Our Neighbor boy is taunting my dogs!!! :(

[amylynn]

I am so sorry to come on here and vent, but I am SOOOOO UPSET at our neighbor boy right now!!! He has been taunting our dogs for quite awhile now, but he is one of these kids that can do things without getting caught in the act and I think his parents would never believe he did anything like that anyway.

A couple of days ago, he was spraying our puppy with the hose! :*( Today, I heard Cooper, our Chessie mix, outside barking REALLY ferociously! Cooper is a big love bug and NEVER barks at kids. He adores kids. Well, he doesn't like this kid. I looked out the window and saw that the little boy and his friend were up at the fence and Cooper and the puppy were at the fence. The kids were standing too close to the fence for me to see what exactly they were doing to the dogs, but I could hear them taunting them. Three of our children were outside and one of them called the dogs and put them in the house right as I was gettig ready to do the very same thing!  I continued to watch this kid with his friend and I saw him with a gardening hoe!  His friend accidentally hit him in the ear with something and he got mad and started swinging the gardening hoe at his friend!
  Then, he got a rake and was threatening to hit him with that, too.  I called my daughter in and told her that if this kid is outside, our dogs have to be in the house. I asked her if she could see what they were doing to the dogs & she said that they were calling them to the fence and trying to hit them with gardening tools!!!  I was SO MAD!!!

About two months ago, one of the boards in the fence between our house and this kid's house came out and we had the board leaning over the hole in the fence and the boy had knocked it down. I was inside with our kids and I heard Cooper do that ferocious bark. I was really alarmed because he never barks like that! I saw him at the fence and the little boy was standing there acting all innocent.  I knew he was up to something, but I didn't see him! It is a tricky situation because I am really nervous that he will bite this kid if he continues to get provoked. With this incident, because I didn't see what he was doing, but my daughter did....it is my child's word against their child's word. So, I am not sure how exactly to handle this. The dad is a police officer, so if their kid does taunt him long enough he does get bit, he will have Cooper reported and quarantined.

My husband thinks that we should videotape him taunting our dogs and then approach them. That way, we have evidence.
I'm sorry. I just felt like venting! THanks for "listening."
Please pray that we can move out to the country. REALLY SOON!!!  Thanks!
 

[mama23+pyrs2]

Gosh, I'm sorry, that's an awful situation when your dogs can't even be in their own yard without being pestered. That's not right. I really cannot stand children that abuse and taunt animals. I was never that type of child, I was in love with them, yet more often than not- that's the kind of behavior I see. I don't get it, my kids will never be that way. I even get livid when I see kids trying to chase away birds!

Perhaps you should do the video thing since they are those kind of parents, so and so can do no wrong type of thing. I wish you luck. If I ended up seeing that for myself I don't think I'd hesitate to go over and give them an earful.

[Moni]

I agree with the video taping idea.. or if you don't have one, even normal pictures.  Faust (German Shepherd) had this happen to him when he was a puppy.. it took a long time and lots of behavior modification training for him to not want to eat strange children afterwards.  Good luck!

[runnin scared]

get a vidieo camarea catch him in the act

[amylynn]

Thank you all so much for your advice and for your understanding.

Mama23+pyrs2: I'm with you. I can't stand it when kids mistreat animals! That is just not OK.   They don't have any animals and I think it is a good thing, but hopefully, through this, his parents will take some time to teach him how to treat animals with respect. I definitely will go over there if I see him do anything!

Danelnsane: Great advice. That is true. I don't want him to get hurt. That would be awful. I also don't think my dog deserves to be treated the way he treats him.

Moni: I am so sorry your dog was tormented by kids. That is terrible. I think we will probably try to tape him, but at the same time, I worry that may be the time that Cooper has had enough and bites! 

Holly: Good point! That is definitely an issue that should be dealt with now. He is 8 years old.

runnin Scared: I agree.

Stella: Thanks for sharing your story. I had to laugh when I imagined that dad's face when he saw your dobie sail over the fence on command.  I am glad that was the end of the problem. The privacy fence is a good idea. I just don't know if we can afford to redo the fence right now. We are actually hoping to move, but I don't see it happening any time soon. 

[galxe]

Ugh. What an unpleasant situation. I definitely agree with talking to the parents- however, I would advise against telling them that you are afraid their child may be bitten. Even though it is quite true, in the unfortunate event that their child does get bitten, they could try to use that comment to say that you knowingly had a "dangerous" dog.

I suggest video-taping, but leave the tape at home until the parent's decide not to believe you, or the kid denies it. I think that immediately approaching with "I have video evidence of your kid torturing my dog" could be a bit off-putting. Give them the benefit of the doubt at first, then reveal your hand only if you need to. Also, next time you suspect he's up to something, go out there. Call him out by name and say "Timmy, is there something I could help you with?" Or "Is there a problem here?" Let him know that you are aware of his inappropriate behavior and that you are not going to blindly take it.
Lastly, and things like this shouldn't have to be done- start documenting everything. Every time this kid acts up towards your babies, write it down. Write down the date, the time, and any details- such as the trying to hit them with garden tools incident, or each time you talk to the kid or his parents. This way, in the unfortunate event that your dog bites this kid, you have an available method of defense. But, don't delay, talk to this kid's parents NOW.

