Wandering neighborhood dog

mrsconn23

Dear Prudence,
We live in a rural area where there is no county leash law. Our neighbor has a dog that she leaves outside daily, no matter the weather and often when she is on vacation. For over a year he has been coming to our house almost daily, and I am at my wit’s end. While we don’t dislike him, he agitates our own dogs, chases our outdoor cats, and I worry he will be hit by a car on his daily trek to our house. Multiple attempts to get our neighbor to build a fence or otherwise contain him have been ignored. He often shows up dirty and looking like he has been in fights with other animals. If I report him to animal control, he will be taken to a kill shelter, so I don’t see that as an option. Help!

—Not Our Dog

bleve0821

I mean, that's country life.  I don't worry about the well-being of free-range animals.  I'm pretty sure 90% of the pets in my neighborhood are free-range.  All I care about is that they won't attack me when I'm walking/running, and that they are UTD on vaccinations (at least rabies).

But the well-being of other peoples' pets is not my problem.  If this dog really is becoming a nuisance, I might consider taking it to an animal shelter, but I'd probably just build a (better) fence.

We have a guy on our street who has two mean, yappy dogs.  And they've figured out how to escape from the fenced yard.  DH has gone up to the owner multiple times and said, "Your dogs are getting out of the yard, here, here, and here.  While I don't really care what happens to them when they get out, I thought you should know."  And the guy has done nothing, barely even acknowledged that his dogs were getting out.

Some people just don't care.

But, LW, kudos for you for not stealing it to give it a better life.

charlotte989875

I hated this about where we lived in NC; people would leave their animals out all the time. I hated it and I felt awful any time I saw them. But, unless they're a nuisance, a threat, or appear abused/neglected I don't really see what option the LW has. 

Ro041

We do dog rescue and my #1 pet peeve is when people say that they won't take a free roaming dog to a shelter because it might be euthanized.  Does LW really think that the dog getting hit by a car and dying on the side of the road or getting into a fight with an animal and dying of its wounds would be a better end than going to a shelter where it could possibly being adopted by another family or get humanely euthanized?  

mrsconn23

Our neighbor's dog is a wandering, 'free range' dog.  He comes on our property from time to time.  He is harmless and will go home if I tell him to shoo.  He doesn't shit in our yard and is fed by my neighbors.  He's not dirty and seems to be healthy.  It doesn't bother me, especially because we don't have any pets for him to upset/bother, and he seems to keep other pests away.  

I do worry about him getting hit by a car. But my neighbors are nice enough and since they are caring for him, I don't see a reason to call animal control or cause any other issues. 

But the feelings I have about him are pretty one-off since I likely wouldn't be comfortable with this situation in any other scenario. 

short+sassy

Ro041 said:

We do dog rescue and my #1 pet peeve is when people say that they won't take a free roaming dog to a shelter because it might be euthanized.  Does LW really think that the dog getting hit by a car and dying on the side of the road or getting into a fight with an animal and dying of its wounds would be a better end than going to a shelter where it could possibly being adopted by another family or get humanely euthanized?  

I read a heartbreaking news article a few months ago.  There is a large, lovely park in a neighboring town.  It's even a bit woods like.  But apparently this park has always had a huge problem with people just dropping off unwanted pets there. 

Like, "Oh, it's nature!"  Kitty...who my new b/f is allergic to...will love it, even though she has always been an indoor cat and has never caught a meal in her life.  Or puppy, that turned out to be more unruly than we expected, loves to be outside.  I'm sure it will be just as awesome when he is alone, afraid, and starving. 

I've only lived in urban areas, so I can't really speak to more rural places where there are probably a lot of people who leave their pets outside and it is just fine.  Like what @mrsconn23 is talking about with her neighbor's "free range" dog.  But it sounds like things are not fine for the dog in the letter and I think she should call animal control.  Let them make the decision if the dog is fine, as is.

Maybe I am off base with this, but I see it like calling Child Services if a person is not sure if certain actions warrant calling them.  If a person is not sure if it warrants being called "abuse" or "neglect", than call CPS anyway.  They're the experts.  They can decide if something crosses a line. 

*Barbie*

I'm going to turn wandering animals over to animal control if they become pests on my property. I think they would be better off in a shelter (even with the potential of euthanasia if not adopted) than they would be out on the streets/dealing with poor weather/predators. I tend to think that people who let their animals wander aimlessly don't really care about their safety, so may even be doubtful if they're getting regular food and vet care (shots, flea&tick, etc.). Hopefully the wandering animal will find a new owner that gives a damn about it. 

kerbohl

I lived in the country, and my neighbours didn't care about their dogs and also let them run free-range.  Over the one dog's lifetime it was hit by a car, shot, mauled by another neighbour's German Shepherd, kicked by a horse, got into chicken bones on our compost heap - basically anything you might be worried about happening.  I guess it really depends on the neighbourhood, but you better believe my dog was fenced in and kept safe.  I understand that sometimes people want their animals to be free range, but it should always be taken under consideration if it is safe for their animals or if their animal is safe for other animals.  

GBCK

Yeah, ya'll know that I"m a sucker who basically signed over my entire last 3 paychecks at my oldjob to my vet, right?

