Hello all

I have been a member of this site for a couple of months now and would like anyones advice on what I should do about one of our neighbours, well he isn-t a direct neighbour he lives four doors away. As you may know my eldest bulldog Hilda nipped someone a while back, which was one of the reasons I first came onto this board. Things have settled down, it was a friend of ours that Hilda nipped and we have since warned people to just be careful around her as she has always prior to this had free run of our street popping in and out neighbours houses, we have since stopped this. Anyway we were out in our drive with the girls not long back and he started talking to us, he is 70 odd years old, he seems to have now taken a dislike to our dogs and Hilda went up to the fence to see him and he hit her on the nose with his newspaper. She ran back to me and to be honest I was a bit shocked and didn-t know what to say to him. She had only gone for a stroke, she wasn-t being vicious or anything. Now everytime he is out on the street and sees me getting into the car with my dogs, he shouts out you want to hold onto that white one, she is wild, which I first ignored but have now started answering back saying no she isn-t. Anyone that now comes past our house is told this by him. This included a friends grandmother who was very scared to walk past our house if they were out in the garden, they don-t bark or anything they just sit there, my friend has now told her grandmother to ignore what this man says and she comes and pets the two. Anyway yesterday I was walking the youngest Gladis who is only a pup, Hilda didn-t want to come and we had to walk past his house, he was outside in the garden and started shouting things again so I started arguing back, saying no they are not vicious, especially this one. Gladis is so soft, he was sweeping outside and came up to the edge of his garden with a brush and pushed Gladis twice with it, saying she is vicious etc. Anyway I lost my temper and said they will be vicious when you hit them on the nose with papers and now come at a puppy with a brush. What can I do about him, I warned the neightbours after Hilda had nipped someone because I wanted them to be aware, all the other neighbours are fine and still come and see the girls, I just feel that I have created a monster by informing people what she had done. Is there anything I can do to stop this man?

Yes , stop arguing with him :)

I know that sounds harsh ..but you are just giving him something to rail against if you keep reacting. Ignore him or smile and say hello :)

Melody - Oh yes , make sure you keep your dogs away from him ;)

It is maddening, but yes, i would keep away and keep your dogs away. At the end of the day if people want to believe him they will, but are they worth knowing anyway? Do keep your dogs safe and make sure he cannot get to them.

Lindsay

Hmmm... I don't have much advice I'm afraid except to avoid and ignore this old man. He is obviously getting some sense of satisfaction from it, and is probably enjoying the attention..

Keep your dogs away from him, and ignore him. But remember the Dangerous Dogs Act and perhaps see your solicitor with regards to recording that this man has been teasing/smacking your dogs, just to get it on the record. Its a difficult one, as neighbours can cause such problems over virtually nothing that you must think worse case scenario.

Sorry if thats not much help
Chloe

I agree with Chloe too......You MUST NOT argue back with him. People like that remind me of the Duracell bunny, they just keep on going ;-) Just smile sweetly as you pass, and continue on your way. He'll tire once he realises you're not going to fight back with him....or in other words, if you stop playing, he'll have no-one to play with.
But def register the story with police/solicitor..just in case. It's better to have this recorded so if things do get out of hand, you have everythign recorded. Keep a diary of all events occuring, time/dates and what exactly happened. This would be for your own protection.
I hope things settle down soon.
Steph xx

I would follow up on Chloe's advice. Your neighbor seems to be looking to cause trouble. I would contact the police and register a complaint that your neighbor is provoking and has attacked your dogs while they were secured on your property. I would also contact a soliciter for advice on whether sending a letter to this guy telling him to cut it out would help or hurt. Then I would install a secondary fence that will keep you dogs out of harms way from your neighbor. (Although your neighbor sounds like the type that would find a way to cause problems anyway.) If you can limit your dogs to your back garden, if you have one, that would be even better.

Unfortunately, what you did by informing your neighbors that Hilda had nipped someone was advertise that you are the owner of a "vicious" dog. Knowing that, in the eyes of the law it is your obligation to secure your "vicious" dogs so they cannot come into contact with people.

Increasingly sad world when it comes to owning dogs, isn't it?

Stacey

i agree with everything in above posts....he his obviously trying to provoke you and the dogs.....next time he does anything ignore him ..go home and ring the police. please dont get into the situation where he could poke hilda an she retaliates.....he needs stopping now !!!. .

the other side of this is the fact that while your dogs had "the run of the street" "popping in and out of neighbours houses" that you have no idea what they got up to,!!!!!!! i no where my dogs are 24-7.
its not ideal to just open a door and let your dogs wander, perhaps your neighbour has seen another side of your dog that you havent, and you cant say otherwise, as you werent there,

surely if he had he would have said something before now????. and why didnt he go and knock on the door and explain his problem instead of shouting in the street and warning people to beware of the nasty dog?????. sounds like a nasty old git to me!!. .

im not saying shouting in the steet is right-----but i am trying to point out the other side of it, perhaps theyve all been fed up of the dogs wandering the street, everyone isnt a dog lover,and some are genuinley scared of dogs, i had it happen to me, i used to work really early in the mornings so often it was dark, someone used to let there dog out into the street, because it was dark the dog always reacted to me, growling and coming foward threatening., im afraid i shouted at its owner on many occasion to get his dog back in the house, where was the owner ? sitting in the house having his morning cuppa, when i confronted him with the dogs behaviour he told me i must of done something to the dog to make it growl at me :rolleyes: clueless to the fact a dog will react differently in the dark and quiet of its own street, i had to mention police before it was stopped, it wasnt a nice experience first thing in the morning,.and im used to dogs, perhaps your neighbour isnt, /

Sorry Dizzy

I don-t think I quite explained myself before, but they used to pop into the neighbours either side of the house and were welcomed to, they would leave their doors open for them to go into. This old man lives a few doors down and the dogs never go that far down, I woulod not just open the door and let them roam free, I would keep an eye on them, go into the garden with them and let them out but only if I knew the neighbours wanted to see them, and wait for them to come back once they had had a fuss and a treat. They were never unmonitored, even if I let them out in the garden I would be stood at the kitchen window or sat on the step with them.

Sorry forgot to add that I ignored the man and do not speak to him at all now and he has now stopped, this thread was written originally about a month ago.

Hi JMO....soo glad to hear that the auld git down the street has stopped bugging you :) Knew once you stoppped playing his game he'd quit. He can hardly stand and argue alone. Good for you :)

Hi, well i had the same problem on ce with our pet rotty, she got a fright went someone walked past her and she nipped him on his leg it never left a mark but he would keep telling me that i am endangering the life of my son by having the uncontrolable dog, and that rottweilers are gaurd dogs not family dogs, this went on for months i would be so rude to him my yelling and screeming at him to stop telling people that she is a horrible dog when she's not, he kept on doin it until a friend of mine said be really really nice to him and make it come back on him, so i did and now it has been 5 months since it happened he doesnt talk to me any more neither does he tell people about my dog, so it worked give it a try it cant get any worse.