deterring dogs?

[JATS]

We're renting a place at the moment, the fences aren't incredibly secure and a dog that lives nearby (no idea where exactly, it seems to 'live' at half a dozen different houses who all claim it isn't their dog.) has taken to cr@pping in our BACK yard. :banghead: Every evening before I can allow my son to play in our yard I have to clean up dog cr@p.

Not just that it wanders in while my son is playing, yes its friendly but I don't want my son thinking its ok to approach strange dogs, that and its infested with fleas and my son comes in covered in flea bites and brings fleas inside in his clothes. :barf:

I'm royally peeved about this, I know it's not the dog's fault its the owner but no one wants the responsibility, so my question is;

Is there a way of deterring this dog without altering the property?

Any time I or DH see it come in we promptly chase it off, we've secured the fence as much as possible. What more can we do? :hair:

[JATS]

if it helps the dog is an older female staffy

[Yummy_Mummy]

can you call the RSPCA or something so they can go to the dog owners house (of they can find it) and make sure they have a secure yard for it so it doesnt wonder into yours?

[ChelsLuke]

Are you sure shes not a stray? Sometimes strays tend to stay put in one area

[WorkingClassMum]

When you next see it, call the ranger/council to have it impounded.

If it's neglected they'll care for it and treat it and hopefully re-house it

[ArnieBoy]

Call the ranger and make a complaint. They will visit and give the people a warning and the ranger no doubt will be doing drive by's and if they see the dog out they will impound it. Dogs ARE NOT to be wandering the streets.

Otherwise there is not much more you can do. I would not approach the owners. They obviously already have a lack of respect for people

[JATS]

Thanks for all the help so far!

i do like the pound idea except that we're renting here to save money, that being the case it isn't the best neighborhood (putting it very lightly) and I shudder to think what may happen to our yard or even us if someone found out we got the dog impounded or someone in trouble.

Isn't there some way of deterring the dog itself?

[RoarsomeMum]

There is no real "safe" way of deterring a dog.. water works for some (but attracts others! who LOVE IT) and restrictions really don't allow it anymore..

Everytime it enters the yard scare it away with loud sounds (bin lids, Recorder, shouting) I don't like the method, has potential to make a dog people shy/aggressive..

Electric fencing wire is a HUGE hazzard, and once again, permits..

Baiting is cruel, illegal and MEAN.. :(

Securing your own fence line is the only solution I can see.. (and with a rental, your at the mercy of slow/if ever action..)

If the area is too unsafe for you to feel comfy ringing Pound, take to a local vet and abandon it there.. Removing the dog or securing your yard are the only forceeable solutions with all you have said.

(and Move.. QUICKLY.. I hate to think of how people must feel living in fear all the time.. it is WAY to familiar.. :()

[WorkingClassMum]

Thanks for all the help so far!

i do like the pound idea except that we're renting here to save money, that being the case it isn't the best neighborhood (putting it very lightly) and I shudder to think what may happen to our yard or even us if someone found out we got the dog impounded or someone in trouble.

Isn't there some way of deterring the dog itself?

There is no way anyone would know you'd dobbed the dog in, and short of $$$$ and fences etc, there is no other real deterrent

[ChelsLuke]

Hugs i feel for you. Please dont scare it. I have seen first hand how horrible that can be. I watched someone do it once when i was a kid and the animal got scared ran out onto the road and got hit by a car. Is there an animal shelter nearby to come take it as a stray. Call before it gets to your yard.

[lovingmotheract]

come on like they are going to know that it was you they don't come to your house at all they go find the dog knock on the doors to find if it's anyone's dog then take the dog back to the rspca come on help the dog out it has to be in pain with fleas and worms most likely fly bites let the dog have a better life.

[Mrs Nietzsche]

Try a water pistol, and yes, ring the RSPCA if it's in that bad a nick, nobody will know it was you.

eta people do leave bottles of water around to deter dogs but I read somewhere that it doesn't really work

[florence]

If the dog is impounded then it will cost the owners alot to have the dog released. They probably won't pay the fee to have it released (heck, it appears they don't care much for the dog) and chances are it won't be rehomed and i wll euthanised. It is also probable that the dog is a stray. Staffies are rife through the pound system and many of them get put down daily Australia wide.
When my girl started getting out we used a portable electric fence (it's not 'wire' as such) and just ran it around the top of the fence line. You control the voltage at the main box and it's only a mild shock but enough to deter a dog. One or 2 zaps and you should be able to take the fence down.

[MumNeedsCoffee]

I don't know if I'll get slammed for saying this but here goes.....

We have a neighbour who is friendly to our faces but hates us behind our backs
He thinks we are growing marijuana in our house and has told the neighbourhood.
DD's room gets really hot and I looked up on the net how to reduce the heat and have put up aluminium foil on the window with black cardboard on the inside.
I didn't realise but her room faces the street and it looks pretty bad, immediately he was going around telling everyone that we now have a 'grow room' :laughing:

The thing he does that really really ticks me off is to walk his dog out of his yard from next door, to our letterbox and has his dog cr@p there.
And then the dog started doing it on its own.
Really really pi$$ed off when I go to get the mail and have to step around all the cr@p.

