Cross Breeds

Any suggestions to protect us and our dogs from a potentially dangerous neighbor kid?

My husband and I have recently moved to a suburban part of town. We use to live in a very rural area. We have three Irish Wolfhounds. The Irish Wolfhound is an extra large breed of dog whose size rivals a Great Dane. See picture( http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images15/IrishWolfhoundFrankBrendan.JPG ) Anyway, my husband and I take dog ownership very seriously. From the moment we bring a dog into our home we begin a rigorous course of training and socialization which doesn't end until the dog dies. We respect our dogs and the fact that they're animals driven by instinct. We are also fully aware of the fact that they have teeth and despite all our training may at some point bite someone if they are presented with a bad situation. Anyway a neighborhood child (who lives 3 houses down) has seen it appropriate to begin tormenting our dogs. This boy throws things over the fence at them (large rocks, bones, garbage, etc.) On one occasion he threw a thing of Recon rat poison over the fence which I thankfully saw and was able to throw away before the dogs got it. I, and other neighbors, have personally seen this child do these things and we have spoken with him on several occasions. When the taunting never stopped we spoke to his parents who blew us off. We are currently building a privacy fence to help ward off some of this unwanted attention but it will take a few days to get it up. However the other day I realized we needed to take further measures. The dogs were in the backyard the other day when they started barking and growling (which is not normal for these dogs) when I went to see what was going on I found my daughter sitting in the grass by the fence, holding her head and crying. This child had started throwing garbage over the fence again and managed to hit my daughter in the head. My dogs are very mellow and quiet but protective of their family (this is true of all Wolfhounds) I'm convinced my daughter's injury set them off because all three were jumping at the fence, barking and snarling. I called them back and the instantly came to my daughter's side and sat down. After evaluating her we decided she needed stitches so we took her to the hospital. We honestly do not wish to live in this neighborhood (or any neighborhood period) but we have to make due for the time being. However this whole situation has made me realize we need to take some serious action to protect us, our children and our dogs. Any suggestion on legal action we can take? It sucks that it's come to this because we've never had problems before. In the area we use to live in no one had fences and our dogs as well as our neighbors dogs were allowed to roam and play together. We all watched out for each others kids and pets. It was wonderful to let them roam the small area freely and not worry because you had a friend and confidante keeping an eye out for you. The dogs were happy. The kids respected them as animals and we never had an incident. Yes they were protecting which does make me swell with pride a bit but the law does not look kindly on dogs who protect their owners property, kids, etc. As much as I cannot stand this child I also don't want him to get hurt. Our Wolfhounds are gentle giants. They are intimidating to look at but very mellow and gentle unless truly provoked. However I DO NOT want them attacking some stupid, uncontrollably child.

Public Comments

1. you talk to parents and kid you file police reports you sue
2. Call the cops, or something! that's not good at all! Your dogs should be praised, they were protecting which is what they should do!
3. yes you report it too the police, the fact your daugther now got harmed because of this means they are bound too take it serious, and you take out a restraining order against him, let your neighbours know, and write down and better yet take pictures and report him every time he break it regardless of his parents being willing too do something, the police should react too this and a broken restraining order so push criminal charges of harrasment, assult and take out restraining order, make him see this is not a kids game, and make the parents aware his behavior is jepordizing your training with the dogs and can make them agressive towards kids, so i would gone too legal actions long before this if i were you
4. I understand your concerns. Buy a security camera for your home that will continuously video the yard. This way if the child is recorded doing these acts, then you can take it to the police department and press charges. Next time a situation like your daughter's happens, even if it doesn't involve your daughter, just that you see the trash being strewn, then call the police and file a report. They'll have to go to the neighbor's home and talk to the child. Either the kid will wimp out and fess up or he'll be so scared that you called the cops that he won't attempt it again. If he does do it again, then keep calling the cops. After a couple of time his parents are going to get a little tired of the cops knocking at the door.
5. My heart goes out to you...........find out the laws regarding abusing dogs which is what these children/child is doing and what happens if dogs react where you live........ a phone call to the police/animal control will find that out. 1 Keep a diary of every incident 2 Get a camera ready or your phone and take photos of anything and everything that happens 3 write a letter, keep a copy, record deliver it to the parents documenting incident, when you spoke to them and that you have contacted the police about it Keep your fingers crossed that will frighten them enough to stop..... if not you are building evidence which you will need to go further...............................
6. Call the cops!!!!
7. Every incident should result in a police report. This future-felon is probably known to the police already and I'm sure his school would love to see him put into "juve". As with anything you want to get done, create a paper trail. That is a police report and your own notebook. Now you also have medical records to bolster your future litigation. The boy's parents are responsible for the medical costs. If you have insurance, be sure to notify the insurance company what happened. As much as I detest insurance companies, they can be helpful in prosecutions.
8. You should call law enforcement and have your husband buy a gun and when the kid comes by have your husband stand where the kid can see him but don't put any bluets in the gun and don't point it at the kid and hopefully the kid will see the gun and run a way.
9. Definitely call the cops! Show them the stitches on your daughter and make a list of everything this kid has thrown over. The cop should go talk to the parents and maybe even ticket them, or if the kid is old enough he could get arrested. I went through a horrible experience with neighbor kids before and the cop said if he had proof, he could arrest the kids! But it was "hear say". You should actually have proof if you keep a collection of all the things he's thrown over. But now that your daughter had to get stitches, that changes things! Since the parents weren't willing to take control over their child, I would take them to court! The parents having to pay the medical bills and even having to stand before a judge over what their child is doing might wake them up and take this more seriously.
10. If he does anything again, call the cops. Not only did he do all those things to your dogs, that kid caused an injury to your daughter. It's time to take serious action.