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How to deal with dogs in neighborhood not confined

1K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  goldensrbest 
#1 ·
Keeping dogs confined seems to be a problem in my neighborhood, and once Charlie has had all his shots I'd like to be able to start walking him but am hesitant because of running into other dogs. There's at least 2 dogs in our neighborhood - a boxer and a lab mix that I never see hooked up at all and pretty much do what they want. I don't really know their owners to talk to them and have called the dog warden a few times. Why is it so hard for people to at least use a tie-out. We have an invisible fence we plan to use when Charlie is older, and till then we are out with him. If he doesn't take to the invisible fence we'll work on some physical fencing but so many just let their dogs roam. Is anyone else dealing with this and what do you do when trying to walk your dog and it's approached by a hyper dog you don't know??
 
#3 ·
I'm talking more about walking them than in my yard. Surprisingly I don't have a problem with neighborhood dogs in our yard. But walking down the street is more of an issue.
 
#4 ·
Well there are several loose dogs in my area, lots of people don't obey the leash law, my neighbors have a black lab, who thank goodness is a friendly and mellow dog because he's loose 99.9% of the time. The neighbor on the otherside however has a pushy English bull-dog that's loose, they don't clean up after, and who doesn't listen to them, I've had my dogs charged by this dog on multiple occasions

But when going for a walk and seeing a loose dog, I immediately turn around and go the other way. It can be frustrating. However, if you see a loose dog and no owners around, I would say, don't hesitate to call animal control.
If it's someone's lost dog, then they'll be able to find them at the shelter.
And if it's someone who doesn't care enough about their dog to leash it, then maybe they won't go pick it up and it'll go to a better home
 
#5 ·
I would suggest carrying some extra treats with you and trying to befriend these dogs. One of our neighbors dogs is sometimes out when we go by. My dogs actually like saying hi to him. It would probably also be good to try to have someone else with you until you know how all of the dogs will react. At least if you know how they get along, you know whether or not to avoid the dog.
 
#6 ·
I have a similar and probably worse problem in my neighborhood. I was without a golden for almost 3 years and when I adopted Harley I really looked forward to taking hour long walks again. This hasn't been the case. there is a house about a block away that has a pitbull tied to the house and a german shepherd that frequently runs loose. The pitbull has gotten lose and attacked at least 3-4 dogs which required stitches -- I am still waiting to hear the results of the last incident. Milwaukee has an ordinance on pitbulls but it is not well enforced. But back to your question, I will turn and walk the other direction and I also carry treats for my guy since he will be the first to growl and get unruly. I have never been able to get him to overcome this. He is now battling lung cancer so I am lucky to get him around thr block. I would check your City's ordinances and if there is anything regarding dogs, while you don't like to do it, call and complain. Personally I don't like friendly dogs approaching me when I am walking my dog, they can distract your dog if you are trying to train your dog to be responsible. I just seem to see a lot of irresponsible people having dogs in recent years.
 
#7 ·
Unsupervised tie-outs are illegal in my county. So you can be working or playing in the yard with the dog on a tie-out, but you'd better not even go into the bathroom and leave them outside. Huge fines, if you are caught.

I took the puppies to the park for walks. Less chance of uncontrolled dogs (you have to be leashed and have a visible poop bag or be fined).
 
#10 ·
You might find that once Charlie is outside, other dogs will be more interested in your yard, then the invisible fence won't do you any good-just a thought.
When I lived in an area that I didn't feel comfortable walking my dogs (loose rottie & loose pittie) I ended up piling them in the car and drive about 5 minutes away to a big park that had a walking/running path winding through it.
 
#11 ·
I don't walk my dogs in the neighborhood for that reason. I have a large fenced in back yard that they can play and run around in.
 
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#12 ·
In our case we were lucky, it's how we met Dexter's best friend Lucy. The other dog in the neighbourhood is a vicious little toy poodle mix that always runs around free.He was ok with Dex until his owner invited me in and he went a little crazy. He tries to go all tough guy when I've got my back turned, but as soon as I turn around and yell at him he's long gone running the other way. There are also two GSD who are a little vicious but they've got an invisible fence.
 
#13 ·
We've had our invisible fence since 2004 and our previous golden did great on it and we had very few incidents with other dogs in our yard. We'd see one here or there when he was in the house, but very rarely when he was out there. Whether Charlie will take to it who knows. Keeping other dogs out is my biggest annoyance about the electric fence! I think I'll make sure his first walks are with someone else as handling different situations may be easier with another adult to help out.

We're on a dead end street, so just to get off of our street is an issue sometimes but I'm going to keep the dog wardens number handy! All this talk about that reminded me to register our puppy with the county, which was surprisingly cheap and easy - only $7 for puppy tags because he's less than 4 months now.
 
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