Yet another update: So, the new neighbors with the two pits... one of them charged my husband! He stopped at the fence and stayed on his side, but this particular fence is an equestrian, split-rail fence so if the dog wanted to he could have gone between the rails. Very scary for my husband for this to have happened after just a few weeks since the other attack.

So, I'm all for reporting them. Hubby even observed they don't have collars and tags! People around here are idiots! Anyway, he is hesitant to report them because he doesn't want to be the 'bad' neighbor and have people on both sides not like us. I tried to explain to him that if we could go up to their house and introduce ourselves and mention that they need to keep their dogs under control that would be the best solution. BUT we are both afraid to step one foot onto their property so that solution is a no-go. I saw one of the pits standing outside its house today when I drove by and it gave me the shivers. I will continue to try and convince dh that we should report them. Because at this point he won't even go over to that side of property and he said he is ready to move away. That tells me that he is still pretty traumatized if he would rather leave his home than deal with the problem. So I will give it time for now...

You have no choice but to report them. If they would do that to your husband who is a huge guy, what could they do to someone whose not so big, like me? You should not have to be afraid to go out of your house because people have dogs who will attack. If you were to move somewhere else, if that was a last resort, where would you move where there were no animals?

For the past 2 years we have had a street fair in our downtown in the summer. People always bring their dogs. The first year someone brought their dogs and 2 dogs were fighting w/one another and scaring the kids & adults as well. Both were on a leash as far as I know. Last year our Mayor said no dogs. It was in the paper. Good luck trying to enforce that law. People brought their dogs. The people in the booth next to me had a huge dog whose breed I had never heard of before. It was a mix of two kinds of dog one being the name of a county. It seemed nice but mind you, I had that incident w/a big dog. One of my kids from preschool comes to the fair and sees me & runs up to me yelling "MIss Gail" and wants to give me a hug. The dog lunges at her! The people say she has never done that before and she was trying to protect me from this little girl! This dog who has been sitting in the booth next to me for about a half hour or so is trying to protect me, a person she doesn't know? The girl didn't get hurt I don't think, but she was terrified! She was crying and the parents were going to report these people. I think they had every right to. I guess you just never know what an animal is going to do and even if they have never done that before, and that's what a lot of people say but how do you know, there is always a first time for everything. I'm not sure animals should be allowed in situations like this when there are a lot of little kids and lots of other dogs. That's just my opinion.

I hope you are able to do something about your situation. You shouldn't have to live like this.

If they have dogs without licences they should be reported whatever!

Responsible dog owners get a licence for their dogs, if they have no licence then they aren't even trying to stay within the letter of the law.

Please, please do NOT feel guilty for reporting them! People not reporting them is how dogs like this get worse over time. The owners are doing little or nothing to control their animals and be responsible owners.

Ask your husband this question - if he winessed a crime, would he feel bound to report it? I'm guessing he would. Well, that's exactly what's happening here! I know you work as a team and probably would not go against his wishes, but you could also report them yourself.

Let's chat some more about this later.

kk~

I don't know if it'd work, but if you want to be non-confrontational, you could try a different approach with your new neighbors. I would say that since there was a dog attack in the neighborhood recently, that animal control will be coming back through the neighborhood to check up on the old dogs, and that your new neighbor might want to get his dogs in line if he doesn't want trouble with the authorities. You might even ask your older neighbors to talk to them. They still owe you at least that much after your husband's ordeal.

That said, I've lost a bit of faith in humanity recently, with my neighbors disregarding basic rules of civility, and lying to my face, so you might want to save yourself a lot of heartache, and just let the autorities deal with it.

Could you maybe leave a note in their mailbox? Keep it friendly and neighborly but kindly mention that your husband is covering from a dog attack and their dogs are making him nervous so for his sake could they please remember to keep them on their property or collared or whatever? Maybe leave an open invitation for tea sometime (or whatever it is you older - I mean... more mature? further endowed with the wisdom of the ages? - people do ). Something to firmly keep it out of Passive-Aggressive Notes territory, but still doing the job. It is kind of straight-up rude to report someone without even MENTIONING it to them. At least once. I've done that myself, but I wouldn't again.

Those are both good ideas, moara and Heart, I'll bring them up to him and see what we can do. Will keep you posted.

There's no way to anonymously report the dogs? No tags and up in other people's yards? NO! The only reason I suggest anonymous is because your husband is worried about making enemies.

