possibly knocking elderly/children over.

not fair on the dog or anyone else!!

Yep we have considered this. The only issue is these dogs bark like mad at her for even being in the garden so my mum is worried she will come home from work and if the dog is in her garden it could run out the back gate and go for her whilst shes trying to get in the front door.

I dont suppose there is any kind of legal tazer or pepper spray or something she could defend herself with if she needed to? She will not go in her back garden now but incase they get out the front or something. Shes petrified.

@whowhatwerewhy

FGS - you're happy for the dog to get run over? It's MOT the dogs fault it has feckless owners.

for other people to get scared/hurt. What a ridiculous suggestion-.

Honestly those dogs live such a horrible life they'd be better off not living. 4 dogs stuck in a tiny house, awful garden full of debris and dog shit. They never get so much as a walk poor sods.

You could tell them you have to leave the gate open for the foreseeable for some fictitious reason (post/window cleaner/random work person who needs ongoing access to the garden etc), so you're letting them know in advance because if the dogs get over the fence again then the gate will be wide open and they could get hurt. I'm not suggesting you actually do leave the gate open as I'd hate for the dogs/a person to get hurt, but it might make them think and finally take some action. Or build a bigger fence - 6ft isn't that big for some dogs. We have a 7ft fence and had to get planning permission but it was worth it.