Law around soaking neighbours pets?!

[TurmericFan]

My next door neighbour's large dog always barks extremely aggressively when I go out of my side-return door and then down my garden path. This is very disturbing and is negatively affecting my ability to enjoy my garden.

There is a gap in the fence which it runs to, and it looks straight at me barking with full intensity aggression. So now I carry a water-bottle and I will get it right between the eyes whenever this happens. (This gap is where the fence goes around a protected tree which is on the boundry line).

I intend to continue soaking it until the owners stop the dog from doing this.

I understand that legally speaking the dog is the neighbour's property. Am I 'damaging' it in some way by doing this?

It is not in my garden when this is happening. But I don't think there's any kind of trespeass because although the water is going into the neighbour's garden, I am not.

Am I legally safe to keep on doing this, until such time as the neighbours pay to send their dog to doggie behavioural classes/to live on a farm somewhere?

Also, as I embark upon this course of behaviour, I find myself wondering about my own cat, who goes where he likes into other neighbour's gardens.

Would a neighbour who didn't like cats, whose flowerbeds were being trampled, etc, be permitted to soak my cat? Because I'm sure I wouldn't like it if that happened...

Ok I'll bite . I have owned both dogs and cats .

You are either going to cause more barking and aggression doing what you are doing or you are creating the best game ever .

I have a large German Shepard. He is a guard breed by nature , so he guards . I live alone and he is my burglar alarm, however he is soft as the cat shit yours probably leaves in the neighbours gardens .

Dogs bark . 5- 10 times is minimal. It's not barking all day and night is it ?

It's behind a
Fence - ignore it . Use your garden however yku like . I know my dog loves a hosepipe in the face - he brings it to me for water play ! He absolutely loves it .

You are a cat owner saying you wouldn't like the same fine to your pet - so there is your answer. Some people don't like dogs , some dont like cats . Try being a decent neighbour?

I can’t believe what I’ve just read! The dog is legally their property, if you’re not happy with the dog’s behaviour- take it up with them as they are the legal owners. Keep taking it up with them until you get a satisfactory resolution. Stop taking out your frustration on the poor bloody dog.

The dog is protecting its territory and you'll be aggravating it every time you spray it with water.
I agree that you should talk to the owner and try to make friends with the dog, instead of spraying it you could speak to it, use its name, baby talk it, feed it a dog treat with the owners permission.
It'll get used to you and not see you as the enemy.
Otoh if I caught you spraying water on my dog when it's on my property there would be a serious problem and you'd be getting a taste of your own medicine.

Yes because I think a barking dog is a greater disturbance than a pooping cat!

But I'm not sure if that's written in the laws of the country.

Any lawyers here? :)

I chuck water at the cats that come in my garden. It's never got them yet because cats aren't stupid.

Speak to your neighbours.

Well, no , it's because you're being hypocritical.

a dog's bark carries no germs, unlike cat shit.

You do realise that banging on the fence would have made the dog worse? It now sees you as a threat and is warning you off every time it sees you.

When the lemon juice gets in their eyes and causes distress and damage, expect to see the vets bill, a court case and the RSPCA inspector about cruelty to animals. And that's if I don't personally reciprocate and put lemon juice - an acid - in your eyes. Oops, the spray slipped.

OP, you haven't done anything to resolve this amicably - or at all. So yes, you are, if this is not another trolling dog hating post, being unreasonable.

I'd be inclined to cover the gap on your side of the fence

Do not put lemon juice in it. You can cause damage to the dogs eyes and you're likely to find yourself with your neighbours' vet bill if you do this.

Not a lawyer but in law

And no . No law . You're batshit.

And the poster who used lemon Juice - all you are doing in negatively teaching them to bark .
Reward for good behaviour is the way to go with dogs - not punishing the bad because guess what .....dogs are pretty simple creatures. They respond to positive reinforcement. Not cruelty and getting lemon juice in the eye - that will make them bark 10x worse when they see you .

Op try getting some dog treats . When it shuts up - treat through the fence , good boy .
That will work far faster .