I would second Heart's suggestion if you are not comfortable with calling animal control.

Perhaps you could leave a letter anomalously if you don;t want to be the 'bad guy'. Print off the leash/containment laws in your area, explain you and your husbands situation and ask that they keep their dogs contained.

It may just be that the dog owners are not aware of the laws in your area and just need to be educated.

If the problem is not resolved after that, I would for sure inform law enforcement that there is a loose dog acting aggressively. And call them every time the dogs are off the owners property.


I would carry around some dog treats in your pocket when you go out. If the dogs are out and be an annoyance, chuck a treat at them. It sounds like the one acting aggressively may be fearful and throwing a treat may help to change his emotional response.

And because this seems to be a reoccurring theme in your neighborhood, perhaps you should look into learning more about dog body language. This would give you a better understanding of why the dogs are acting aggressively and how you in return should react.

I have heard good things about this DVD-

Canine Behavior: Observing and Interpreting Canine Body Postures

By Suzanne Hetts, PhD, CAAB, Daniel Q. Estep, PhD, CAAB and David Grant, DVM Produced by Animal Care Training, Inc.

There is virtually unanimous agreement among expert behavior consultants from all backgrounds, that a lack of understanding of canine communication and body language directly contributes to people being bitten as well as to other behavior problems. Dog owners simply do not know how to “read” their dogs and are unaware of most of the important signals their dogs are giving them, and misinterpret them when they do observe them. Even if you’ve lived with dogs for years, we guarantee you do not know what this program can teach you about how your dog communicates.

If your dog yawns, do you know what action you should take and why? (The answer is NOT he’s sleepy and needs rest!) Did you know that a wagging tail is frequently not a sign of friendliness? Many dog owners believe their dogs are “just fine” in a situation, when experts observing the same dog can identify numerous signs of stress and anxiety.

This is not made-up “dog whisperer” information. This program teaches how to observe behavior the way that naturalists and behaviors who study animals in the wild do. By learning to apply the same observational skills to your dog you are better equipped to prevent aggression and other behavior problems, and to implement training and behavior management procedures.

SoloJazzDancer wrote:

It seemed nice but mind you, I had that incident w/a big dog. One of my kids from preschool comes to the fair and sees me & runs up to me yelling "MIss Gail" and wants to give me a hug. The dog lunges at her! The people say she has never done that before and she was trying to protect me from this little girl! This dog who has been sitting in the booth next to me for about a half hour or so is trying to protect me, a person she doesn't know? The girl didn't get hurt I don't think, but she was terrified! She was crying and the parents were going to report these people. I think they had every right to. I guess you just never know what an animal is going to do and even if they have never done that before, and that's what a lot of people say but how do you know, there is always a first time for everything. I'm not sure animals should be allowed in situations like this when there are a lot of little kids and lots of other dogs. That's just my opinion.

Dogs give very clear signals, if we just paid attention to them. Canines do not just randomly act out and someone with knowledge of dog body language can predict a behavior before it escalates and diffuse the situation.

A novice owner should not take a dog with anxiety into public places (the tricky part is that most novice owners are not aware there is a problem until it bites them, so to speak). But being able to take a dog into public setting and socializing them to a wide variety of people, animals and situations is vital to inhibiting aggression.

For a little more basic information on the topic, I suggest this article-

www.dogstardaily.com . . .

Here is a new video out of a dog giving a warning bite to a news reporter.
The dog gives multiple signals (licking lips, whale eye, stress panting, ears laid back, attempts to move away but being unable to and finally a last warning with the lip raise) that he is uncomfortable, all precursors to a bite if the dog is lacking bite inhibition.
Unfortunately, like the majority of the general public neither the reporter nor the dogs handlers read any of these cues.

www.youtube.com . . .

Should this dog be put down?

Im pretty late into this discussion and honestly i dont know if I would put the dogs down...the one that inflicted the 3 wounds yes, the other 2..not so sure.
I dont live in the US so all the laws about dogs biting and being put down dont apply here.

What I do think is...everyone keeps saying imagine if it was a small child...well do imagine...Im not so sure the dogs would attack, a child is smaller and seeing as these were big dogs, a small child doesnt oppose as a thread to them. Now a tall man who is not even gonna bow down to these dogs is a thread to them.
So we will never know if the dogs would actually attack a child, maybe they would, maybe not, depends on if they see them as a thread.

