Neighbor has Trespassing Dogs - What would you do?

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Our RV Park has three trespassing dogs that come through our fence onto the property where they like to relieve themselves, forage for leftover McDonalds, and bark incessantly.

As part of this I found out that our county does not have any services to pickup stray dogs and there is not a “dog pound.” When I called the Sheriff and Constable I let them know that a dog was trespassing on my property without a leash and that I was concerned that it could harm a resident, and because there is not any county services I must resort to shooting the animal. Their response was, “Well that’s technically your best option, sir.”

While those measures could take care of the problem I’d like to try something less violent. I have had conversations with the neighbor who has no intention of changing, and am now considering electrifying part of the adjacent fence they come through (with a cattle grade product) as well as a vegetative barrier, using red tips or possibly prickly bushes that could help deter access. This is about 500 feet of fenceline so it’s not small area.

Any other thoughts on what would be effective without excessive use of force, or excessive use of pocketbook?

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I would catch them and drive them 100 miles and set them free. If there are several I would start with one and see if he reacts when it goes missing. I would not invest any more time or money in keeping them out.

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This is a great idea. Maybe tie them up to the County Commissioners vehicles?

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Setting them free in a region they are not familiar with is crueler than shooting them. Furthermore, dogs have been known to come back home from a distance of far greater then 100 miles.

You could set traps, (there are many kinds), but please do not poison them because this risks others animals being poisoned also. If you catch them, you could drop them off at an animal shelter, or anti cruelty society in the next county. Look up the humane societies online and contact them - they will have ideas. Sorry you have this problem.

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You are right, it would be cruel. Better idea is the shelter.
Don’t take them to a shelter in your area, drive them far enough away, to another county, to drop them off to insure the owner does not get them back.

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It’s also cruel to live in a county without animal control. Then give the residents no options so that we have to consider drastic measures…and that the best answer is to burden another county’s taxpayers with it. It feels the same as New York shipping their homeless to the other states because they can’t deal with the problem locally.

And while I sympathize these are not great answers, there are not any great options. It easy to say it’s cruel but cruel is the only option. All the non profit shelters within one hour are full and have whole heartedly refused the pit bulls next door.

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Are these vicious dogs? Are they aggressive? A pack is more problematic then a singular animal. How much would it be to electrify the fence? How are the dogs getting into the park? Maybe it’s not a good fence? Would a chain link fence be cost prohibitive?

I would say to shoot them if local law enforcement said it’s ok. Or call an animal shelter, or see if there are farmers or hunters that need any dogs you could give them ( but then you need to buy a trap large enough to catch them. ) Shooting is quick and easy. However, then perhaps you will have to deal with a crazed angry neighbor?

I was completely unaware that New York State rounds up the homeless and “ships them to other states.” I work in social services and try to keep up with the issue nationally. This is news to me. Not sure that is the case.

Dumping unwanted animals somewhere else to become someone else’s problem just doesn’t sound right to me, and those dogs will find their way back home. There are cases where dogs made their way back home from several hundred miles away.

There are people in this site that say emotions do not mix with making money. Income and profits come first, right? So you know that right thing to do is cast your emotions away, shoot them, and protect your property. Or find the dogs some loving homes…which is very difficult to do. I have volunteered with animal shelters, and I could tell you some very sad stories.

Depending on the breeds, they could be given away to security guard firms, or prisons that have programs where inmates care for dogs. The Internet is filled with options, but it can be exhausting to try to rehouse animals. You know what the best option is, and it’s unpleasant.

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I am one of those that strictly adheres to the “no place in business for emotions”. I do however have emotions where animals are involved. No emotions for people, they take responsibility for their own actions.
You can not force the owner to be a responsible pet owner. If you don’t want to risk the safety of the dogs be creative.
Take out a no trespass notice on the dog owner, give clear notice to the guy, then capture and cage the dogs. If he enters your property to retrieve them have him arrested otherwise wait till he calls the police. See what happens and repeat till the police or the County does something. Push it to a breaking point. If he abandons the dogs you have no options but to get rid of them any way you choose.

This thread is 9 days old, excuses seem to have not solved the problem, time to put on your MH man pants and get it done.

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I really appreciate this is a difficult one, and the perspective here is exactly why I posted asking for thoughts. This is three pit bulls, and they have only been there a short time, but I don’t want to wait around to see if they act according to their genes.

First steps are well underway. I purchased the supplies to electrify the fence last week, but before turning on need to check with insurance. I already put the little tags all over the wire with the thunderbolt logo and verbiage “electric fence, do not touch.” If that does not work may also consider these battery powered noise machines that go off when dogs bark and hurts their ears.

The hard part is what is the best step if these don’t work, and the consensus is no good option and do what you think is best. Thank you both for your comments.

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Solid fence all the way around is what I would do and some type of gate at the front ( I don’t like gates ) but get an enclosure around the area that you can control .

We are big dog people have pits/ pit mixes. All dogs that originally started off with a home somewhere else , not wanted lost , whatever the case…

I call in welfare checks regularly when driving any park if the dog looks questionable, 9 times out of town, the agency is familiar with the park. Talked to animal control officers on this topic, know rescues, locally.