Have you thought about asking the neighbours to introduce you to the dog so that maybe it wouldn't feel the need to be aggressive in the garden with you? Might be worth a try.

Yes if every time you go out to your garden the neighbour's dog is barking like WW3, it's extremely disturbing wouldn't you agree?

Not quite as disturbing as fresh warm cat shit oozing through my toes when I'm wandering down to the washing line of a morning, no.

I can't see how that will help in the slightest. Could make the dog more aggressive sounding. Could make it into a 'game'. Could be the neighbours don't even notice! Could be they think you're batshit crazy and let it carry on. You need to communicate!

Yep.
As per my other post I'd ask to be properly introduced to the dog and make friends with it.

Look, here's a similar situation which ended up in court. With the dog-owners served with a noise abatement order. It's the dog owners that are creating the nuisance.

I'm a dog-lover, I grew up with dogs, but I don't like people who have large dogs in terraced flats!

www.theargus.co.uk/news/6730737.plagued-by-20-yapping-dogs/

""The noise of dogs barking and yapping was intrusive and would make it impossible for anyone in the rear ground floor room to concentrate on reading or studying or any quiet peaceful activity."

It appeared attempts had been made to control the dogs by squirting them with water.

Mr Jacobs, 45, and Mrs Jacobs, 42, admitted failing to comply with the noise abatement order but, in their defence, said Mrs Sztorc was carrying on a personal vendetta against them."

So you’re not going to try to make friends with the dog and owners? You’d rather go to court and cause a huge amount of stress to all concerned.

Crack on then

I would block/hang something over the gap and get something to disguise the noise of your footsteps.

Yep, my dog would love that! Her favourite game is for me to soak her with the hosepipe.

I'm a bit gobsmacked at the ignorance on this thread. Ofc there are laws to protect people from this type of ongoing disturbance at home.

A neighbour of ours was served with a noise abatement order for basically throwing his dog out into the yard from silly o'clock & letting it bark. Thankfully we couldn't hear it here, but it was driving other neighbours up the wall & understandably so

Have a word with your neighbour, let them know how much it disturbs you & ask them that they do something about it. If they don't. Keep a diary of how often it's too loud, too aggressive or too early of late & contact the environmental health department at your council

I think dogs barking before 7am or after 11pm at night would fall into the same category as someone playing loud music. It's disruptive to other people and can be looked at under the same laws as a noise complaint.

I can sympathise with you, personally I don't like dogs because of their barking. We used to have a dog live next door to us that would do this. Every time we tried to enjoy the garden it would growl and bark at us and even go as far as trying to dig it's way under the fence. It left me feeling really anxious and on edge all the time. You wouldn't put up with someone screaming at you through the fence every time you tried to go out into your garden.
Sounds like it needs another conversation with your neighbour and to let them know how much it's affecting you. I can't promise it will improve things though- we had one neighbour who shouted back at us and asked us what we expected him to do about it and another neighbour who apologised, bought us a box of chocolates and we never heard the dog bark again! Some people are more considerate than others but so far I've found dog owners to be pretty useless when it comes to managing the amount of noise their dogs make (just my experience 🤷🏻‍♀️)

Would a neighbour who didn't like cats, whose flowerbeds were being trampled, etc, be permitted to soak my cat? Because I'm sure I wouldn't like it if that happened...

So you can soak others peys but they can't touch yours 🙄

What a cuntish thing to do.

I feel your pain - my stupid downstairs neighbour lets his dog out into the communal garden of our block of flat as early as 4am sometimes and the fucking thing barks non-stop. It also barks for 8 hours non-stop when he goes to work.

Pre- covid, when his sister was dog-sitting for a week when he was on holiday, I hear her telling another neighbour that he'd been told the dog should have been put to sleep ages ago (it can barely stand and he has to carry it everywhere). That was the week from hell, she only used to come around for an hour during the day and the fucking thing would bark all day and all night.

If that happens again I'm reporting it to the RSPCA and the Police.