Next Doors Dogs - WWYD?

[SomeonTookMyAnonymousUserName]

This is a WWYD, what would you do, post. I’m upset and don’t know if I am overreacting. I’m just looking for a sense check please.

NDN family has 4 dogs. Usually they don’t affect me or my family but, from time to time, we have had issues:
⁃ lots of dog mess in our garden (can’t always be sure it’s them but always in the same place and same size as when we’ve seen them do it)
⁃ Annoying barking at times, often very early morning (pre 7am)
⁃ Occasional aggressive behaviour (one of them backed my child up against a car whilst barking at her; she was terrified)
⁃ They are allowed to run free when their front door is opened. I have never seen any of them on a lead. They tend to come back when they are called.
NB we live in a new-ish estate with no garden walls, fences or hedges.

I have spoken to them about the dogs over the years but only in the midsts of the issues, ie, shouting to them to come and get their dog when my child was feeling under attack, telling them when they’ve fouled the grass, etc, nothing changes.

I work from home in an office at the front of our house and this morning saw all 4 of them on my grass. 2 of them were peeing on my grass, looked like 1 was pooing. So I went out, assuming NDN was around. She wasn’t but her front door was opened. I was a few feet from my front door when they surrounded me and started barking at me (in my garden).

I’m not overly scared of dogs but this terrified me. They are mid-sized dogs; taller than my knee height, and their barking was so loud and aggressive. I was terrified.

She popped her head out her door and called them. I wasn’t aggressive but raised my voice and said, ‘they’re shitting and peeing on my grass and barking at me. It’s so frustrating!’ Then I scurried indoors to get away from them. She didn’t say anything but to be fair, she didn’t get a chance to.

I was shaking with adrenaline and quite tearful afterwards.

I know I can report to council or police but is that an over reaction? WWYD?

You need fences!

If these dogs have been bugging you for years, why have none of you got fences?

You mean no walls or fences and you're not allowed them? So they just roam the estate?

I'm guessing OP is referring to the front of the houses.

OP report them. I would say allowing 4 offlead dogs out the front of the house unsupervised is not in control of your dogs. Which could be an offence if you feel in danger:

https://www.bluecross.org.uk/advice/dog/wellbeing-and-care/dog-laws-uk

Put down some of the plastic spike grids that deter animals. They will soon stop walking onyour garden

Yes, it's in the deeds that we can have walls or fences.

To be fair, I'm not sure hat anyone could do if we did, but it's officially not allowed.

And yes, just front gardens. Back gardens have wooden gates and 6 foot fences

Typo above. We CAN'T have walls or fences

I'd call the dog warden.
The dogs have intimidated your family on more than one occasion, and are freely roaming the streets.

Are you allowed to pave over the grass? Or replace with fake grass so can be hosed down with disinfectant?

I would be putting up a fence. Our deeds state that we cannot have fences, walls or hedging, the front doors must be white and there are to be no larger size vehicles on the drive. It's safe to say I dont think there is a single house that hasn't broken at least one of these. Absolutely nothing has happened.

Can you have hedges?

1. Call the dog warden re them being off the leads and the mess. If you have other neighbours that will chime in with you, all the better as it does make your case stronger. Definitely mention the aggression toward the kids.
2. If your kids don't go on the grass much, the spikes as the poster above suggested. If they do, make/buy tall wooden planters from decking and plant tall things in them.
3. Spray bottle of vinegar - spray around your place, they hate the smell.
4. Buy a bark deterrent, they stop barking really quickly after that. Less than £30 from Amazon and works like a dream.

Dealt with the same thing myself, this is what ended up working the best after lots of dead ends.

Exactly this.

Why anyone would move to a house with dogs if they can't have a fence or wall is beyond me. Your neighbours are being totally selfish, not to mention it isn't safe for the dog to just wander around if they are so bothered by another person. What happens if they run into the road?

No hedges either but as I said earlier, and a PP has agreed, not sure what anyone could do about it if we did.

It would stand out quite clearly though as no one else has them. All being well, it wouldn't be my choice

I only mentioned hedges as a nice hedge with a thorny hedging plant would deter them! Sometimes hedges are allowed but fences aren't.
Or planters with similar in them

First quote says it all. Problem solved. Get a fence, fence them out, I dgaf if the estate doesn't have fences, it does now.

Edit - reading the typo. I'd complain to the estate management, I'd call the dog warden. The estate management don't allow fences but they also don't condone lone dogs roaming the streets.

Why are the dogs not let out in the back garden to toilet where you have fences? Perhaps ask your neighbour to do so because you/your children feel unsafe/uncomfortable around off lead dogs and that you don't want them toileting on your front lawn? Best talk to your neighbour when the dogs aren't around and you feel calm so it is a productive conversation. If that doesn't work, then you may have to report her for allowing the dogs to be off lead without proper supervision.

@SomeonTookMyAnonymousUserName throw some crushed up oxo cubes on her front grass. they wont want to leave her garden then!

You have put up with this for far too long. You need to start sticking up for yourself, being assertive and making complaints.

Having the dogs running free out front, scaring children and shitting on peoples front gardens is an absolute piss take when they presumably have an enclosed back garden.

They are, in fact they are there now.

However, when the front door opens, they are allowed to just run off. For example, they often go to work with the guy so, in the mornings before he leaves in his van, he opens the door and lets them run till he's ready to go. Or when they get a delivery, they are allowed out.
They do seem to have good recall though.

But I believe that's often the time that they shit on my grass but I tend not to see it happen.

You can report the owner to the local dog warden as the dogs are out of control; even if they haven't bitten. Keep a diary and make a report for each incident.
She will probably guess it was you, so bear that in mind.

We had something similar - we used push-in fencing to keep the shitting dogs out. Google push-in fence and you'll see lots of options - wood, metal, etc. Not too pricey and worked a treat. And doesn't count as a permanent fence so can be easily removed if needed.

Summary if you don't want to read my whole post
Get a camera for the front garden and record the dogs
Contact your local dog warden
It may escalate and may take a while to sort out

My neighbour had a similar problem. He contacted the dog warden who visited the owners. The dog owners didn't like that so started actively encouraging the dogs to go into his front garden to go to the toilet, together with screaming abuse at their house at 5.00 a.m. every morning because that is totally the rational and adult response.

He had a ring camera and caught it all. He contacted the dog warden again, who looked at the footage, decided it was harassment and contacted the police on my neighbour's behalf. A police officer saw the footage said 'I don't know where he comes from but we don't behave like that here' and went around to see the owner.

The owner was told to stop walking his dogs past my neighbour's house, and he did. He saw my neighbour in the local supermarket a few months ago and came up to apologize to him and they shook hands.

I am not sure what the police are like in your town. Ours rolled because one of my neighbours had two matresses in her driveway for a couple of weeks and some tosspot reported her to the police for .........something I guess. Our town is reknowned for being packed with drunken idiots though which could explain a lot of the behaviour. They are very nice when they aren't drunk.

Not an overreaction - report them to the council and/or your local dog warden.

If your child has been scared by an unleashed dog, I'd be calling the police too. I don't care if the dog has good recall - it shouldn't be out of control enough to be going up to the kids in the first place.

Report to police, council, dog warden and anyone else you can think of. This is a nightmare.

Sounds incredibly stressful! I’d report to the dog warden but instead if focussing on the fouling on your grass (I assume they don’t pick the poo up though), I’d focus on the antisocial hours barking, aggression and the fact they roam free without the owner to get onto the road/obstruct the pavement/corner young children.

If there’s a lot of pooing and they’re not picking it up I’d start bagging it and knocking on the door to give it back