Issues with Neighbour's Rottweiler

yellowcrayon

Im really not sure if this should be here or in Personal Issues but my neighbours have a rottweiler, got her about 2 months ago and im estimating that she is about a year old. She seems like a lovely dog and seems to get on fine with people and ive never seen her be aggressive around people.

My issue is that she comes into my garden and terrorises my small animals. I have had these animals for years outside (long before the dog arrived) which consist of rabbits, guinea pigs and cats. She knocks off their water bottles and carries them away with her and we cant find them so have to keep buying them.

When I put some of the rabbits and guinea pigs out in the enclosed run she comes over and scrapes at it and bites at it trying to get at the animals.

She has already attacked one of the rabbits by knocking over the small individual run it was in and injuring it so badly that we unfortunately, had to bring it to the vet to be put down.

There are many other dogs in the area that come into my garden and will have a look and sniff at the animal which I have no problem with as they are curious, and I even feed one of them; so I do like dogs but just not sure what to do here.

Last weekend I went over and knocked on their door a few times as I wanted to discuss the issue but they didnt answer. The dog is let loose all day while they are out at work and they dont have an enclosed garden.

Any idea what I should do?

undertaker fan 88

get onto the local dog warden. by law that dog needs be muzzeled and on a leash you cant just leave a rottie free roam

tk123

How is she getting in to your place? If it was me I'd make sure my place was like for knox and call the warden too - regardless of breed the dog shouldn't be out roaming all day.

meoklmrk91

I'd defiantly try and talk to them if you are friendly with them. If not ring the dog warden. The dog should not be out wandering unsupervised, especially when they are not there, if anything were to happen who would be responsible for the dog, and I'm not even talking about attacking someone, what if she is hit by a car or something. I'd be giving them the vets bill as well since it was caused by their animal, they should pay, any responsible dog owner would cough up in this situation, then again any responsible dog owner wouldn't go off to work for the day and leave their dog running loose.

yellowcrayon

Thank you for the replies.

The dog is getting into our place because we have fencing with big horizontal gaps. We have a back garden and a side garden and the animals are always out the back but unfortunately I cant always see them; I can see them from the kitchen but if I go into the living room I cant.

@meoklmrk91 Me and my partner arent really friendly with them. They are foreign and havent been here long (we're not a housing estate, but 5 houses on a plot of land). I might try and get my partner to talk to them, because they ignored the door when I knocked and I knew they were in.

Raminahobbin

The dogs owners are being completely irresponsible and absolutely should keep their dog enclosed.

But you can't control this, you can only control how you react to the problem. Although it's an annoying extra expense, you're probably going to have to secure your garden better. To be fair, with a wide open garden like yours, and with a bunch of prey animals outdoors like yours, it was a matter of time before you encountered problems. Take this as a wake up call and protect your pets better. Fence your garden properly. Your neighbours won't care if they don't care about their own pet enough to let it run loose.

yellowcrayon

I see what you mean. We havent secured it completely up until now as all the other dogs in the area leave our pets alone. They come into the garden and have a sniff at them and leave them alone.
My pets are extremely well looked after and honestly, I dont have the money to put up fencing all around the house and I dont know if we can drill into the natural stone walls.

hfallada

Do you live in a Dublin city council house? here is solution if you do:

http://www.dublincity.ie/RecreationandCulture/AnimalWelfare/Documents/New_Banned_Dog_Leaflet.pdf

Raminahobbin

yellowcrayon wrote: »

I see what you mean. We havent secured it completely up until now as all the other dogs in the area leave our pets alone. They come into the garden and have a sniff at them and leave them alone.
My pets are extremely well looked after and honestly, I dont have the money to put up fencing all around the house and I dont know if we can drill into the natural stone walls.

Ive no doubt your pets are well cared for, it's just a fact that the set up is an accident waiting to happen... Could you even look in to using chicken wire or similar to block the holes in the fence? Expense would be much less than full fencing and may prove an effective detterant

TooManyDogs

Could you maybe build a run that you could put the hutch into? It would double as protection when your animals are in the hutch and then give them outside area to play in. My neighbours dog opened my hutch by scratching at the door, he wasn't trying to hurt the rabbits but was very curious, and I came home to find them out in my garden, gave me an awful fright :eek: So even if the other neighbours dogs have no bad intentions, it's amazing how easily the hutch can be opened by accident.

4th horsemen

It sounds to me that even if you do talk to them idiots that you will not get very far.
It is their responsibility to keep their dog enclosed and not roaming around especially since the Rottweiler are on the "Restricted Breed" list, which is a stupid list because it's a dogs owner that makes a dog behave the way it does wether it's a Rottweiler, Shepherd or a Pomeranian etc!!

Anyway since they will prob not enclose their garden or be helpful to you, Have you tried looking for Builders security fencing?
U'll see it around building sites or houses getting extensions built etc, they are metal mesh fence panels, about 3m long x 6ft high and they sit in concrete feet, you can get them 2nd hand for bout €20 - €35.
Could get 4 of them and have a square enclosure around your animals and hutch for about €100 or get 6 and make a bigger rectangular shape or bigger again if wanted, it is a cheaper alternative and will stop the dog and anything else from getting at your animals.

You'll see them sometimes on Adverts.ie or similar sites.

It's a pity you have to do this but maybe it's for the best as even the other dogs might not go at them now but that could change if they also got a chance to kill one of them, it's instinct in a lot of dogs and can kick in even if it hasn't before, Also foxes etc!

Good luck

Solair

Dogs shouldn't be wandering, end of story.

Even relatively small dogs can absolutely terrify kids and adults.

One friend of mine is very frightened by dogs and actually walks 2km extra to work everyday just to avoid one particular street where a dog bounds out of a house and jumps at her.

yellowcrayon

Thank you all for the suggestions.

@TooManyDogs I see how easy it is for them now to get at it and i always thought they were so safe out in their runs. One of my rabbits was out in an individual run by himself made of metal and the dog knocked it over somehow.

@4th Horsemen Im going to try and get something that we can put around the hutches now as suggested so that they cant come to any harm. And I would have to agree with you about the restricted breeds list.. it really is down to the owner and not the dog, as I used to have a German Shepherd and he was a dote, but of course he was kept enclosed and muzzled when out for walks even though he was such a gentle creature.

First thing Tuesday morning now we'll try and source something to make an enclosure around the hutches and hopefully when the neighbours see us out there working our butts off trying to protect our pets they will hopefull control their dog a little better :rolleyes: