Aggressive neighbours dog

MikeRotch65

Near where I live, there is an aggressive dog that, every time I walk by, snarls and growls at me and tries to bite me. And on few occasions, it has actually bitten my ankle, and also have nipped others in my family as well. Fortunately, the bites were never serious and would heal after a couple of days.

Every evening I go for a run and most of the time the dog is there, barking and going for my legs. It has gotten to the stage where I fear for my safety. I live in the countryside and have few neighbours that have young children that would walk past the dog every day or so, and I also fear that they would be attacked by the dog.

I have no idea what to do, as I can't go to the house and talk to them as the dog would try to bite me. I need help.

Inexile

You need to talk to the owner of the dog first. Could you drive up to the house , stay in the car and wait for someone to come out.

Alternatively, get the telephone number and ring them or post them a signed letter outlining the difficulties the dog is caused you .

If that doesn't work call the dog warden.

aonb

wow!
definately drive up to their door, and blow the horn until owners come out
(hopefully they will see how aggressive their dog is while you wait in the
car!) Dont be confrontational until you see how they are reacting to the
situation - hopefully they are 'nice' people - if they are obnoxious you will
have to bite the bullet and tell they you will report them to gardai/warden
unless they contain the dog. Poor dog - owners obviously dont give a damn

I had a situation like this a few years back, and it was a nightmare
- we had to avoid walking past that house/road, until the dog was eventually
PTS because he was causing so much trouble. Good advice from Inexile
- hopefully the owners will respond positively, but you have to do something to resolve it. Good luck, let us know how it goes

DBB

Just to clarify for the op, whilst it's recommended that a complainant makes efforts to approach the owners of a noisy dog to try to resolve the situation, there is no such recommendation when it comes to aggressive dogs.
You are potentially putting yourself at risk by entering their property, so there's no reason why you shouldn't contact the dog warden directly. You may be asked to fill in a report form, depending on the area you're in.

Inexile

Just a follow on from DBB's post. When I said ' you need to talk to the owner of the dogs first' I didn't mean that you had too. Perhaps I should have used the work 'could' rather than need.

I just tend to prefer to see if things can be worked out before involving the authorities, but if not tend go the authority route

A neighbour of mine had a dog that chased my Brother in law on his bike when he called to my house and bit him on the ankle . I was away at the time and b-i-l didn't complain. So I told the neighbour of the incident as I would have felt guilty if the dog had injured anyone else. Initially the owners were going to get the dog put down, which I didn't feel great about, but they changed their minds. The final outcome is the dog is now not let wander around..

DBB

Inexile wrote: »

I just tend to prefer to see if things can be worked out before involving the authorities, but if not tend go the authority route

There's no question that if it can be worked out between neighbours, it should, because you've got to live with them!
But if you don't know them, or are afraid to approach them (whether it's due to their dog posing a danger in the process, or that the neighbours themselves are a tad aggressive) it wouldn't be held against the complainant as it would in a noise poluution case.
I wonder OP, has the postman or other delivery personnel had problems too? Even if a few neighbours got together it might make it easier.

MikeRotch65

I dont know if the postman, or any of the other neighbours has had any problems. Fortunately, the owners themselves are nice enough, known them for a few years. Also, its never been a case about the noise. Some people have advised me to bring a strong stick with me, in case it attacks me, but I thought it would only aggravate the dog.

DBB

If you're on good terms with them, then I'd strongly suggest that you try to sort it out amicably... They may not even realise there's a problem.
If you can get right up the house in a car, as suggested, and wait for your neighbours to come out, or maybe ring them and ask to talk to them, then you can tell them what the dog is doing, and ask them to make sure he can't get out of their garden, it'd be the ideal solution. Keep it friendly and on good terms (remembering though that people can have serious blind spots when it comes to their dog :-D)
For the record, nobody was suggesting there was a noise issue, it was just a little side issue that arose in the conversation about "what do I do when my neighbour's dog...... (insert annoying behaviour here)" :-)
Good luck op, it is important to address the issue while you still can before something more serious happens. Hopefully your neighbours will take steps to contain the dog better, and everyone will be happy :-)