So I looked up on the net what harmless natural ways I could deter the dog
Dogs always sniff the ground when choosing a spot to do their business
So I got a heap of black pepper and put it in the area the dog was trained to come over and do its business

The dog won't do its business there anymore

Don't slam me if this is wrong
I don't blame the dog and did try to find the most harmless way to stop this happening

[Leeee]

lol mumneedscoffee that's hilarious!
i don't live in the nicest area either (which is why we no longer have a cat and our street has been targeted for breakins..) but our dog problem is actually our dog getting into our neighbour's yard. it's a mega old wire fence and she gets under it. she's an 8-ish month old staffyX(?)bull mastiff so medium sized and gets out and then can jump over their fence. never runs away though.
i guess this isn't really a lot of help because our landlord is my dad so it was a simple case of 'hey can we put in a colourbond fence?' so we'll be doing that in the new year. neighbours will contribute and help pull the old fence down cos it's annoying them (lucky they're such nice people!) cos they have small children.
anyway if part of the problem is the age/condition of the fence then ask if that's a possibility? i know that the leasing companies can be ultra slow but it might be worth a shot to make your yard secure. and yeah as horrible as it is, take it to the pound. some things can't really be helped, sadly.
good luck

[JATS]

Thanks for the helpful advice, as for "come on like they are going to know that it was you", yes, they will.

Hard to hide an rspca vehicle turning up on our doorstep when half the neighbors have nothing better to do than nosey in on anything going on.

People on this street have had their tyres slashed and windows broken for much less. I just want something to make our yard less appealing.

I've heard citronella can work, has anyone heard of this?

[Myztik]

I would call the ranger and explain that you would rather they take your statement over the phone as you fear repercussion.

We had to call the ranger on the dog from 2 houses down as it was aggressive and kept getting into our yard (it was skinny as hell and could squeeze through the bars in our gate :eek:) and the few times DF tried to chase it off it came at him with teeth bared so we weren't game to deal with it on our own. The woman who owned it was a tad strange and tried to set the dog on DF and my neighbour when they approached her about it (it was also trying to jump my fence to get to my neighbours dogs and nearly bit the neighbours nose off). The ranger was lovely and extremely helpful. The woman was fined and not long after moved house.

So yeah, long story short, I'm sure if you explain that you are worried about being targeted for dobbing the owners in then the ranger should be able to sort something out for you.

[florence]

I would call the ranger and explain that you would rather they take your statement over the phone as you fear repercussion.

I would be very careful of this. My friend's neighbour caught her dog while she was at work, tied it up, called the ranger and as a result my friend received quite a hefty bill which included fines and impound fes.
How does my friend know? She applied for the information on who called the ranger etc and recieved all information under the freedom of information act.
I'd be very careful and certainly wouldn't be calling the ranger :no:

[*Cj*]

How does my friend know? She applied for the information on who called the ranger etc and recieved all information under the freedom of information act.



I tryed getting that sort of info under the freedom of information act got told a BIG FAT can't be done. It would be like centrelink giving out the info to some one who had dobbed them into centrelink. freedom of information act does't work like that.

[florence]

I tryed getting that sort of info under the freedom of information act got told a BIG FAT can't be done. It would be like centrelink giving out the info to some one who had dobbed them into centrelink. freedom of information act does't work like that.


Well it certainly did in this case....I saw the report with my very own eyes :yes:

That info can be released...it all depends on the situation/reason the owners want the information and you would never know under which reason the owners could apply for the information.
I have a friend that works for the council and knows all about this.

Either or, I don't think it's the best solution for the OP and she has said that herself :yes:
I agree with her.

[Aaliyahsmummy]

So I looked up on the net what harmless natural ways I could deter the dog
Dogs always sniff the ground when choosing a spot to do their business
So I got a heap of black pepper and put it in the area the dog was trained to come over and do its business



Pepper is what the vet told us to put on our out door table, after our husky took to jumping up on the glass table (we were mostly scared he would break the table and hurt himself) worked great, he stays well away from it now. So not the worst thing ever;)

[BabelFish]

I would be more worried about this poor dog than anyone else's reactions. It's obviously miserable and coming somewhere it feels safe.

If it were me, I'd take it to the council myself, or the RSPCA. That way there would be nobody to see any ranger's or RSPCA vans outside the house, and it would be easy to get the dog into the car without anyone realising what you were doing.

Vets and so forth will give out cages if they know you are going to trap a stray, so you don't need to spend any money. And protecting your car from fleas is pretty straight forward, too.

So yes, that's what I would do. The poor thing is suffering and that would be my first and foremost priority.

[JATS]

I'll give pepper a go.


The poor thing is suffering and that would be my first and foremost priority

My first and foremost priority is the safety of my children, which I feel I would be risking, yes some people on this street really are that scary.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.

[BabelFish]

I didn't mean it to sound as if the safety of your children shouldn't be your top priority! Woops - that came out wrong.

But it's my feeling that for the complete safety of your children (and others in the neighbourhood) the dog needs to be removed, not deterred. That is simply a band-aid solution that could backfire.

[Violetta]

It's horrible to feel unsafe in your own home due to the people around you. There are many reasons why dogs wander but as it's not your dog the reason doesn't matter. Rather than trying to scare the dog off. Go to a public phone and phone the ranger and tell them the street that the dog is seen on and what times. You do not need to give your details. Call each day until the dog is picked up. No one will know that it was you that called.

If it was my animal wandering I would absolutely want the ranger called if no one felt they were able to take it to a vet to be scanned for a microchip.