Need Your Opinion ?

vixdname

Lads, I'd like to know what ye're opinions are on the following:

My house is built on a 1.5 arce site in a rural setting.
I have 2 dogs, a Black Lab and a mongrel who are almost always wandering around the garden.
One of my neighbors, about 6 months ago got 2 alsatian pups which are now growing into pretty big dogs.
The issue I have is is that over the last 6 weeks or so his two alsatians are getting out of his place and run across the road and if my gates are open they bound in around my garden and a few times my two dogs and these two dogs have been close to a row only for my intervention.
This is all fine any well at the moment while they're still not fully grown adult alsations but I dont fancy getting between the four of them when the two alsations are all grown up.
I've spoken to my neighbor whos a bit of an odd ball at the best of times and all he says is that he'll get it sorted, but 6 weeks later and 6 -7 visits from his dogs later, still nothing has been done.
My wife is also very nervous of his two dogs and my closest neighbor in the site next to ours has 3 young infants that do be playing in the front of their house and the two alsations have been in my garden while the little lads next door are playing also with only a wooden fence that the dogs could easily get through between them.
This is my question: Now that I've made my neighbor aware of the issue and if the worse came to the worse and one or two of his dogs attacked my dogs or the dog\s acted in a threatening manner to myself or my missus, would I have the right to shoot the offending neighbors dog ?
The way I see it is that if a sheep farmer comes across a dog\s attacking his sheep he has the right to kill that dog - Would the same apply in my situation do ye think ? I'm getting fair pissed off with it at this stage to be honest. Have any of ye or do any of ye know of anyone whos had a similar issue ? Would like to know ye're opinions on using a firearm in this situation ? Thanks Lads

BELOWaverageIQ

I think the last thing you should do is take advise off the interwebnet, if you are in the wrong then its byby guns isnt it !!:(Inform the county council dog warden in writing and also the Gardai, stating the situation factually.
It would be no harm at all to C.C. your solicitor in all correspondance, this should make the relevant authorities at least take notice.
All above being said, if the situation did arise that there was a danger to life then yes i would personally not hesitate to use lethal force.............. but im not a solicitor !:D

bazza888

i think id be really carefull about what idid,id get the dog warden or someone first for sure!for some reason i can only see it turning out really bad for you if you shot them!is there any such thing as the electric type dog fence that you dont need a dog to wear a collar for that you could run across the gate?if your dogs dont stray out the gate it should be ok for them

Thomasofmel

To my knowledge a dog warden - if notified - will come and catch any dogs that are running free. This should give your neighbor something to think about. I would NOT harm those dogs in any way, that sounds like trouble.

Vegeta

Lads this doesn't really fall under our durisdiction so I've move it to Animals and Pet issues as the guys there are probably well up to speed on how to deal with this.

I hope you get some relief vix, I have first hand experience of how poor pet ownership can make life rougher than it needs to be.

vixdname

bazza888 wrote: »

i think id be really carefull about what idid,id get the dog warden or someone first for sure!for some reason i can only see it turning out really bad for you if you shot them!is there any such thing as the electric type dog fence that you dont need a dog to wear a collar for that you could run across the gate?if your dogs dont stray out the gate it should be ok for them

Howya bazza, as far as i know all of those electric fences require the dogs to wear a collar, and having said that, its the neighbor that should be going down that route and not me - either way I'm not going to fork out hard earned cash for a problem not originating from myself.

andreac

Can you not keep your gate closed to stop them from getting in?

The Sweeper

micheleabc wrote: »

OP,
either you are not presenting the situation in the full, or you are not aware of the meaning of private property. If things are as you say, you should know that NOTHING and NOBODY is allowed in a private property without the consens of the owner. On top of that according with the Control of Dogs Act 1986, the Alsatian dogs (German Shepperd) are in the list of Restricted Breed and therefore they MUST be on lead and muzzle ALL THE TIME.
You have enough protection by the law and all that is needed is to call Gardi and Dog Warden to fix your problem. Why are you waiting for an accident to happen? You are behaving irresponsable as equal as your neighbour.Nobody on this forum has the magic stick to fix your problems. Just call the dog warden.
This is the link for the Control of Dogs Act 1986 in case you don't believe me: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1986/en/act/pub/0032/index.html#zza32y1986

Jesus, easy there attack-newbie, it's entirely possible that the OP, as opposed to misrepresenting themselves isn't familiar with restricted breed legislation.

You've informed them good-o though!

OP contact the local dog warden and keep a diary of the number of times the shepherds escape - times, days, incidents, who was around, how long they were in your property, so on. The guards and the warden will handle it.

seamus

The Sweeper wrote: »

OP contact the local dog warden and keep a diary of the number of times the shepherds escape - times, days, incidents, who was around, how long they were in your property, so on. The guards and the warden will handle it.