I work with Animal Protection here in Holland and we deal with alot of dogs with behaviour issues and in well all cases Ive seen so far its the fault of the owner. The owner doesnt raise their dogs properly and thats why the dog thinks he can get away with just about anything.
Im NOT condoning what this dog did and offcourse it should have been put down because in this world a human life still means more.
But im the type of person that wants to get inside the head of this dog, wants to know whats really going on. Dogs bite for alot of reasons, for protection, to tell people/animals to bugger off,to show that theyre boss you name it. In my country people dont get a death sentence for killing someone and I dont think they should, however since theres no doggie jail or rehabilitation thing going, we cant really save this dog either.
Also some races of dogs are more into violence than others.
German Shepherd,Pittbulls being 2 of them. Reading that these people now have 2 pitbulls in their home also, makes me think these people arent being the best of bosses to these dogs.

To sum up my story what happened to your husband was horrible and I can imagine him not feeling safe in his neighbourhood. The pitbull should be taken a closer look at to see if he can be rehabilitated or..put down. And the owners should be taken a closer look at also.

Luth wrote:


Also some races of dogs are more into violence than others.
German Shepherd,Pittbulls being 2 of them.

Uhh, first of all there are no 'races' of dogs.
And German Shepherds and Pitbulls are no more or less 'violent' than other breeds.

highlandrebel wrote:

Here is a new video out of a dog giving a warning bite to a news reporter.
The dog gives multiple signals (licking lips, whale eye, stress panting, ears laid back, attempts to move away but being unable to and finally a last warning with the lip raise) that he is uncomfortable, all precursors to a bite if the dog is lacking bite inhibition.
Unfortunately, like the majority of the general public neither the reporter nor the dogs handlers read any of these cues.

www.youtube.com . . .

Should this dog be put down?

That video is SO SAD! That anchor is at fault - she should NOT have been petting that dog, much less putting her face in close to it. Freaking morons don't know how to act around animals. Putting your face in close to a dog's is a sign of aggression. Heck, if another human did that to you suddenly and without warning, you'd pull back and shove them away, or possibly even hit them - it's a startle response and that dog was only giving a warning nip.

Put the anchor down, not the poor dog!*

*sarcasm.

highlandrebel wrote:

Luth wrote:


Also some races of dogs are more into violence than others.
German Shepherd,Pittbulls being 2 of them.

Uhh, first of all there are no 'races' of dogs.
And German Shepherds and Pitbulls are no more or less 'violent' than other breeds.

well seeing as english isnt my native language i meant breeds offcourse. Different kind of breeds. And yes some breeds tend to be more aggresive than others, its simply in their nature.

I'm so sorry. There are too many pages to read so I am just going to give my opinion ...

Dogs are animals. Since they can't speak any human language back to us, you can never really know what they are thinking. I am an animal rights activist so I never like to see an animal put down. However, three big dogs attacking a human out of nowhere is an issue. I do wish training was an option. I believe most dogs could be rehabilitated. The exceptions would be abused dogs or previous fighting dogs/animal tested. Even then some of the sweetest dogs prevail. You are right as well in that what if it had been a child or woman? Your husband had a chance thank God.

I don't think you have a choice in this matter as far as calling animal control. You can stress that you'd like to see the dogs get training and not be put down. The owners assuring you that the dogs won't get out is silly. There is no way to guarantee that. My friend's dog is a vicious one too. She has bitten and caused blood to more people than I can count. She's bitten me 5 times and bit my dog once. Needless to say I don't go near it anymore. She is old but could destroy me if she wanted to. It's sad but some animals are just vicious. There are some vicious people too though. Would we have them put down or do we give them a chance to change? That may sound like a crazy argument to some but animals have feelings too and they act accordingly. The key is finding out why.

Anyway, I don't think your neighbor's dogs should be living in a residential area where they have the opportunity to attack other people. Something needs to be done but I'm not on board with putting them down. Not unless they are sick. This is a tough call. Again, so sorry your husband was hurt. Glad he is okay now though

Luth wrote:

highlandrebel wrote:

Luth wrote:


Also some races of dogs are more into violence than others.
German Shepherd,Pittbulls being 2 of them.

Uhh, first of all there are no 'races' of dogs.
And German Shepherds and Pitbulls are no more or less 'violent' than other breeds.

well seeing as english isnt my native language i meant breeds offcourse. Different kind of breeds. And yes some breeds tend to be more aggresive than others, its simply in their nature.

