Farm dogs and new neighbors. Ugh!

[newbury]

And therein lies the dilemma. Just what is "very rural"? Some people think we live in a very rural area, but i grew up in a very rural area, so to me this is more of a small community and you shouldn't just let your animals run free in this "very rural". Especially when we had livestock, i took a dim view of somebodies pets running my stock.

To me "very rural" is where your actions won't affect your neighbor.

 

[Coyote machine]

You're out of luck now. Your dog injured another dog off your premises. The injured dog's vet bill is essentially on you, or you could face a suit and still have to pay the vet bill as well.
Regardless, you must immediately take action to make sure YOUR dogs don't tangle with your neighbor's dogs, for any reason. The problem will not go away, you have to contain your dogs, by whatever means necessary or things will most likely get worse for you. Do what you must, shock collar with remote, Invisible Fence, build a wall, whatever keeps yours from accessing theirs. If there's get to your place, game over; unless it crawls home and bleeds out with no witnesses.
Pay them, fix your dog(s) threat to any dog off your premises, hope that keeps the sheriff, and possible lawsuit off your doorstep.

 

[Sigarms]

I can see the days of free ranging dog being limited even in very rural country places.

As well those days should be over.

90% of dogs that roam aren't spayed or neutered, or have up to date rabbies vaccinations. For some reason people have no clue what the protocol is when your pet tangles with a possible rabid animal.

Our county (total population 30,000) puts down well over 3,000 unwanted dogs and cats each year. I have no doubt part of this issue is caused by people letting their animals wonder wherever they please.

 

[DieselnHooters]

OP between you and the neighbor thats a whole lot of dogs...am just glad I dont live nearby

 

[GregbkH]

I have a neutered male black mouth cur and live in the sticks with one neighbor. My dog does not go off my property even when her dogs are out. His name is MF Jones and he excels at keeping things that don't belong off of our property. She (neighbor) had to put in an under ground fence to keep her dogs on her property because they would come over and one, a male coon hound, would end up fighting with my dog. Nothing serious ever happened as they are all fairly large dogs, 80+ pounds. My dog was the better fighter and never got injured but I didn't want any of them to get injured. Once her fence was up things were good again.

That said, I have had to pay two different vet bills for two small dogs that were injured by my dog. One on my property and one at a park where both dogs were off leash. In both cases the two smaller dogs started the trouble and my dog finished it. I felt it was my obligation, especially the one at the park, to pay for the vet bills which cost me nearly $1000.

Incidentally, both the smaller dogs were Jack Russel terriers and both male. I don't get what makes them think that they are a match for another dog that is six times their size? They should be called Kamikazee terriers.

 

[Dftodd]

I have a neutered male black mouth cur and live in the sticks with one neighbor. My dog does not go off my property even when her dogs are out. His name is MF Jones and he excels at keeping things that don't belong off of our property. She (neighbor) had to put in an under ground fence to keep her dogs on her property because they would come over and one, a male coon hound, would end up fighting with my dog. Nothing serious ever happened as they are all fairly large dogs, 80+ pounds. My dog was the better fighter and never got injured but I didn't want any of them to get injured. Once her fence was up things were good again.

That said, I have had to pay two different vet bills for two small dogs that were injured by my dog. One on my property and one at a park where both dogs were off leash. In both cases the two smaller dogs started the trouble and my dog finished it. I felt it was my obligation, especially the one at the park, to pay for the vet bills which cost me nearly $1000.

Incidentally, both the smaller dogs were Jack Russel terriers and both male. I don't get what makes them think that they are a match for another dog that is six times their size? They should be called Kamikazee terriers.

Jack Russel's are pretty good protectors. Out of all our dogs over the years, he's the one who was protective of my wife, daughter, and grand kids, and had to watch if you were a stranger. Our other dogs including our German Shepherd would lick a person to death Jack Russel's can be territorial and will protect what they perceive is there territory, just like any other dog.

Our trainer we used for our shepherd brought up a good point. Dogs don't recognize size. Its just another dog. That's why you will sometimes see a Chihuahua running off a Great Dane

 

[TractorGuy]

My opinion is that if it happened on your property you are not responsible. If it happened anywhere else you are 100% reposnsible. If it happened on someone else痴 property you need to pay 100% in hopes that person doesn稚 get a bill. If some large or aggressive dog came onto my property and atttacked a smaller dog that happened onto my property you are danged right that I am going to want the attacking dog痴 owner to make it right.

I agree with this.

I love my animals but I no longer own any dogs. When I did there were no neighbors for miles and I still kept them in a kennel unless I was in calling range.

Our area has become more developed and I refuse to tolerate loose dogs. The most recent was a renter nearby had two dogs she was leaving loose to wonder. Last time i saw them her bulldog and lab were jogging down the road back to her house. The bulldog was carrying one of the neighborhood cats it had killed. I took a photo and promptly called animal control and gave them her address. She got the message and fenced them in.

If you allow your animals to leave your property YOU are responsible for their actions OR injuries.

 

[D2Cat]

You and the neighbor have 9 dogs, and you want to have peace? Chances are slim and none.

If I were in your situation, I would have the neighbor come over and have a discussion on resolving the bill and then how to prevent future confrontations. I'd ask at the very beginning, "How do you want to handle this? What's fair?" Maybe have to get the dogs together for a time of introduction with the humans (pack leaders) there. Do some brainstorming and come up with a solution that both parties agree to work on.

Do you have permission to ride on the property across from you, where the attach occurred? If not, you need to show respect for them because they could end up in a suit if this escalates further.

 

[tcreeley]

We used to see our neighbor's dogs from across the highway over here. They killed a chicken or two. We tracked the feathers. Then they stopped showing up. Discovered later that the bigger one went after our arab mare and got kicked in the head. Broke its jaw. - Lesson well learned.

 

[YanmarFever]

Fences make for good neighbors and dogs.