Unfortunately in rural Irish settings, control of dogs has an entirely different meaning than in urban ones. My parents went to the local Post Office in rural Wicklow to buy licences for their dogs and the postmistress told them she'd never heard of a "dog licence"; nobody had ever purchased one before and there are hundreds of dogs in the area.

So I'm not sure how effective the wardens or Gardai will be in a rural area. At best they may talk to the guy and ask him to cop on.

First thing to remember OP is that German Shepherds are not any more inherently dangerous than your lab or mongrel. They are big however and untrained/uncontrolled dogs roaming in pairs have more scope to be unpredictable.

Your other option is to attempt to socialise your dogs with these ones. This is easier to do when those dogs are younger. If your dogs can get on with the two GSDs and play with them, then their getting into your garden is less of a concern - though you obviously need to watch out for your dogs being encouraged to go for a wander by the other two. This is de facto how it is for my parents, where plenty of local dogs wander on to their land, and their two dogs simply play with the "intruder". Only the house itself is an issue in terms of territory.

Obviously you could also make a concerted effort to keep your gates closed (maybe install electric ones).

Ultimately these are things though that you have to do when the onus should be on your neighbour to control his dogs. So first and foremost, the Sweeper's suggestion above is the way to go.

In terms of using a firearm, to the best of my knowledge this is only legal where a dog has actually caused injury or death to livestock and a farmer cannot just shoot a dog which is on his land. In any case, you're not a farmer so you wouldn't be covered by this and shooting the dogs when they haven't done any damage seems to be a drastic and unnecessary step.

kildare.17hmr

I dont think it will matter what part of the country you are in lad the complaint should be takin seriously ether way, id report it to the local station first and if they dont take it seriously say you will be taking the matter to their superiers. i wouldnt think twice about shooting them if something happened and they attacked my dog or worse someone but if they are just coming into your garden id go the guards and dog warden route first. that neighbour sounds like a rite tick all the same

Cherry Blossom

OP some years ago I arrived home to find my lab literally bleeding to death on the doorstep My garden is completely enclosed but the front wall although high enough to keep my dogs in turned out not to be high enough to keep the neighbours greyhounds out. He had over 20 lacerations to his body, 7 of them into the bone, one of his ears was hanging on by a thread and he sustained permenant damage to the ligaments in his back legs. He was at the vets for 6 weeks and was going weekly for 3 months after it to have bandages changed, injections etc.

There were ongoing problems with the neighbours who fancied themselves as trainers of racing greyhounds and they had not the first clue about dogs :mad:. They were confined to a small shed most of the time and their constant barking made the last years of my nans life a living hell! They were exercised by tying them to the towbar of the car The dog warden was notified on numerous occasions by numerous people, which resulted in him comming out and demanding they be let out to wreak havoc on everyone who lived in a 3 mile radious. The dog warden and guardi did sod all! The situation was only resolved by the people moving away due to having their house repossessed. I would advice you to start collecting as much evidence as you can, keep a diary of dates, times and conversations you have with the neighbour. Take pictures of the dogs when they come on your property and if you have a camera with a video function, try to record run ins with your own dogs. I get the impression that the owner of these dogs isn't at all responsible for them and I'd try to get some headway on the situation before it spirals out of control.

Also + 1 on being vigilant with your own gates, ultimately it is also your responsibility to keep your own dogs safe
and secure. I would avoid taking matters into your own hands in terms of shooting the dogs or similar, I imagine this would provoke retaliation from the neighbour and your own dogs may suffer as a result.

Zapperzy

micheleabc wrote: »

OP,
either you are not presenting the situation in the full, or you are not aware of the meaning of private property. If things are as you say, you should know that NOTHING and NOBODY is allowed in a private property without the consens of the owner. On top of that according with the Control of Dogs Act 1986, the Alsatian dogs (German Shepperd) are in the list of Restricted Breed and therefore they MUST be on lead and muzzle ALL THE TIME.
You have enough protection by the law and all that is needed is to call Gardi and Dog Warden to fix your problem. Why are you waiting for an accident to happen? You are behaving irresponsable as equal as your neighbour.Nobody on this forum has the magic stick to fix your problems. Just call the dog warden.
This is the link for the Control of Dogs Act 1986 in case you don't believe me: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1986/en/act/pub/0032/index.html#zza32y1986

Just to correct this, dogs on the restricted breed list do not have to be on a lead and muzzled all the time, just when they are in a public area, so yes they should be on a lead and muzzled once they leave the owner's property, as much as I don't agree with it it is unfortunately the law.

