Neighbour's aggressive dog.

happyfish

Hey everyone,

Just looking for any advice on a situation with my neighbours dog.

My neighbours have a dog that has always been very territorial towards my dog (would bark as we were walking by with her ) , but there has never been any harm in this and she would never leave the garden or get vicious at all. In the last week or so, she's started to leave the garden and nip at my dog ( who's the most placid little thing ever, would never even bark back !). Today as we were just leaving for the walk, the dog and her owners were just walking by our house themselves. The dog totally went for my dog, she was so angry that her owners couldn't call her back and she left a small but deep wound in my girls back . I was terrified she was going to do serious damage, my dog literally wasn't fighting back at all, it was just an attack. Eventually, her owner managed to pull her back, but it was a really upsetting scene.

Firstly, I'm upset over my dog, who seemed really shaken, we're going to take her to the vet tomorrow as she just has been sitting in the same spot all evening, won't eat anything, or move at all. I had a go at cleaning the cut, since it was in a spot she wouldn't be able to lick, but I don't think she's in pain, just totally shaken. She's normally so friendly and is just so quiet and uninterested in everything that's going on

But assuming my dog will be ok, I'm wondering how to approach the situation with the neighbours. I feel a bit sorry for their dog, the owners seemed furious, hitting her, kicking her and talking about getting her put down :eek: I think they were probably trying to make me feel better though, as they're clearly very attached to the dog. I don't know what could have caused this total personality change though? She's a farm dog and very well trained normally, so the way she pays no attention to the owners now is very strange, not to mention how vicious she was. I'm really put off taking my dog for walks now, we can't go at regular times so there's no way they could keep her in for us or anything.

Wondering has anyone any advice or been in a similar situation? I know it's not really my problem if their dog is acting strangely but I feel kind of involved now and worried for my poor wee girl as well

ABajaninCork

Well - I would go round to the neighbour's after the vet visit. Have a friendly word with them about the dog's behaviour. Ask them what they intend to do about controlling the aggression.

I would also present them with the bill!

happyfish

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Well - I would go round to the neighbour's after the vet visit. Have a friendly word with them about the dog's behaviour. Ask them what they intend to do about controlling the aggression.

I would also present them with the bill!

I don't think we should bring them the bill, since they are nice people and I don't want to get their backs up or make them defensive.

We haven't taken her on a walk on the road since, but that can't go on. I'm too afraid to though since they obviously have no control at all over the dog when it gets vicious and my dog is half the size and does nothing to fight back, the vet said the cut was pretty bad when she got a proper look at it, her back is all swollen and it could be worse next time.


I also don't know if I'm being melodramatic, I know it's only another dog that she attacked and not a child or anything, but my dog was really upset over it ( which I know probably sounds silly) .

ABajaninCork

happyfish wrote: »

I don't think we should bring them the bill, since they are nice people and I don't want to get their backs up or make them defensive.

We haven't taken her on a walk on the road since, but that can't go on. I'm too afraid to though since they obviously have no control at all over the dog when it gets vicious and my dog is half the size and does nothing to fight back, the vet said the cut was pretty bad when she got a proper look at it, her back is all swollen and it could be worse next time.


I also don't know if I'm being melodramatic, I know it's only another dog that she attacked and not a child or anything, but my dog was really upset over it ( which I know probably sounds silly) .

I don't think you're being melodramtic. But why should you be afraid to take your dog out where you live because you don't want to upset your neighbour? I'm sorry, OP but that sounds absolutely ridiculous! Your dog is now scared, you're scared and you've had to pay out vet's bills because your neighbours are 'nice people' who plainly cannot control their dog!

What if a child WAS attacked? How would you feel then?

I can't tell you what to do. But what I would say is read this thread again and have a good think about what you want to do next.

Hope it works out for you.

happyfish

Yeah I know. It's just difficult to know what to say. I don't want the dog to end up getting put down or anything