I am seriously ANGRY! My neighbor has a dog who had puppies. They kept 2 of the puppies, plus the momma dog. Well, their puppies, who are a lot bigger now (about 3 feet high at the shoulder), keep on getting out of my neighbors backyard. Continuously! I mean a lot! All the time! I am so tired of these dogs getting out! These puppies have COMPLETELY DISTROYED my garden! They have TRAMPLED EVERTHING in MY garden!!!! I love my garden. I did NOT break my back over this piece of land just to let a couple of puppies wreak the entire thing. I have spent roughly $200.00 on my garden, my place of peace, and I do NOT appreciate my neighbors dogs killing everything in it!!!!! Not only are they beating all my plants into the ground but they are also breaking all of my garden ornaments. They are literally tearing up my ENTIRE garden. I am NOT HAPPY !!!
The worst part is the fact that my neighbor, the owner of these dogs, does not even care! Man am I mad!
Is there anything I can do to discourage those puppies from getting into my garden???
PLEASE HELP! I have already put the puppies back into the backyard 5 different times today! I know they are obviously getting out somewhere but I don't know where. I have resorted to spraying the puppies with my garden hose every time I see them in my garden. I have my curtains open and each time I see them near my garden I run outside yelling a brisk, "Get! Get! Get!", as I reach down snatching up my garden hose and spraying water at their feet, scaring them away. I probably look like an insane crazy lady but oh well.
If anyone has ANY suggestions on how to keep those dog out of my garden then PLEASE tell me!
I am on my LAST nerve!
Now don't get me wrong... I ~LOVE~ critters. I own A BUNCH of critters. But for crying out loud! I keep my critters under control!
The scarecrow sprinkler. Hooks up to your garden hose and senses movement/heat and sprays water. Scares my English Mastiff - to keep him from doing his business in the front yard. Scares me too if I forget it's on!
That made me laugh out loud. I read that right after thinking about it turning on as I, and my family, walk past the garden. That sounds grate! Didn't know that existed. One thing though... That would probably scare off all the wild birds too. I don't want to do that. Wild birds stop by all day to drink from my water fountain.
A solar fencer with small steel posts with insulators on it & fencer wire for the solar fencer should do the trick. It would be a investment in the solar fencer but the dogs would get a good shock & go home howling & not come back for sure. We use a solar fencer to keep the raccoons out of the sweet corn patch with double wires put up for those smarties.
I had a similar problem and I bought a paint gun. It hurts but not an injury and when the owners get thru cleaning paint off their dogs they may decide to find how thay are getting out. My vet bill was $600.for the neighbor dog attacking my dog and also distroying stuff in my yard. the dog is nice to people just other dogs I only shot him one time now he wonders the other way Good luck Betty
Hmmmm... That's something I could consider. Where would I go to find one of these? How much of an investment would it be? It won't hurt the dogs too much would it?
Hurting an animal in any circumstance isn't the solution.
Go down and talk to your local town people about the problem, or invest in a fence....but please don't think about shooting the animals...not with a paintgun, bb gun or anything like that. Pain is pain and it's not the animals fault, it's the owners fault.
I know what it's like to be upset about animals destroying stuff and I feel for you I'd be furious, but I would never hurt the animal for it. I don't like cats, they come and poop all over my yard and knock things over and dig, but I wouldn't ever hurt one.
My neighbor caught ferral cats last year and turned them over to the Animal Control.
There has to be a better solution.
I'm very glad you are here with us!
Any other suggestions to hurting animals in this post will make me delete it, so please try to keep the suggestions humane.
most communities have leash laws as well as dogs need to be licensed and have rabies shots.
i'd call your local police dept and/or animal control to report dogs running loose.
if the owner isn't keeping the animals properly confined, then it's almost a sure bet they're not licensed or up-to-date with the required shots.
a few phone calls should resolve the issue.
also, take pics of the animals when they're in your yard - if you can catch them in the midst of doing the damage all the better. take pics of all the damage they've done.
have a conversation with the owner of the dogs...ask for reimbursement of what it will cost to replace the plants and whimsy's. if he won't do that, take him to small claims court.
cayenne pepper liberly sprinkled in and around your garden may do the trick. i think you can get a big ole container of it at sams fairly cheap. dont know though,my sisters lab loves jalapenos!
My neighbor also has a dog that they let run free. I feel your pain, hyperferret. This dog chases down my children and jumps on them, digs holes (big ones) all over MY yard, and last night attacked my cat, which was under MY car, in my yard. And their other dog, a chow, saunters over to leave these massive, steaming, mounds in our yard that my daughter thinks are "hills".
If that dog is out again, I will be calling animal control. I would suggest you do the same, if it is available in your area. They will come out and catch the animal and hold it until the owner claims it (here, if not claimed it gets put up for adoption, after quarantine), there is a nice fine (per animal) for the dumb owner who can't contain their animals. If no animal control is available, call the police and they can definitely help out. Even if it's just writing a few tickets to the owner for having 'dangerous' animals loose. Joclyn has a good idea, if you can get pics, you should take them. That way the owner can't place the blame anywhere other than Dog #1 and #2.
If the owner is as sue-happy as the rest of the world, you may be best off not doing anything to hurt/endanger those dogs. Probably wind up getting sued for the pain and suffering of two puppies and paint removal services and then some off-the-wall medical problem.
And, that, is my two cents. Please keep us updated, I'd love to hear what happens.
Like the others who have already commented, I too am really sorry that these dogs are ruining your garden. This is the sort of thing that can get really depressing and nags away at you constantly. You've already been given plenty of great advice. The only thing that I would add is that, before you do anything too drastic, have another word with this guy. Explain to him what your garden means to you and what effect his dogs' actions are having on your peace of mind. Try and appeal to his better nature - does he have any pride in his own garden? The risk is that this can all get out of hand- there are plenty stories over here of neighbours who havent spoken to each other for years over disputes over hedges, trees etc., and of court cases arising whee this gets physical. At the end of the day, you need to live together and life isnt easy if you have someone right next to you who bears a grudge against you.
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