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

I dont think it will matter what part of the country you are in lad the complaint should be takin seriously ether way, id report it to the local station first and if they dont take it seriously say you will be taking the matter to their superiers. i wouldnt think twice about shooting them if something happened and they attacked my dog or worse someone but if they are just coming into your garden id go the guards and dog warden route first. that neighbour sounds like a rite tick all the same

It shouldn't but it unfortunately does matter.

I would go down the dog warden and gardaí route first if your neighbour is unwilling to comply with you. I don't know anything about gun laws but maybe a call to a solicitor would answer that question for you. I thought it was only farmers who could shoot dogs worrying livestock.

I would keep a bucket of water outside your door just in case you need to separate your dogs from them if they start fighting. Be careful reaching in and grabbing them yourself as when dogs are that riled up in a fight they could easily mistake your hand for a dog, even your own dogs could bite you in that situation.

vixdname

micheleabc wrote: »

OP,
either you are not presenting the situation in the full, or you are not aware of the meaning of private property. If things are as you say, you should know that NOTHING and NOBODY is allowed in a private property without the consens of the owner. On top of that according with the Control of Dogs Act 1986, the Alsatian dogs (German Shepperd) are in the list of Restricted Breed and therefore they MUST be on lead and muzzle ALL THE TIME.
You have enough protection by the law and all that is needed is to call Gardi and Dog Warden to fix your problem. Why are you waiting for an accident to happen? You are behaving irresponsable as equal as your neighbour.Nobody on this forum has the magic stick to fix your problems. Just call the dog warden.
This is the link for the Control of Dogs Act 1986 in case you don't believe me: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1986/en/act/pub/0032/index.html#zza32y1986

For a start I'd like to thank everyone who gave me a non aggressive, non condescending and factually correct reply to my question which basically rules out the poster of the above comment.
This was my first time visiting the animal & pets issues part of Boards and really didnt expect such an ignorant rant as I received above and to make it worse the poster of the above comment was then shown by a more informed
poster that they were indeed wrong with their pontificating outburst.
I never assumed that anyone on this forum had a "Magic Stick" to fix my problem I simply wanted advise from people who may know more about the law then I do in regards to this kind of problem and how maybe it could be dealt with best.
I am not "Waiting for an accident to happen" as I am on Boards actively seeking info to get this problem sorted.
I run a small business from my property and my gates are opened and closed by customers on regular basis day in day out so its impossible to have the gates closed all of the time.
I would also like to thank micheleabc for the link to the Control Of Dogs Act 1986 but I'd like to advise micheleabc that its NOT the "Control Of Dogs Act 1986" that specifies the list of restricted dogs and how they should be handled but its the "Control Of Dogs Regulations 1998" please feel free micheleabc to check this link out you might actually learn something:

http://www.ispca.ie/Restricted-Dog-Breeds.aspx

I'd also like to draw everyones attention to the link below, which once clicked will bring you to a page on another boards thread where micheleabc comments on what a waste of time dog wardens are !!! but yet micheleabc scoulds me in her post for NOT going to the dog warden with my issue.....http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056020155&highlight=micheleabc&page=2

Again, thanks very much to everyone else for their replies and hopefully micheleabc may learn to not jump down someones throat when they ask a legitimate question on boards...just in case you make yourself look stupid again:)

Oh and by the way its spelt "Consent" not "Consens" (See 2nd line down in your post) and it "Gardaí" not "Gardi", learn 2 words a day and soon you'll be able to put a sentence together micheleabc !!!

vixdname

andreac wrote: »

Can you not keep your gate closed to stop them from getting in?

Not always possible, I run a business from my home also

LucyBliss

I can well imagine how frustrating it must be for you. And your neighbour must be extremely lax if he gets two GSD's and then doesn't secure his property because in my experience, and we had a GSD sometime ago, at six months old they are mostly off their heads in the sense of "whoo! let's go running! I'm all excited and freaking the hell out of people but really I'm just high on life!" The problems occur with these dogs when they don't get effective leadership from their owner because they're pretty damn smart and will start thinking for themselves.

None of which helps you however. I would inform the Dog Warden definitely and the Guards because if IIRC, after six months all dogs on the Restricted Breeds List have to be muzzed and leashed in public. They could also cause an accident or get hurt.

I hope the situation gets sorted swiftly for you without anyone getting hurt or any dog having to be shot.

Chris_Heilong

I would let the dogs get to know each other ask him can you take them out for a walk with your guys, they sound like they are still pups at this stage so now is the best time to do it. Dogs usually accept each other very fast and this will put your mind at ease next time the dogs jump your fence.