Arug! Trouble at the fence.. Neighbor dog issues..

[TheLost]

Kevin has always got along with his backyard neighbor dogs... Until the past few weeks.

To set the scene... let show you my back yard (my house is the one with the little house icon).

As you can see... there are two backyards that share my back fence. In the right-most yard we have a Black Lab.. and in the left yard we have a Yellow Lab. All of us built our houses together around 10 years ago, except the new neighbor to my direct left who moved in last month... with a naughty basset hound.

Kevin and Molly have never had any issues with the neighbor dogs. They all got along until the basset hound showed up and started barking and attacking the fence. This made all the neighbor dogs go crazy and bark at each other... And now Kevin has started attacking the fence.

When i say he attacks the fence i mean he flips his little chubby (85lb-ish) body up on the fence and starts bouncing it!

I don't have a video... but this animated GIF is very accurate..

(Kevin is the bear... John Candy is the fence)

My neighbors are worried he's going to bring the entire fence down.. i should point out that their dogs barking like crazy are what draws Kevin to the fence.. Kevin doesn't bark.. just scratches/bounces the fence)

I've put up some cheap plastic net/fencing along the fence that has stopped him from doing it (hasn't stopped the other dogs from barking) but i'm looking for a more permanent solution.

One idea i'm toying with is putting an electric underground fence around my back garden... I've never used an electric fence before so i'm wondering if this would work?

Can the dogs be outside the loop for the fence to still work? or do they need to be inside the loop (the fence has to go around my entire back yard)?

Anybody have any other ideas?

 

[oscarmayer]

Inside or outside...the loop still works. With fence we had long ago the wire acted strictly as a proximity sensor. Get close enough coming or going and get an audible signal...get closer still, get a shock. It worked for 2 of our bullies but did not work for Hoss. Once he heard the audible he'd close his eyes and plow on through. Have you considered the wire fencing that sticks into the ground and stands 32" high. It links together and is usually 10' long or so. We use it to partition off "ground under repair from liquid bully-business".
Similar to this...

Glamos Wire Products 32 in. x 10 ft. Galvanized Steel Black Folding Garden Fence (10-Pack)-770160 - The Home Depot

 

[2BullyMama]

UGH --- that is all learned behavior too, not sure what could prevent him ..... if you are thinking the route of an electric fence, what about using the vibration collar on him? you train him to not go near the fence and eventually when the collar is on he knows not to go near the fence.



BTW --- nice house and yard!

 

[Davidh]

Sorry you are having that problem. We put up a 32" wire fence around our flower beds to keep the bullies out, plus a new neighbor had yappy dogs, and it drove ours crazy and the fence helped. It's funny you used that clip of John Candy and the bear, I'm watching that movie right now. LOL

 

[RalphieBoy]

We had that problem across the street. Every night at 10:00 pm that dog started barking. On and on. They finally built a fence in their back yard and their many piles pooping went away. Every night at 9:45pm someone was throwing Bags of Treats, pork fat, boxes of milk bones and etc. Weesie talked to the neighbor and they said the dog seemed happier in the back. Weesie never knew. It worked. No fencing on our part, no shock collar and peace and quite.

 

[helsonwheels]

One way to fix this.....3yrs ago my neighbour who moved a yr ago thank god had 2 pugs. To this day I HATE pugs the bring chills up my spine. Well those 2. Every time she took her pugs out the would run to the fence that I built, barking and jumping on the fence non stop on MY fence . Major my GS would wait against the fence and go nuts and loose it. These 2 pug kept digging trying to get to Major. Major was well trained but had an aggression towards dogs. He would rip them apart if he had the chance. Long story dont ask

I told the lady politely numerous times. She just didn't give a crap. Was like watching that movie Groundhog Day. One day Major stood there against the fence I was inside heard him growling n barking ran outside and he was heading into the fence like a ram and got one pug that was digging under the fence. Even with their flat nose, that pug had her nose barely under the fence and Major nipped her nose but had more dirt than anything else. I snapped my fingers said "back" so he did. I swear she NEVER came to the fence again. But the other little "sh*t" did. Not the dogs fault whatsoever. It's the owners. I wrote her a letter telling her dogs were aggravating Major which cant be allowed to a 115lbs all muscle German Shepherd and if she values her dogs to keep them away from my fence. I had videos one her dogs when she opened the door, her dogs they would charge for the gate first thing. It calmed down for 2 weeks then it started again. I decided to write to the city bylaw. They took care of it. They sent her a letter and man was she b itching in the backyard eaching time she took her dogs out.

All this to say, start by writing a registered letter to the hound dog owner. Ask your good neighbors if the would like to be mentioned in the letter. Send it. See what happens. Give a week or so. If nothing has improved, send a registered letter to the city by law and mention all your neighbours cant take it either. Write down their home address and have them sign the letter. Here in Canada the warn you once. If that didn't work they fine you. If that didn't work you're in court. But try talking to the owner first politely if you can lolll you never know.

 

[TheLost]

Thanks for all your ideas..

I'm leaning away from the idea of the electric fence now... I don't like the idea of having to swap collars each time he goes out. He likes to spend time out on the deck napping on his 'coolaroo' and is in-and-out all day long.

The temporary fix of the green fence/netting along the parts of the fence he scratches at (bounces/attacks/etc) have done the trick... He now just lays in front of it and pouts.

I'm going to build a short decorative Trellis that goes along fence that will make it impossible for him to jump and scratch at. Luckily Kevin: A) Hates jumping and B) Is Lazy so it only needs to be about a foot and a half off the ground

My wife vetoed my idea of building a system that would text the neighbors when their dogs bark at the other side of our fence. We're friends with most of them and she thinks being polite will have better results.. I still say getting a flood of txt messages saying "YOUR DOGS BARKING AGAIN!! - From, <Insert random neighbors name here>" will fix things quick!

 

[2BullyMama]

My wife vetoed my idea of building a system that would text the neighbors when their dogs bark at the other side of our fence. We're friends with most of them and she thinks being polite will have better results.. I still say getting a flood of txt messages saying "YOUR DOGS BARKING AGAIN!! - From, <Insert random neighbors name here>" will fix things quick!

I LOVE that idea!!

 

[helsonwheels]

Yup best way is to talk to each other before doing anything and then take it from there. 50-50 lol

 

[ChrisRN]

Yup best way is to talk to each other before doing anything and then take it from there. 50-50 lol

Agreed! Honestly, the Bassett's owner should be putting a stop to the behavior!