[Gevaudan_Jo]

OMG. i have this issue too. the neighbours all taunt my dogs thru the fence. they play road hockey, hit the ball to the fence, over the fence, bang the fence with the sticks... SO- my dogs absolutely hate these kids. and i am SO scared about somethin might happen. i have talked to the parents and i YELLED at the kids for coming into my yard (to get a ball)... i told them for THEIR SAFTY, to stay out. if they need/want something, to use the back door and i will help them. But not to tease and torment my dogs. i hope that you get this figured out. damn kids... i hate kids like that!

[Shotokan]

Good Luck talking to the parents AmyLynn!  I hope they realize that he is doing wrong.  When you talk to them, use the trick of saying I feel... instead of Your kid...  A lot of times this will help with people getting so defensive!

[Gevaudan_Jo]

Actually, after i yelled at the kids (i yelled at them while they were in my yard, before telling the parents), they started buying different balls to play road hockey, i think they use the dollerama tenis balls, and they stocked up because they dont DARE come to my yard after the  balls, i found about 3 or 4 cheap tennis balls in my yard, and we dont give the dogs them, soooo- hahaha. but nope. they havent come in my yard since... its nice. but they do still play at my fence and stuff. and in the winter time, we get a snow mountain plowed up beside the fence and one little boy always goes to the top and throws snowballs. i spazed at him too, but i think hes slow or something 

[amylynn]

Good Luck talking to the parents AmyLynn!  I hope they realize that he is doing wrong.  When you talk to them, use the trick of saying I feel... instead of Your kid...  A lot of times this will help with people getting so defensive!

Thank you, Holly! 

[amylynn]

Actually, after i yelled at the kids (i yelled at them while they were in my yard, before telling the parents), they started buying different balls to play road hockey, i think they use the dollerama tenis balls, and they stocked up because they dont DARE come to my yard after the  balls, i found about 3 or 4 cheap tennis balls in my yard, and we dont give the dogs them, soooo- hahaha. but nope. they havent come in my yard since... its nice. but they do still play at my fence and stuff. and in the winter time, we get a snow mountain plowed up beside the fence and one little boy always goes to the top and throws snowballs. i spazed at him too, but i think hes slow or something 

I'm so glad that they aren't coming into your yard anymore.

[Gevaudan_Jo]

heres what happened today,
I was out in the back yard with Zero, on the porch, cookin on the BBQ... Memphis, Reba and Jigsaw were in the front yard. and all a sudden i hear (from the front near the fence) "Zero, here boy! Zero!!!" from some little kid. i couldnt see the kid because my garage is in the way. so i yelled inside to darcy to go look... he didnt see any kids... but, zero isnt a common name, and what are the odds of TWO zeros in the same area??? lol so i think they are up to no good again... them dumb neighbour kids...  luckily, zero was in the back with me, he didnt even hear them, he was too fixated on the sausages being BBQ'd
Jo

[ZooCrew]

I'm so sorry you are having to deal with this.  Kids can be so cruel sometimes.  I'm glad I haven't had to deal with anything other than kids "barking" at my dogs trying to get them to bark back.  Most kids are afraid of Gunther so it only happened once that I saw.

You've gotten some great advice here, I hope it works out for you.  I was curious though.  That one time when the boy was pulling your one dog thru the fence by it's front paws and his mom was in the yard and did nothing?  Do you think mom knew or saw what he was doing?  If she did and didn't care, I don't know if talking to them will help much unfortunately.  Especially if they're not going to care what their son is doing.

I would definitely start documenting what and when the boy is doing all these things and if he has an accomplice as well.  I hope it only takes one time of speaking with the parents before it stops.

[CalistogaPyr]

I'm sorry to hear that your dogs are being tormented!!  Truly, they should sell shock collars for some ill-behaved children and their parents.  Ok, not really, but it's an idea!  I would document everything that's happened, just to be on the safe side.  Also, is there a way you can block the dogs from going near the area where they've been tormented?  I know when the neighbor kids were taunting Bo from the road, I ended up putting up a baby gate that blocked her access to the lawn, which is where she was when the boys were taunting her.  It seemed to work, also me going out there and making my presence known to the boys and throwing them some "stink eye" helped, too.  If push comes to shove, however, a well-timed "drive by" by the police might deter any further tresspassing onto your property.
Good luck!!

[peytons mama]

hi, i haven't read all the comments, but i am sure someone said "nanny cam" the boy doing the dirty act and show it to the police officer neighbor. in order to actually have proof of it though and not just a visual i do believe you will need autible too! some nanny cams do that. i went to google and picked the first one i found... http://www.palmvid.com/content/categories/video-cameras/sub-categories/hide-it-yourself-cameras.html

hope this helps some!