[jhein]

No, no, not like that. I used a CO2 powered launcher. It's like a paintball gun. Similar to a Byrna launcher. It's .68 caliber and it can launch solid nylon, pepper or other rounds at around 350fps.

The reason I resorted to this is because these two dogs (both bullmastiffs), relentlessly harass me and my dogs. The female is very aggressive and once broke into my property and had a scuffle with my female who chased her away. Then, before I could get my fence fixed, she came in and charged me. I sprayed her with pepper spray and she ran. Since those events, they became much more aggressive. I fixed the damage to my fence so they can't get in anymore (for now). But, they still charge up to the fence nearly every time we're out there.. Not only is it very annoying, but it's dangerous. Even though they can't get in, "fence fighting" is still dangerous. My dogs are Rottweilers and they don't have a fight or flight response, it's just strictly the fight part. My male got a laceration to the inside of his lip once already.

Initially, I started using bear spray. That worked temporarily the first time I sprayed the female. But after that, they became very cagey. They stay back out of range when I'm at the fence.

So all that has led to the air pistol. This morning I hit them each in the side of the chest, one round each with solid nylon balls. Neither of them yelped but they both turned and ran when hit. Normally after I try to spray them, they come back after a couple minutes. This time they stayed away, so we'll see. The next level will be be pepper rounds. If that doesn't work, then I'm considering installing another line of fence 20-30 feet back from my fence line and would run about 400 feet long. That would not be on my property. It's privately owned timber land. So that's probably illegal. Problems...

[65madgoat]

You don't shoot the dogs, you go after their OWNERS. They are the ignorant infants you deal with!

[unruhjonny]

At the risk of breaking "lobby" vs "clubhouse" rules;

This following quote isn't in the correct context to you scenario, but is a great line when bureaucracy/legality seems to be an insurmountable obstacle.

Shoot, shovel, shut-up

lol.

For what I've read, you've been much more tolerant than I would have been;
The neighbor needs to keep his dogs on his property - because as I see it, them charging you and/or your dogs on your property is where you should be able to protect yourself and your property (dogs).

Let's hope this settles things...

[jhein]

Originally Posted by 65madgoat

You don't shoot the dogs, you go after their OWNERS. They are the ignorant infants you deal with!

I've never had good results when trying to reason with unreasonable neighbors. This neighbor is close enough that I believe they are well aware of what is happening. These dogs are wild beasts that roam free on 500 acres of timber land which borders my property. They are dangerous. In fact, if I didn't know where they were coming from, I'd have already killed them.

I remember 30 years ago when I moved into a rural area, the realtor that we were working with knew we had dogs. She said to me, "oh, by the way, don't let your dogs roam free around here because if you do, they'll be shot". When she told me that I was really offended that someone would just shoot a dog. Now that I live in a rural area, I totally understand it,

[jwcfbd]

What do you have for a fence? One problem I see is they call the cops on you for harming their dogs and the dogs are in their yard behind a fence you're screwed. You can file a report with the police and start a paper trail so if something does happen you have a record of them being problematic. If you have an open fence and can get away with it, make it a solid one on that side.

[b-man]

You probably don’t want this posted on a public forum in case the law or lawyers get involved……

Let me know if you’d like me to remove it.

[jhein]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

At the risk of breaking "lobby" vs "clubhouse" rules;

This following quote isn't in the correct context to you scenario, but is a great line when bureaucracy/legality seems to be an insurmountable obstacle.



lol.

For what I've read, you've been much more tolerant than I would have been;
The neighbor needs to keep his dogs on his property - because as I see it, them charging you and/or your dogs on your property is where you should be able to protect yourself and your property (dogs).

Let's hope this settles things...

When that dog charged me, on my property, lethal force was justified. But, I don't want to kill my neighbors dog unless I really need to. Fortunately for the dog, I've dealt with large aggressive dogs and I've been charged before. I've always been able to get them to break off the charge. That time I had pepper spray in hand so I let her get close and hosed her down. I thought that would be the end of it but she's is tougher than I thought. LOL.

[jhein]

Originally Posted by jwcfbd

What do you have for a fence? One problem I see is they call the cops on you for harming their dogs and the dogs are in their yard behind a fence you're screwed. You can file a report with the police and start a paper trail so if something does happen you have a record of them being problematic. If you have an open fence and can get away with it, make it a solid one on that side.

The dog owners property does not border my property. It's privately owned timber land. And my fence is actually about 10 feet inside the property line. So when they're at the fence they're technically on my property.

[jhein]

Originally Posted by b-man

You probably don’t want this posted on a public forum in case the law or lawyers get involved……

Let me know if you’d like me to remove it.

