Anyone ever had to deal with dog hating neighbours?

[Violet_Crumble]

My next door neighbour came over to my place this evening and she was really distressed. The people over her back fence have a problem with animals and she's got a large but very cute pup that only barks every now and again. She suspected they were tormenting Spud over the back fence while she was out, but last night they were screaming at the dog and at her when she went outside to see what was going on. According to them the dog shouldn't bark at all and they said they're going to kill him if he keeps on barking. And tonight they tried to spray some chilli like substance in his eyes and missed and got down the side of his neck instead. She's now too scared to let him out in her backyard in case they try to hurt him again (these people bragged to another neighbour that they go out shooting goats with bows and arrows and where normal people hang potplants under their pergolas, these people mount goat skulls which is kind of creepy). She asked me what to do coz she thought coz she was renting she doesn't have any rights, and I think I've given her the right advice but I'm not sure. I told her not to try talking to them coz she's tried before and got a mouthful of abuse when she tried to be conciliatory, and told her to ring the animal cruelty hotline and report what had happened in case they do escalate things. And I took a photo of the stuff on Spud's neck so she's got some proof of what happened tonight.

But being a bit selfish, more than anything I'm worried now about my dog, who's a tiny but very noisy Foxy X. While they don't live directly behind me, they're close enough that I'm scared they might try and hurt her if they work out where the high pitched yapping is coming from. Has anyone else faced a situation like this?

[MiniMe]

1. Not a lawyer, but she certainly does have property rights by renting the property

I agree with not confronting the neighbor, no good could come from it. I might cross post this in general discussion or the lounge asking for advice from a lawyer, we have a lot of them on DU. I think you would get a lot more suggestions than in the pet group. Hope the pup is OK and :grr: to the neighbor

[hobbit709]

2. I would call the police and report them for attemting to harm my dog.

If it had happened here my wife would have gone ballistic and I would have to bail her out of jail-if I wasn't there with her too.

[elleng]

3. Police and animal cruelty hotline good ideas, IMO.

Renters certainly have rights, same rights as owners in this situation. They're entitled to 'quiet enjoyment' of the property.

I am a lawyer, but this is my common sense suggestion.

Hugs to the pups!

[China_cat]

4. Yeah, some time ago we had a neighbor's kid

who used to walk by and hated that the dog barked at him. (We have no sidewalk in front of our house and the yard is fenced...he shouldn't even have been that close) The dog was old and blind and would lay next to the fence. The kid would kick her through it. She couldn't see it coming.

He threatened to kill her if she kept barking at him. Two days later she was poisoned. I was lucky enough to get her to the vet in time and she lived for another 2 years...kept mainly inside and on a leash even when in the yard. I know he poisoned her but because I couldn't prove it nothing could be done.

Except to train my other dogs (and newer ones as they came to live with us) to food avoidance...to never take anything to eat unless they got the key word that allowed them to take it.

I would keep a close eye on the yard and look for any signs of food items tossed in the yard. One of the most used methods of poisoning is to put just a little bit of kibble down that's been soaked in anti-freeze. It only takes a small amount to kill even a big dog.

And I'd definitely alert the police to the threats.

[Blue Gardener]

5. I agree with posting in the lounge

If I recall someone on DU had a similar problem with some really mean, nasty neighbors. Personally, I'd find a different place to rent if possible. As long as she lives there she will be under constant stress wondering what these people will do next. They sound like truly evil people.

[njlib]

6. I agree

Filing a police report and contacting an "Animal Cops" organization right away is the best way to go. If there's any escalation, whether verbal or physical, having that police report could turn out to be extremely helpful. Plus, maybe if they know the proper authorities have been notified and they'd be the first ones suspected if anything bad happened, they'll back off.

Best of luck and hope this is resolved peacefully!