Fence Running

[Jumabaar]

Just wanting some advice. I just want to say in the beginning that I will be trying to keep my neighbour happy as I dont want it to become an episode of fence wars or something similar!!

BACKGROUND

I have been living here 3 years and have part of the back yard fenced off so the dogs cant fence run with some big dogs. It is a compromise, I let them use that part of the yard supervised, and the other owner also actively manages her dogs so I am not really fussed by this. They have been struggling with the people behind them who have dogs that are allowed to fence run and are reinforcing the habit.

9mths ago the people on the half of my yard that I use bought a Small Yappy dog which sits at my fence growling- I have been out without my dogs and heard it. So my dogs started fence running along that fence too . The children on the other side have been heard to egg the dog on, and other times will just ignore the racket.

I tried to get ontop of the situation immediately as I know every time they dog it they get a reward and reinforces the behaviour. I have the hose near the back door and will spray them while they are at the fence barking, and they get treats for coming in when I call. It has gone from there being fence running constantly to perhaps 2-3 incidents during the day. And even if it does happen they all generally come back in when they are called now. So last week I used the hose 4 times total.

Unfortunately my mums bitch has come in season so I am minding her. So she has copped the hose on her a few times yesterday but already it is starting to pay off. NB I use the hose as a punisher because fence running is just so rewarding for them that my treats dont compete! It is not an option for her to go back home as my grandparents are there and can not be trusted not to let her out in the yard with their boy.

PROBLEM

My neighbour however yelled at me today that I shouldnt use the hose because it makes her dog wet- there were a few swear words thrown in. She made no effort while she was yelling at me to stop her dogs behaviour though!!

SOLUTION- (with associated grumpy rant)

So I am now faced with not wanting to annoy my neighbour (her children have thrown apple cores over the fence in the past and will quite happily throw balls at the colour bond fence and drive the dogs nuts and I am sure they would be happy to throw other items over if they had the shits with me) but at the same time I dont want a noise complaint. I am going to try and set up MORE temporary fencing next week but I am still worried that she is going to make a complaint because she sounded like she was about to blow a fuse over her dog getting wet. Not even sure how it gets wet considering it is a solid metal fence but I have to believe her. I had not put up additional fencing up to this point because I had a solution that was working, and I really dont have the money for something that will keep the Kelpies in- we are planning outdoor renovations in the near future which I hope will reduce problem further (putting in a planter box and having native shrubs and changing the fencing).

If she make a complaint will the council take into consideration that she is blocking my method of solving the situation, that I have put up fencing to try and stop the problem and that I do training etc and am a responsible dog owner? I have a feeling that even with an air gap there is still going to be barking because this little dog sits and growls which will still set my dogs off.

AND can I just tack on the end that is really annoys me that it will be my dogs blamed because they have bigger barks than her silly little thing!! Ultimately this is just a joy of living in suburbia and I just need to suck it up. I just hate that my dogs no longer get to enjoy being outside all day anymore.

Any advice about anti fence running garden designs, how to sooth nutty neighbours or any other pearls of wisdom are welcome. As are any other complaints that will make me feel better about my situation lol.

[erinonthefarm]

Sounds like you are doing everything possible to stop the fence running, obviously the neighbour is overreacting because if her dog gets wet a) it won't harm it and b) it might teach her dog not to growl at the fence.

Good luck with it

[darlingdog]

We used an electric fence at our last place when we had fence running issues, worked brilliantly.Stand it off the bottom fence line as much as you need ( you can get different sized fittings for it) and make sure at some point it will get in the way of the running. Not nice for the dogs the first time they touch it but it's effective and they learn very quickly to stay away from the white tape. Mine never got zapped a second time and the fence running stopped. Sorry you are having issues with the neighbour.

[kitkatswing]

Spray your neighbor with the hose???

[Whippetsmum]

Firstly, document the incident, and document with video if necessary her dog and her kids razzing up your dog. You may need it at some stage.

Then......Speed breaks. We used mesh speed breaks for fence running-(my dogs like to chase each other along the fences, they had no dog on the other side). We used sets of 2 posts maybe 50cm apart with cheap plastic mesh between each set (plastic in case of collisions). Each set of posts with mesh was spaced every 3 or 4 metres or so, the idea is to have the mesh perpendicular to the fence, and even attached to teh fence so tehy can't run between teh posts and teh fence. This stops them getting a decent run along the fence- it stopped ours. You could use something like Bunnings compost panels too.

[Maddy]

We had a similar problem with both our back and our front yard (two different neighbours).

The front yard problem we could do nothing about- the fence in question runs directly along our driveway and there's not enough room to run a second fence or plant anything to block. The annoying thing for us is.. the neighbour only seems to let their dog out when they see me in the front yard with ours. I can only assume the neighbour thinks they're letting the dog out to play with its friends (either that or they enjoy watching they dog get worked up and aggressive). Only solution I've found was to take out only one or two dogs at a time (so I can control their behaviour more effectively near the fence) or wait until the neighbour is out.

For the backyard, it was one corner with two dogs that live entirely outside. Our greys don't bark at the fence until the neighbour's dogs hear them, charge the fence and start yapping. Although it's not entirely fair that we have to give up a chunk of our yard to keep their dogs quiet, that's what we did- one of the better parts of the yard (nicer grass and a tree for shade) is now fenced off permanently (or at least until those neighbours move out).

We tried a lot of other things to address the problem first but it just got too stressful in the end and the fence went up.

[Dory the Doted One]

Firstly, document the incident, and document with video if necessary her dog and her kids razzing up your dog. You may need it at some stage.

Then......Speed breaks. We used mesh speed breaks for fence running-(my dogs like to chase each other along the fences, they had no dog on the other side). We used sets of 2 posts maybe 50cm apart with cheap plastic mesh between each set (plastic in case of collisions). Each set of posts with mesh was spaced every 3 or 4 metres or so, the idea is to have the mesh perpendicular to the fence, and even attached to teh fence so tehy can't run between teh posts and teh fence. This stops them getting a decent run along the fence- it stopped ours. You could use something like Bunnings compost panels too.

This makes so much sense and is so sensible, why have I not heard of it before?

*makes more than a mental note for such a great idea*

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I used to have a neighbour with a little yappying dog in his back yard that belonged to his GF. I taught his dog, a Rotti, not to bark at me with the hose but the SWF didn't learn and the GF got mad at me.

So after being kept awake by yapping dog at 3am - because it was barking at possums - I went around to the neighbours and asked them to make it stop. I went around fairly early on the Sunday morning like 7am - because that's what time I had to be up to do what I had organised for the day. I didn't have the opportunity to sleep in so neither should they.

A couple of times doing this - and the SWF moved home. I don't know where it went and I didn't care. I had offered to help them retrain it and they had refused. I expect someone else had reported the dog to council because the barking was excessive ie all day every day and all night sometimes and they wouldn't keep it inside because it pee'd. Sigh. The Rotti was a much nicer dog. And smarter.

So I second the thought about collecting evidence of doggy harrassment from next door - just in case.