Dogs wandering around my estate

patzer

Hi All, first time to post in this section so please bear with me.

I live in a small housing estate (approx 30 houses) (lest anyone think from reading the thread title that I have a grand country estate ) and there are a number of dogs allowed to roam around without any supervision. These range from a Jack Russell cross to a Saint Bernard pup (approx 9 months to a year old so is getting pretty massive).

A lot of the houses only have a stud fence between the gardens and the dogs can freely roam from one property to another. The front gardens are also exposed and I have had numerous occasions where I have had to clear dropping from the lawn. I also have planted some shrubs which the dogs regularly pee on to such an extent that some of them have died off.

Then there is the issue of noise pollution - constant barking even at night from various dogs. It wasn't as serious an issue before but I now have a beautiful 6 week old daughter and she is being woken by the barking.

Can anyone let me know where I stand on this issue, can I force owners to restrict their dog’s movement or do I need to contact the warden. Some of the owners leave the dogs roam around the estate all day and I know for a fact that they have gone to work so there is nobody at home.

Sorry for the long winded rant but its getting to the stage where serious action is required.

December

I don't have any clue about rights and such, but I would say the first thing to do is to go to the owners. Don't go in all guns blazzing and don't threaten them of calling the warden, but let them know instead that you've seen the dogs freely walking around etc and you're worried that they could get hurt (ie by car), they could get taken either by someone or by the warden and that maybe it would be better for the dogs to stay in their own backyard.

Also, if there are kids on the estate - bring it up that they or the dog could get hurt accidentally through no fault of the dogs (kids can be cruel -.- ) - but by saying it this way you don't become the 'enemy'.

I remember we lived on estate near cork, and one day all i could hear was this constant barking (going on for a few hours). I went out to see what was distressing the dog so much and found the dog had been tied to a tree on a long leash (very close to a busy-ish road) and left. I knew the dog was from around here, had seen it wandering a few times, and it was friendly enough - so I took the dog and went walking around the estate. Two kids further down the road saw me with the dog and came running up claiming it was their dog and that they were walking it but wanted to play with their friends so had tied it to the tree to go play elsewhere and had forgotten. -.-

Long story short - I went to speak to the parents (i took the dog back...didnt give the kids it) about it and explained what had happened. I think they were a bit miffed that I had 'interfered' but couldn't do anything about it or complain because I was acting in the best interest of the dog and was being all passive.

Of course, acting passively can only get you so far, and if it doesn't resolve the situation and the owners havent enclosed their gardens and are not looking out for the best interests of the dogs or their neighbours, then *something* else needs to be done.

I don't want to say ring the warden, because afaik in this country dogs dont have much chance of survival in there and (like in another thread) they get poorly treated! And after all this problem is not the dogs fault... it's the neglectful owners.

Maybe another poster might be able to help with alternative solutions if talking to the owners doesn't work first. But it sounds like since the owners don't care enough to keep their animals on their own property and safe then the suggestion of rehoming them might be something they'd consider.

CreedonsDogDayc

perhaps ring the dog warden, the dogs will be taken, then when the owners come home let them know you saw the dog warden around taking dogs!

That should give them the fright they need to keep their dog indoors.

patzer

Thanks guys

Just an quick update on the situation. My partner had a friend around yesterday and the saint bernard came over to her as she was putting her baby into the car. I don't think the dog was overly aggressive or anything but naturally a dog that size frightened her esspecially in close proximity to the bay. The upshot was that my partner said enough is enough and went to two of the owners of the dogs straying around the estate. Both were very apologetic and promised to keep their dogs restrained on their premises. So we'll have to see how things pan out.

Thanks for the advice and btw afaik there is only one dog warden operating in all of county wexford so I don't think there is much point contecting them unless there is a more serious incident.

Cheers guys, will keep you posted if there are any more updates

Goldenquick

The same thing was happening in the estate where I live, dogs from one particular house were being left out all the time. One of the dogs bit a child (not badly TG) a few weeks ago and had to be put down.

I don't get that these owners do not realise this is bound to happen when there are young children around. I won't let any children near our pup, one should never trust an animal with a child, the animal may think it is play time but one nip from them could break a child's delicate skin.