Neighbors trying to ban GSD help???

[Spirit's Echo]

I have a GSD who is enclosed within a 5 foot fence and he barks at people who walk down the alley or the street. He is a trained personal protection dog since I was sexually assaulted and the man is out of prison and still lives in the co. I have a neighbor who first sent the police to my house three times on barking complaints. Each time they wrote it up. Each time they told me they did not hear the dog barking. The fourth time he came down the alley and five feet into my grass and shook my fence to get my dogs [4] of them, various breeds, to all bark aggressively, then took digital photos and rode his bike off to his house. I called the sheriff who told me to call the city, who said he had already called them and animal control was on their way. So I spent two hours showing the fence and the rabies tags and yes he barks and no he can't jump the fence and two of my neighbors came over to vouch for me. But animal control is so stupid she thought a heavy bag used for leg kicks in the back yard I was using to train pit bulls for fighting [even though I dont own any of them]. When she left she told me the complainer was going to get the DA involved with other neighbors because this dog could hurt children. WEll so could a cocker!! But he stays in the fence or my car. What do I do. I cant seem to make any headway and the people that vouch for me, including the sheriff, because I live inside the city, they dont seem to care about........ I dont want to lose my dogs, they are my children. Tell me how do you fight people like this that are crazy??

[Prin]

How does a dog in a fenced in area in your yard protect you from a sexual assault? I guess, I should say that most people here don't think that dogs should be outdoors only but indoors and part of the family. It just doesn't make sense to me why you would cage up 4 dogs alone outside and not expect complaints (from both the neighbors and the dogs).

[LM1313]

Okay, how about this. Set up a tape recorder or camcorder out to record the dogs and then check for yourself how much the dogs bark. You can also use it as evidence.

If you have four dogs outside all day, I can well imagine them barking their heads off while you're gone . . .

When you say these dogs are for your personal protection, are they trained only to be aggressive towards strangers? Or are they trained to only attack on command and are also trained to come back or release on command? If it's the former, I really think you're sitting on a ticking time bomb. Someday these dogs are going to think someone's attacking you and it's going to turn out to be the mailman or some salesperson and then they're going to be put to sleep. Also, if they did get out--would they attack your neighbor? Or someone else they came across? Again--ticking time bomb. Just because your dogs haven't jumped over your five foot fence doesn't mean they can't or won't someday.

Edit: When you say the dog stays "in the fence or my car", do you mean you take him around with you in the car when you go shopping and such? If so, that is a REALLY dangerous situation if the dog is aggressive. It only takes a moment for him to scramble past you out the door. Also, if you leave him in the car while you do errands and such, you're putting him in danger of heatstroke. (Even with the windows partly down, dogs can overheat quickly in a car.) Or even being stolen.

~LM~

[LL1]

I would bring them inside.

[Toonces]

I would never leave my dogs outside all day when I was not home. There are to many kooks out there, if someone was unstable and got bothered enough by the barking who knows what they might do, they could toss poisoned food over the fence.

[SarahLynn123]

I have a GSD as well, along with 2 other smaller dogs. If someone comes close to the fence, yard, or house, they bark. My dogs are never ever left outside alone without supervision. My neighbours on the other hand leave their dog outside for an hour or more sometimes and it is so so annoying.
The constant barking is terrible, but also when my dogs hear their dog bark, they join in. Imagine trying study through that!

Bring your dogs in the house, its safest for them and you wont have to risk someone taking them away, poisoning them, shooting them, etc.

One more thing you should consider, my GSD doesn't have to jump the fence to get out, she simply unlocks the gate and lets herself out! They are very very smart dogs.

[PetFriendly]

Im a dog person and I have to admit, a 70 lbs GSD that barked its fool head off every time I went by would really get on my nerves. That doesn't make it right for the neighbour to come and provoke your dog either though. Given the situation, I'd bring the dogs in when you come in and not leave them alone in the yard anymore.

[mummummum]

While I absolutely agree with all the advice given regarding your dogs, I would also suggest you speak with a lawyer about the best way for you to enforce whatever laws you have in Olney or Illinois regarding your neighbour trespassing on your private property and the possibility of obtaining a restraining order/ peace bond aginst your neighbour should they continue to infringe upon your rights.