unleashed dogs

[CrufflerSteve]

I like living in an unincorporated, sort of country area. A few dogs off leash and obnoxious have been shot and when one owner called to complain the deputy threatened to write him up. Nobody minds civilized dogs off leash but there are limits.

Steve

[sako55]

Keep them leashed. I have been visiting client's properties for ten years. Seems like everybody has a dog. In the ten years I have been bitten and chased for 9 out of ten years. I assure you every dog has the potential to turn and they don't always show their intentions. First day on the job and huge St bernie bit the guy training me on the ass and off course it had never done it before. Have seen plenty of guys at work get bit by supposed "freindly" dog. Although the worst animal bite I saw on a coworker was from a squirrel. Well at least it was the funniest.

[n8tive97]

Years ago when I was a courier with FedEx, I was way out in the country to make a delivery. I drove up this long drive on this customers range and was met by a healer that didn't look to happy to see me.
I opened the window and asked the rancher if his dog bites, he said "does he have teeth" point taken and I stayed in the truck.

Moral here is to just keep them on a leash, its easier and less confrontational.

[Ranger]

but question I have is what to do about my neighbor's dogs inside their "invisible fence" that bark and howl (a very annoying high howl, not the wolf-like deep howl). They seem to never be home when this goes on. So I can't ask them to pipe their dogs down, but they're very nice people and I don't want to call the county on them.

I have several Bark Free's for this purpose. My neighbor to the south has a labridoodle (really, REALLY? Why breed a poodle with anything?) that starts barking and howling the minute he's put outside. I asked the neighbor nicely to respect the fact that I like peace and quiet as much as the next guy but they pretty much told me to "deal with it".

At first when the bugger would howl I grabbed my Bark Free, pointed it at him (has a big 'megaphone' type cone on it) and pushed the button and he freaked out and shut up. Then they would let him out constantly and since the bark free doesn't do well with obstructions I bought five more, put them on my fence post aimed into their yard (they have automatic bark sensors) to take care of the problem. The up side is that the neighbors noticed these devices, knew what they were for and now control their dog.

Another neighbor years ago had a similar issue and my bark frees didn't work on them because of too many obstructions and the distance to their back yard, so when they didn't do anything with their TWO dogs that did this all day long I finally called animal control on them. One warning, then they got I think a $500 fine and were told if they didn't take care of it then the voice boxes would be removed from the dogs at their expense. This took care of the problem (and I'm glad too because I love dogs and it would break my heart to have them go through surgery for barking too much).

[rockhound]

owner who do not control their animals should be spayed or neutered.

[Ronin13]

I have several Bark Free's for this purpose. My neighbor to the south has a labridoodle (really, REALLY? Why breed a poodle with anything?) that starts barking and howling the minute he's put outside. I asked the neighbor nicely to respect the fact that I like peace and quiet as much as the next guy but they pretty much told me to "deal with it".

At first when the bugger would howl I grabbed my Bark Free, pointed it at him (has a big 'megaphone' type cone on it) and pushed the button and he freaked out and shut up. Then they would let him out constantly and since the bark free doesn't do well with obstructions I bought five more, put them on my fence post aimed into their yard (they have automatic bark sensors) to take care of the problem. The up side is that the neighbors noticed these devices, knew what they were for and now control their dog.

Another neighbor years ago had a similar issue and my bark frees didn't work on them because of too many obstructions and the distance to their back yard, so when they didn't do anything with their TWO dogs that did this all day long I finally called animal control on them. One warning, then they got I think a $500 fine and were told if they didn't take care of it then the voice boxes would be removed from the dogs at their expense. This took care of the problem (and I'm glad too because I love dogs and it would break my heart to have them go through surgery for barking too much).

See the problem is, I don't mind them barking and howling, except while I'm trying to sleep (pre-7AM on weekdays and pre-9AM on weekends). I would never want to have Animal Control make them fix it or they remove their voice boxes... my dog barks from time to time, and if anyone ever tried to forcibly make him have his voice box removed I'd tell them that I'd come after them the first time I get robbed because my dog can't alert me to an intruder. They don't bark and howl enough to make me so mad as to have the county impose a fine or threaten, but just enough to wake me a few hours before I want to. I've talked to the owner since (last night) and she said she was sorry but there isn't a whole lot she's able to do when no one is home. Stuck in a catch 22 there.

[Byte Stryke]

there is a reason we have noise ordinances.