Found dogs almost dead, brought back to life, found dogs almost hit by cars then hit by a car, then we did a leg amputate dog has a loving family in Maryland now.

I think a lot on this topic, I don’t know the answer. But talking with animal control , often times, the people who get their dog taken / lost will just end up with a perpetual cycle and get another animal. Different mindset, more of a disposable commodity…

One thing we are doing now , we found a dog, possibly a breed dog, in a very poor part of town, we are investing time and money in trying to educate the person on proper animal care. We took the dog for a vet visit, explaining heartworm to the owner, how to care for it etc. etc. I only watched a couple episodes of it but Pitbull and Paroles seem to try to “educate” the people in the community when they moved over to NOLA.

Fundamentally, and will vary greatly as this issue is not in all parts of the country. There is an oversupply of animals, no really barrier to getting them ongoing care. The problem perpetuates with reproduction so now instead of worrying about 1 dog, you have 6 dogs ,then 36 dogs…

More in depth than is required here but I would def keep in mind that even if you no longer have these dogs, more can come into the picture with time.

Maybe you are on to something with the electric fence. I personally don’t like anything that could hazard our residents seems like some level of liability je barb wire.

I would also go over and talk with them. Not in the manner of keep your dogs on your side but hi, I have this place Im trying to run respectably we have had complaints , I understand you want your dogs to roam free. Any chance we might be able to work together and accomplish a common goal? Would It help for me to build you a dog run for these guys? And get you a pizza delivered every month to show my appreciation for you helping me out.

Then at the same time you can work to see if long term, you can get any department or regulation to start to work on managing something like this. Cities might have something like a leash law to regulate roaming dogs.

But at the end of the day , I think the answer is embedded in care and education . Maybe not the immediate answer , quickest or cheapest, but education and care.

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Lastly, when we ran our fractionalized condo complex ,we had an investor who owned 5 units in there and had non stop issues with his people and got sick of baby sitting all the time, we ended up buying him out and gaining that control. So buy it out , gain control, and have him move down the street. Thats the plus Side of being in these cities. We had a tenant we evicted that got an RV across the street of one place and kept coming back over. Ordinance shows you cant live in an RV not zoned properly, quick call to city and voila problem handled in that situation .

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Lots of time and energy thus far on this subject of stray dogs. Dogs have a habit of checking out their dropping regularity and finding if there are other visitors to their messes.
Please take no offence but with the following they will not be back—heat up a medium size potatoes (size of potato based on size of dog) maybe a little butter for some real attraction when the dog is near by–one bite of the hot spud and they WILL NOT BE BACK. Dogs in particular are to numerous and one bite from an animal with rabies and perhaps its your child and all the talk about animal credulity should end. As our society falters more and more animals will be some peoples ONLY comfort-- we are living in very confrontational times–lots of troubled people!!!

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Spread 1-inch chicken wire over newly seeded beds to protect them from digging dogs. Seedlings will grow up through the wire easily. Lay wire over all exposed garden soil. Cover it with attractive mulch. Construct cages out of the wire to protect single specimens or small area plantings.
You may interested in other ways here.

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The worst part about this is that I put a new fence up last year…not solid… otherwise I would be more likely to go down this road.

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That’s a tough situation you’re in with animal control being unresponsive.

I’d be particularly freaked out about installing an electric fence, what if a little kid somehow gets hurt on it?

What about a less drastic solution than shooting the dogs? I might try getting some high powered pepper spray, and spraying the dogs when they enter the property. Perhaps after 1-2 treatments of that they’ll get the message that they aren’t wanted and your property isn’t safe for them to visit. Pepper spray is incredibly painful but will almost never cause long term damage. Obviously be really careful about only spraying when the wind is low and there’s no one down wind.

I don’t love the pepper spray option, but it doesn’t seem any worse than the other options presented so far.

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We purchased a park with stray cats. Lovely! We found a local non profit that spays and neuteurs the cats and tries to adopt them out. They set up food stations, trap them, then do the deed and either release or adopt them out. Hopefully you can find something like this locally.

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@jhutson Locate a non-profit shelter that will take them. Capture the dogs and call them to come pick them up.
Seems to me like their current owner is not taking responsibility for the “Stray Dogs”.

I am sure a quick google search for your state will bring you in contact with a host family and eventual adoption.

I would not shoot them. I would not use an electric fence. I would not poison them. All bad options.

This is one of those situations where you have to get your hands dirty and pick up those dogs and get them the heck off of your property.
https://www.purchasingplatform.com/catalog/view/529821?operation=view
AW

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UPDATE:

We turned on the electric fence. The dogs got the SH*T shocked out of them. They have not been back since. We have turned off the fence until it becomes a problem again.

PROBLEM SOLVED

I appreciate all the comments on this thread - they have been really helpful to figure out the best solution for my situation.

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Glad you solved your issue. I was thinking small claims court for the costs involved in clean up and trespassing prevention or danger to tenants… I’m sure you can verify some costs or damages somehow to use. Let a judge get involved and then local enforcement has to get involved. Not a great solution to use on a neighbor… but if diplomacy doesn’t work…

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The funny thing is that the owner and I are friendly he just does not want to control his animals. We spoke several times how I was going to set up an electric fence and he was supportive of it, especially since it further enabled him to do nothing.

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