But, when we had repeated free-roaming dogs, we called animal control and their owners had to pay to get them out of doggie jail.
(and, for our trouble, we also got a ticket, because our dog's license had expired--because we live out of town and kinda are lax on renewing it.  and we're hypocrites who suck.  Although we had the much cheaper ticket)

The abandoned thing is a real issue.  we've got to much traffic to see it, but, farther out, like where my ILs live, it happens.  Which, I can't even verbalize how much it sucks.  THe animals either go feral or die, or both.
(I may have helped w/ the vet bills for the last kitten my BIL found that way too [and the vet also cut him/us a deal, because the vet is a bit of a sucker too].  kitty has a home now, because she was crazy-lucky.)

ellamber

I don't know why people are so afraid of "kill shelters." Firstly, all shelters are "kill shelters," private rescues and shelters are not required to publish their statistics, but generally speaking anything above a 70% live release rate is considered a "no kill." If a sick, unhealthy, uncared for, aggressive animal is turned into a "kill" shelter and is humanely euthanized, is that such a bad thing? 1. It keeps everyone safer, the animals and the humans whether it be from disease, aggression, neglect, whatever 2. It makes room for another animal to be potentially adopted.

This is coming from a person who adopted from my local county shelter, had it not work out, had to bring the dog back, looked for rescue for three solid months, and ultimately had to euthanize my own dog. For aggression. She just needed a single dog home but she was an undesirable breed, in an undesirable color, with an undesirable behavior problem. "No kill" rescues weren't touching her with a 10 foot pole because she wouldn't be as easily adopted and was a liability. I didn't like it, but I understand it.

This wasn't directed towards anyone but that last sentence of the LW. I had to rant a little. 

levioosa

ellamber said:

I don't know why people are so afraid of "kill shelters." Firstly, all shelters are "kill shelters," private rescues and shelters are not required to publish their statistics, but generally speaking anything above a 70% live release rate is considered a "no kill." If a sick, unhealthy, uncared for, aggressive animal is turned into a "kill" shelter and is humanely euthanized, is that such a bad thing? 1. It keeps everyone safer, the animals and the humans whether it be from disease, aggression, neglect, whatever 2. It makes room for another animal to be potentially adopted.

This is coming from a person who adopted from my local county shelter, had it not work out, had to bring the dog back, looked for rescue for three solid months, and ultimately had to euthanize my own dog. For aggression. She just needed a single dog home but she was an undesirable breed, in an undesirable color, with an undesirable behavior problem. "No kill" rescues weren't touching her with a 10 foot pole because she wouldn't be as easily adopted and was a liability. I didn't like it, but I understand it.

This wasn't directed towards anyone but that last sentence of the LW. I had to rant a little. 

I think kill shelters get an extra bad rap because of ones like near my hometown. If they picked up an animal, they would only keep it for 5 days before euthanizing it. That's such a short amount of time. What if you were on vacation that week? They way they euthanized was also suffocation/gas instead of the kinder chemical IV euthanization. It's been awhile so I'm not sure if that's how they still do things, but it was that way for years. The place I rescued Kitten from euthanizes, but it's always animals that are very ill that have not responded to standard treatment, which I appreciate. I've been around rescues that keep all animals alive no matter what, and a lot of times death is not the worst thing for them. 

MissKittyDanger

I thought of this post earlier.

This morning two - outdoor likely - cats decided to check out our yard.
Well damn .... Penny saw and started yelling at them {note: Angel was snuggled up with M and didn't give a fuck}

These were obviously well cared for cats, and despite I wasn't a fan of them in my yard, I would never consider reporting them. Even if they weren't in obvious well cared for situations, I'd be more apt to find and talk to the owner about it first.
Sassy outdoor cats thought, one sat on our back step staring inside while Penny crouched beside it just chattering away as she was PISSED. I did shoo the cats away to ensure they didn't get the idea they could hang out in our yard. I can't imagine if our patio was open ....

short+sassy

MissKittyDanger said:

I thought of this post earlier.

This morning two - outdoor likely - cats decided to check out our yard.
Well damn .... Penny saw and started yelling at them {note: Angel was snuggled up with M and didn't give a fuck}

These were obviously well cared for cats, and despite I wasn't a fan of them in my yard, I would never consider reporting them. Even if they weren't in obvious well cared for situations, I'd be more apt to find and talk to the owner about it first.
Sassy outdoor cats thought, one sat on our back step staring inside while Penny crouched beside it just chattering away as she was PISSED. I did shoo the cats away to ensure they didn't get the idea they could hang out in our yard. I can't imagine if our patio was open ....

I feel differently, to an extent, about "roaming" cats as compared to dogs.  Cats don't have to be on leashes.  They are allowed to roam.  They, generally, aren't going to be the kind of danger or nuisance that a dog could be.

With that said, indoor cats have a much longer life expectancy than outdoor cats.  Outdoor cats can get hit by cars.  Can get attacked by dogs.

Where we used to live, we had a next door neighbor who had three cats.  One was an indoor cat, one was an outdoor cat, and one was a feral cat who hung out on our street that she kind-of adopted.  My cat Nip does NOT like other cats.  But, to my surprise, the outdoor cat would jump up onto our window ledge and "talk" to Nip for hours.  It usually seemed like a friendly exchange.  They would each keep touching the glass between them.  They would meow at each other here and there.

The outdoor cat was a sad Katrina story.  This family left their cats in their house when they evacuated.  Thinking at the time...like we all did...that we'd be back in a few days.  It was weeks before they could return.  Both of their cats survived.  They had both been indoor cats before that.  However, after the trauma of being trapped inside the house for so long, the one cat refused to stay inside anymore.