I appreciate that but I don't believe I've done anything illegal. All I've done is to use non-lethal self defense tools against some very dangerous, aggressive dogs that have already attacked one of my dogs and me.

[400 4spd.]

About 20 years ago my father was in his late 70’s. A new neighbor moved in with a very aggresive Rotty that forced my Dad into his detached garage for about 8 hours one day. When the neighbor got home and corraled his dog, my father made the neighbor aware of what had happened. The response was “he won’t hurt you”. No apology at allThe neighbor was absolutely correct. A couple of weeks later the same dog aggressively charged at my father. He was able to calm it with a ball of lead applied between it’s eyes.
When the neighbor came home at the end of the day, his dog was waiting very calmly at his front door The neighbor was cited for having an unrestrained dog with no tags.

[jhein]

So for those who may be offended by this. Let me make a few things clear.

First, maybe you missed it but these dogs broke through my fence and attacked my dog. Then they came back and tried to attack me.

Next, in my jurisdiction, it's illegal to let your dog roam free. It's also illegal for a dog to be a nuisance (barking, harassing, etc). It's also illegal (no surprise) for a dog to be a menace (attacking/biting other animals or people).

This person and his dogs have violated all of that. The force I have applied against them is far less than what they have done to me and my property.

As far as the owner, he is clearly a sociopath. He does not care at all for his dogs or the people or animals they may injure. He let's them free range in a forest. Even though his property does not border mine, and I can't even see his property from mine, I can hear ordinary activity from his property. So I know he can hear what's happening when there is a fight going on at my fence. Yet, he ignores that and does nothing to change it. That's sociopathic behavior.

I'm a dog lover and a lifelong dog owner. Just not the ones that are trying to kill me.

[DarthBubba]

Is animal control not an option? Sounds like they're running loose and aggressive, which should be right up their alley.

[Cammer-6]

send a registered letter to the owner,explaining in detail all that has happened.
This will put him on alert,so if it happens again you can say its the third offense.
Let animal control dept be the bad guy here that takes the dogs away and fines him.

[jhein]

Went out for our walk this morning. I could hear them start barking in the distance when they heard us. Ordinarily, once I hear that, they are at the fence within a few seconds. This time they did approach but didn't come within about 100 feet of the fence. They stayed there, barked for a couple minutes and left. The forest is fairly dense so it's hard to see very far back in there. Anyway, that's only 1 day but it is a distinct change from prior behavior.

[jhein]

Originally Posted by Cammer-6

send a registered letter to the owner,explaining in detail all that has happened.
This will put him on alert,so if it happens again you can say its the third offense.
Let animal control dept be the bad guy here that takes the dogs away and fines him.

Once you sic law enforcement on your neighbor, you are the bad guy.

[72projectbird]

It must suck having bad neighbors.

[jww]

Can’t imagine having small kids or grandkids around with neighbors like that. He and his dogs are asking for trouble. He should take care of this issue himself!

After trying everything else, two all beef patties with a ball of Draino inside was the answer for a friend of mine in Columbus, Oh many years ago

[SRGN]

I don't know what jurisdiction you are in, or local laws, but animal control will take the dogs away here if called by local LE. You may need to start a paper trail with local PD, that way if you have to use lethal force in the future your ass is covered. If you want any coaching as far as how to get it done, feel free to PM me your number and I'll call you to go over a few different options that will keep you on the right side of the law.

[Skidmark]

"that has led to the air pistol. This morning I hit them each in the side of the chest, one round each with solid nylon balls. Neither of them yelped but they both turned and ran when hit. Normally after I try to spray them, they come back after a couple minutes. This time they stayed away, so we'll see."

I went back and reread the above and considering how it went your actions seem pretty benign. Neither dog yelped = no pain.
Most likely just startled them. I expect the pepper balls will be needed. You've been more than decent in this situation considering they busted on to your property and attacked your dogs.

[jhein]

Look guys, here's the thing. I've never been involved in an all out "neighbor war" before, but I've seen friends go through them. They're usually pretty bad. I'm well aware that I can call animal control, here that's the County Sheriffs dept. That will set in motion a whole chain of events. The best case scenario is that they would fine him and make him contain the dogs, by fencing or similar. The worst case is that they would take his dogs if they are deemed dangerous. If that happens, they'll most likely be euthanized. Then I'll have a sociopath neighbor to deal with indefinitely. Not really what I want.

Right now, all I'm doing is responding in real time to attacks on my dogs at my fence using mild, non-lethal force. And make no mistake, just because I have a fence doesn't mean it's not an attack. So we'll see how that goes. If I can't modify their behavior then I'll have to consider escalating to law enforcement options.