Northern_Sierras

I have a male non-neutered doberman who is now 1 and a half years old. I live in an unconventional neighborhood in a very rural area with pine trees everywhere. No one has fences including us so we have our dog on a proximity collar which keeps him in our yard extremely well, even when other females are wondering around.

The problem is people let their dogs run all over the place all the time particularly my neighbors. They have 4 large mixed breed dogs and they started attacking my doberman when he was about a year old. The first time he was attacked there was a large gash in his leg and i told the neighbors about it and told them to keep their dogs out of my property. Two months later two of their dogs attacked my dog again which left a large gash on his neck which required 5 staples and a vet bill. I called the neighbors and politely told them to pay the $80 bill which they did and seemed very apologetic. The neighbor came over later and told me he was going to build a fence and that if his dogs did go into my yard to throw a stick at them and not hurt them very bad. I told him that if his dogs come into my yard again i will kill them. He got mad and left.

My question is am I justified in killing a dog that is continuously attacking my dog on my property? Im worried that eventually the neighbors dogs will get his eye or kill him.

Thanks

PS- I called animal control and they said they are going to send someone out to see if any dogs are wondering around. We have one animal control person on duty in the entire county. I called the sheriff but they told me to contact animal control.

loltraktor

What the are local laws? I have never been a fan of proximity fences and believe an actual physical fence is the way to go.

I would look at getting a good quality physical fence installed. Would save money in vet bills and possibly a lawsuit later on with killing another person's dog.

Why not contact the local Sheriff of PD and see what they say?

While I do not yet have a Doberman, I do have a young Rhodesian Ridgeback and, even now, whenever she is outside so am I. That way if anything happens I am right there to intervene.

Toby'shuman

Okay, at the risk of upsetting you, BUILD YOUR OWN DAMN FENCE!

Sorry, but it is your responsibility to protect your dog and the best way to do this is

a) not to leave him outside alone, stand with him.
b) build a fence to keep him in, and others out.

You will be damn lucky if this does not alter your dogs mindset and because of he becomes dog aggressive. This is the last thing you want, because believe you me, your proximity collar will not stop him going after a dog he takes an eventual dislike too and it will be your dog that gets killed by someone..

What the heck are you thinking, are you seriously asking folk if you can shoot your neighbours dogs?

From what you have said your neighbour seems to have been pretty reasonable when he came to see you. Okay, his dogs should not have been out off leash, able to attack your dog because of. But to then threaten to kill his dogs if they come onto your property, when he simply was trying to sort something out in the interim of him building his fence, sorry, but that is way out of whack.

So BUILD THAT FENCE and PROTECT YOUR BOY and then ask what your rights are with regards having dogs attacking your dog.

Northern_Sierras

The local laws say to keep your dog on a leash or in your yard. The sheriff told me to contact animal control. They also said you can do whatever necessary to protect your dog and property. A fence is simply not financially feasible for me as it would cost thousands of dollars to install.

Northern_Sierras

I dont have thousands of dollars to build a fence, and its simply not going to happen with 3ft of snow on the ground. The proximity collar works extremely well, he wont take after females in heat and has NEVER gone outside his boundary. My dog stays outside most of the day (even in the snow) so im not going to stand outside with him all day, simply not a common sense answer, but thanks anyway.

VZ-Doberman

Not going to be a popular opinion but if it were me I would shoot the dogs that were attacking mine. You can't put up a fence, the neighbor is not going to stop the dogs so what is left. I agree fencing would solve this but that evidently is not a viable solution for you.

loltraktor

Okay. I would follow those suggestions. I would also contact the contact law enforcement. I do not thinking killing another dog is the right thing to do, especially if you do not have fenced property. Dogs have no idea about property lines. Until then, if I were you, I would not let your dog outside alone.

I would look at saving some money for a fence, and you may want to get your dog neutered. Perhaps the attacking dogs see him as a threat.


Shooting a dog may lead to all kinds of problems, that is why I suggest he contact local law enforcement. I am a gun owner but I would be reluctant to shoot another dog without exploring other options.

I would even look at bear spray or a taser before resorting to a gun.

Northern_Sierras

I wish everyone could see the area i live in, its on the border of national forest land on over 1 acre. Its not like back on the city block where $500 will get you a fence, it would be a massive construction project for me. Anyway, if the dog attacks my dog again, its going to get shot. I was hoping for a way to handle this without it coming to killing another dog but i guess not. Hopefully my neighbors will take my warning seriously and keep their dogs contained.

Northern_Sierras

Great Idea, bear spray and a tazer is genius why didnt i think of that? Great advice.

Christina93

I sent u a pm with some suggestions.


Sent from my iPhone using PG Free

PatchworkRobot

Just be careful that you don't hit your dog be it with the tazer or a bullet.

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VZ-Doberman

Just realize that if you spray the fighting dogs your dog will be hit also. In order for you to use a taser you will have to be almost in the fight along with the battling dogs. It's possible for you to get tased and/bitten. Just an FYI.

Toby'shuman

Sorry, but it is a common sense answer, just one that doesnt sit right with you and your pocket.

Now I do not know how much a simple chain link fence would cost in your country, but might it not be cheaper than a lawsuit.

Whilst your neighbours dogs are not fenced in, guess what, neither is yours. A proximity fence no matter how much your dog respects it is no subsitute for a proper fence. And whilst your dog may stay within the boundary today, who can say he will tomorrow.