Obviously you don't know much about dog breeds. There certinly are breeds that have human aggression specifically bred into them.
German Shepherds and Pit Bulls are not those breeds. They are in fact incredibly friendly and easy to handle in general.

I cannot bring myself to watch that video! Scarrrry!

Heart wrote:

highlandrebel wrote:

Here is a new video out of a dog giving a warning bite to a news reporter.
The dog gives multiple signals (licking lips, whale eye, stress panting, ears laid back, attempts to move away but being unable to and finally a last warning with the lip raise) that he is uncomfortable, all precursors to a bite if the dog is lacking bite inhibition.
Unfortunately, like the majority of the general public neither the reporter nor the dogs handlers read any of these cues.

www.youtube.com . . .

Should this dog be put down?

That video is SO SAD! That anchor is at fault - she should NOT have been petting that dog, much less putting her face in close to it. Freaking morons don't know how to act around animals. Putting your face in close to a dog's is a sign of aggression. Heck, if another human did that to you suddenly and without warning, you'd pull back and shove them away, or possibly even hit them - it's a startle response and that dog was only giving a warning nip.

Put the anchor down, not the poor dog!*

*sarcasm.

I just watched that video and that lady was an idiot. That would be a scary situation though.

d4j wrote:

I cannot bring myself to watch that video! Scarrrry!

It is really not that scary, there is no blood to be seen, it is over very quickly.
While it is a very unfortunate situation, it does provide an excellent video (without being too graphic) to use for educational purposes.

The warning bite, like the Dogo Argentino in the video did, was not truly intended to make contact.
Dogs read the signals and move fast than we do. You can see in this video (not scary, just two dogs), the brown dog gives the same type of warning bite to the black dog but doesn't make any contact. But the 'get out of my space' hint is clear (you can also see the big precursor to the snap, the scratching was a displacement behavior).
www.youtube.com . . .

highlandrebel wrote:

Luth wrote:

highlandrebel wrote:

Luth wrote:


Also some races of dogs are more into violence than others.
German Shepherd,Pittbulls being 2 of them.

Uhh, first of all there are no 'races' of dogs.
And German Shepherds and Pitbulls are no more or less 'violent' than other breeds.

well seeing as english isnt my native language i meant breeds offcourse. Different kind of breeds. And yes some breeds tend to be more aggresive than others, its simply in their nature.

Obviously you don't know much about dog breeds. There certinly are breeds that have human aggression specifically bred into them.
German Shepherds and Pit Bulls are not those breeds. They are in fact incredibly friendly and easy to handle in general.

I actually do know alot about breeds and I know that pitbulls and german shepherds however may be very loyal to humans they are NOT to other dogs or animals.
My dog has been attacked twice, once by a german shepherd and once by a pitbull. Ive also seen firsthand dogs getting attacked by other dogs and most of the time it were the bigger breeds. lso theres a german shepherd living in my building that is getting ZERO training (i know this because my work has been to their place more than once), the owners warn everyone about the dog being violent and the dog has so far attacked 2 people in this complex, bit one in the arm the other in the leg.
When i said that some dogs are more violent than others I didnt just mean against people, i meant towards other animals too.

When a dog is not properly trained and wants to defend its property things can get out of hand and attack another human being.

Theres a reason that the military,police etc uses bigger breeds of dogs like German shepherds than lets say a poodle

The main reason they use GSD's is because of their ability to be trained, they are a guarding breed, they were bred to guard sheep and act independently whilst the shepherd wasn't there to oversea them.

They still have a very strong instinct to guard, this does not make them any more violent or aggressive than any other animal, it does make them more wary than other breeds but if the Police were looking for size above all else then they would pick Wolfhounds, Matiffs or perhaps St Bernards as they are all well bigger than a GSD.

The reasons for the choice of breed would become obvious if you ever tried to train any of those breeds to do a police dogs job.

Luth wrote:

highlandrebel wrote:

Luth wrote:

highlandrebel wrote:

Luth wrote:


Also some races of dogs are more into violence than others.
German Shepherd,Pittbulls being 2 of them.

Uhh, first of all there are no 'races' of dogs.
And German Shepherds and Pitbulls are no more or less 'violent' than other breeds.

well seeing as english isnt my native language i meant breeds offcourse. Different kind of breeds. And yes some breeds tend to be more aggresive than others, its simply in their nature.

Obviously you don't know much about dog breeds. There certinly are breeds that have human aggression specifically bred into them.
German Shepherds and Pit Bulls are not those breeds. They are in fact incredibly friendly and easy to handle in general.

