First off I have spoken with the neighbor several times about his dog (and a barrage of other things that include flooding our yard last fall when he drained his pool directly into it), who is periodically biting holes through our shared fence. Now our dog is a bit of a rapscallion, but trained enough to not engage in the neighborhood barking matches their dog puts on. We still mostly keep her in the house when their Husky terror is outside. While the neighbors doesn't seem to be a bad guy, he's uncooperative and either very much aloof, or ill-disposed towards us, to ever follow through on his dogs disruptive behavior.
The good thing is he put the house on the market, meaning the fence will be repaired during the sale and no more incessantly disgruntled dog, but in the meantime what can I do?
Since he is going to leave soon anyway, your best bet is to put up with it for now. If it was going to be a permanent thing then you might have had to get the authorities involved to force him to cooperate but since it is not, just bare with it until he is gone.
As [USER=142]@Belovedad[/USER] mentioned, since the dude's leaving (which is actually great news in this case), it's best to just deal with it for now. I mean, you could technically spray the fence with some kind of foul tasting deterrent like cayenne pepper and lemon juice or wasabi. That might keep the dog from tearing up the fence (is it chain-link or more private?), but it won't do anything to technically harm the dog either.
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Thanks for the helpful replies, I am looking into those sprays. For now we're in the process of transplanting some bushes in front of the trouble areas (it's a wooden fence).
There are also specific products you could try like "bitter apple" or "bitter yuck" that discourage chewing. I also might be tempted to use a no-bark device in the yard that emits a sound to discourage barking or even use a water gun to spray the dog or a loud noise in my yard to startle the dog when it starts chewing at the fence.
If the neighbor was going to be there longer, I might try the legal route - disturbance with the barking, property destruction if the dog is damaging your fence, animal neglect if the dog is left out too long. With the neighbor's plan to move soon hopefully, I'd just try to deal with it until he leaves.
No problem. Just do not add any fuel to a fire that is already going out. Time surpasses all :).
For peace' sake, bite your tongue and smile (is that called tongue in cheek?). I know it's difficult, because I have neighbors that let their dogs run free, into my garage, and scaring the living daylights out of my animals (including cats and rabbits).
It's so hard when people choose not to control their pets.
This last week we've just been really on the ball in terms of paying attention to what's happening when our dog is out in the back and it's gone better, more effort but it is worth it. I definitely am staying committed to not shaking things up, especially when this issue is on it's way to resolving itself. And thank you for the good suggestions, it's just difficult to know what's going to work best without any personal experience with a potential remedy.
I used to have nightmare neighbor like yours, and the guy is always drunk and stoned to even bother talking to him. He threw his left over food to my yard for my dog to find too.
I am glad to say that I have moved to a new area away from him!
For now, I think you should keep doing what you did so far, avoid the guy and his dog. He will be gone soon!
Yeah I would have to agree with [USER=142]@Belovedad[/USER] and just consider yourself quite lucky that he is going to be moving in the near future. Once that fence gets replaces hopefully you can forget all about it and move on. I have had my fair share of questionable and sometimes rude neighbors, and all you can do is hope the next ones are better.
That is the problem with some dog owners, they seem to neglect their duty. Aside from destroying the common fence, biting is not good because the dog can get some germs by that. It's good if the house is sold soon but if I were you, I would be diplomatic to thresh out the dog's problem with your neighbor. Nice words will never fail you.
There's no question here as far as I'm concerned. You should get the authorities involved immediately because he's definitely going to keep doing that which would always have you frustrated.
I wonder why some neighbours can be so annoying and a big pain in the butt.
Obviously, the first resort would be to speak with the owner of the dog and explain to them the issue and how it's affecting your and your dogs and also your property. As you have said you have spoken to them and not had any joy. Another option could be to maybe speak to authorities in your area and make a report? I know where I live you can report the issues and tell them what you have done which hasn't worked at they will then speak to the person in question about it.
I would say just to leave him out since he's selling the house already. You have beared it all along, and I know it's not easy but you have kept your cool. It's just a little time and he would be out and the fence fixed. Hopefully, your new neighbour won't have a raging dog too.