Dobes truly have a hard enough time of it without you setting yours up to fail by not providing him with a safe area for him to go out into and as you have found out to your cost and to the detriment of your boy, a proximity collar doesnt keep out your neighbours dogs.

As for him staying outside all day, is this his choice?

If it is he really is unique.

Please stop leaving him outside, he needs you to protect him from these dogs.
And please, save up for a fence.

vivienne00

Can't you build a smaller fence for your dog to keep him safe when he is outside for short periods of time? Why does he need to roam over your 1 acre?

I have 10 acres fenced and cross fenced and double inner fenced and it certainly didn't cost thousands of $ - because we do all the work ourselves, including hauling the material, digging the holes with a rented post hole auger etc. You start with a smaller area and advance to larger space.

But it is YOUR responsibility to keep your dog safe - what if a wolf or a pack of coyotes came visiting? How would you protect him then? And what in the world is a doberman (with a single coat, mind you) doing outside in the Northern Sierras in 3 ft of snow? They are not protected - they were bred as a house/property dog not an outside dog. They suffer from the extremes of heat and cold.

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Cato and Emerald's Black Onyx (r.i.p.)
Owned by Enid, Yoda, Jill (kelpie) and Lana.

PatchworkRobot

I don't see why you are resorting to shooting someone else's dog when there are other options.

You don't have to fence all of your land, just some of it. Just fence as much as $500 (or whatever amount) will get you and leave it at that. Your dog will, presumably, have a safe place to be when he is outside and not under your supervision and then, when you are supervising, you can take him with you on other parts of the property. Personally, I just wouldn't leave my short and single coated breed outside at all, let alone with aggressive dogs running around.

I can understand why your thoughts are coming to, "I'll just shoot the dog" but it's kind of jumping the gun, if you ask me, as it sounds like you haven't done much else. Have you thought about the consequences of shooting your neighbor's dog? Because, to be honest, if somebody shot at my animals for whatever reason I"d be looking for any and every opportunity to shoot back at theirs. Then, if the dog survives, there could be vet fees as well as legal fees regardless of the dog's survival. Last, as I mentioned earlier, what if you end up shooting your own dog?

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Dobelove

Yikes I can't imagine shooting someone else's dog because I'm too cheap to properly contain mine and too lazy to stand outside with him. If you don't want to stand outside in 3 feet of snow why would your Doberman? From what I noticed if I'm cold and don't want to be outside for any length of time neither do the dogs.

Odin's_Master

It is a tough situation. My parents own a hobby farm with 75 acres and there was a neighbors husky that repeated attacked their hound mix and their sheep, killing 2 lambs last season. The sheep are fenced in a pasture, their dog is rarely outside alone, he is outside when my dad is working on the farm, or on leash going for a walk. My parents have told the neighbor to fix the problem and to pay for the cost of losing 2 full grown lambs (close to $1000). He paid them but did not fixed the fence to the dog is still harassing the sheep.

At this point my dad has not yet shot "at" the attacking husky, but he has certainly shot warning shots to scare it off. This dog is a real threat to their farm animals, dog and even the 3 grand children they have running around the farm all the time. If he were to take a kill shot, at this point, I certainly wouldn't blame him at all.

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Kayree

I also understand why your thoughts are coming to shooting the other dogs, but as Toby & Patchwork have pointed out, have you talked to someone about the legal implications of your actions? And what happens if you shoot one dog, and then say, in a couple of weeks the dogs are out again... are you going to shoot all of them if they keep coming onto your property? Do you think the other owner is just going to allow you to hurt his dogs and get away with it? My thoughts are no... Even if it is his fault for letting them roam around like that, there is a good chance you'd be spending more money on a lawsuit of some sort than what it would have cost you to even fence a small area...

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Toby'shuman

What kind of temperatures are we talking in this guys region?

I second, start small and expand when money allows.

donnatoldu2

Also before resorting to killing dogs is it not possible to get rubber bullets like what they use to discourage bears from marauding? I think since everyone has dogs running loose then if possible discourage them..it is very successful on bears.

RottenVonSpotten

I think it's terribly irresponsible to rely on a proximity collar to keep an intact Doberman from wondering. I don't care how great he has been up to this point, but he is young and will eventually find something intriguing enough beyond his territory that a simple shock won't keep him contained. Just hope it's not a bitch in heat.

cshellenberger

This, Dobermans don't have the coat to be outside in the snow all day. Your dog should be INSIDE except for potty breaks and SUPERVISED play/walks.

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Carla

PatchworkRobot

Since the dog is out, alone, for long periods of time how can the OP actually know that the dog doesn't leave and come back. Or, more likely, what if a bitch in heat has come into the yard. It sounds as if there's no way to be sure.

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VZ-Doberman

OP...at some point you're not going to have a dog. Your dufus neighbor is refusing to contain his pack and is aware of the attacks on your dog. I would hate to walk outside and find a torn apart dog lying dead. It is your responsibility to keep your guy safe and that means doing away with the proximity collar as it is useless to protect your dog from other animals including your neighbors pack. I would also let the local sheriff know the situation so that when your dog is attacked again he will know why the neighbors pack is dead. It is also illegal to allow a dog to harass or kill livestock and the owner of the livestock has the legal right to end that and should.

cshellenberger

If there's three feet of snow on the ground it's way too cold for a Doberman to be out constantly.

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Carla