I actually do know alot about breeds and I know that pitbulls and german shepherds however may be very loyal to humans they are NOT to other dogs or animals.
My dog has been attacked twice, once by a german shepherd and once by a pitbull. Ive also seen firsthand dogs getting attacked by other dogs and most of the time it were the bigger breeds. lso theres a german shepherd living in my building that is getting ZERO training (i know this because my work has been to their place more than once), the owners warn everyone about the dog being violent and the dog has so far attacked 2 people in this complex, bit one in the arm the other in the leg.
When i said that some dogs are more violent than others I didnt just mean against people, i meant towards other animals too.

When a dog is not properly trained and wants to defend its property things can get out of hand and attack another human being.

Theres a reason that the military,police etc uses bigger breeds of dogs like German shepherds than lets say a poodle

So your using your tiny bit of anecdotal evidence to paint two entire breeds with the label of 'violent'?

My dog was pretty badly attacked (and when I saw attacked, I don't me a scuffle, the dog in question had full intentions to do a lot of damage and did so) by a Boston Terrier.
I have been bitten in the face by a pekingese.
But in neither of these incidents did I blame the dog's breed.
The owner? Yes.
Myself? Yes.
The dogs unstable temperament, likely due to poor breeding practices? Yes.


Pitbull's (which is generally NOT considered a breed) do have a tenancy to be dog aggressive/selective. Some are, some are not.

German Shepherds are not a breed where it is generally acceptable for them to be dog aggressive (DA). Though like Golden Retrievers, Blue Heelers, Airdale Terriers, English Bulldogs, Bernese Mountain Dogs, English Cockers, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers and many more, DA is becoming more prominent.

Some lines of German Shepherds have a high prey drive, but this predatory drive is not the same as aggression.

German Shepherds are becoming a thing of the past for most military looking for a bitework dog. Sure, they have size (though they are roughly the same size as a Poodle), but if they were looking at dogs simply for size the would have gone for a Mastiff breed. Belgian Malinois (a dog that is 10-30 pounds lighter than an German Shepherd), thanks to some lines with extreme civil aggression and 'balls to the walls' attitude, are the future of PD and military dogs.

I dont like the way you talk, its a little demeaning so I wont continue this discussion. I take it you wanna be right so here you go you are.

All i know is what Im telling from my experiences and maybe its different in your country, all is possible.
I also dont speak english in my country so trying to express myself in english as well as I do in my native language is not easy.
I dont like fighting or bickering either so before this turns into something like that i wanna stop it.

I posted my opinion on what should be done with the dogs and the owners and Im gonna leave it with that.

^Perhaps you just don't want to be wrong? You have no statistical evidence to prove your opinion.

I've had a 1/2 German Shepherd for 13 years. For anyone to say that my dog is violent really offends me. I am a great dog owner and have trained every single one of my dogs. My dog also loved my Chocolate Lab.

There is a reason that according to the AKC that German Shepherds are the 3rd most popular dog in the United States...they are good dogs and highly intelligent which makes them highly trainable. They are working dogs, they make amazing service dogs, infact I've thought about raising one for the association that trains them for the blind in my city. Do you think they'd allow German Shepherds to serve people of disabilities if they were dangerous? REALLY? You think if they were a threat to the public they would be picked to be service dogs and put other people at risk when the disabled person couldn't control them physically? You don't know what you are talking about with this breed.

People should be held responsible for being good responsible pet owners. People shouldn't get breeds that don't suit their lifestyle...but let's not be so uneducated where we blame certain breeds for being violent and dangerous to humans and to other dogs.

Luth wrote:

I dont like the way you talk, its a little demeaning so I wont continue this discussion. I take it you wanna be right so here you go you are.

All i know is what Im telling from my experiences and maybe its different in your country, all is possible.
I also dont speak english in my country so trying to express myself in english as well as I do in my native language is not easy.
I dont like fighting or bickering either so before this turns into something like that i wanna stop it.

I posted my opinion on what should be done with the dogs and the owners and Im gonna leave it with that.

I am not at all meaning to be demeaning, I apologize if I come off as such, it is not my intention.

But you did make a bold assertion which is extremely difficult to back up.

To be blunt and completely honest, I don't 'want' to be right. I know I am right.
Everything I have said can be back up with my own personal experience, the experiences of other professional dog trainers/handlers and in most cases statistics or studies.