I've about had it with the dogs in my neighborhood. Three of the houses up from mine have 3 dogs each! Even though there is a leash law in my town, they still run loose. The thing is, when the dogs in a certain neighbor's yard need to crap, instead of going in their yard, they jump the fence and come down to my yard, and crap! To makes things worse, the male dog likes to hike its leg on my truck tires and especially on my Fiero's wheels(just buffed and put back on). Got Antifreeze? Sorry, just venting here.

Neighborhood pets, now there's a no win situation. If you're not careful, you'll start a feud. Everyone thinks that their own kids and pets are angels. I don't know if it works, but there are products that are supposed to repel dogs and cats.

My little town put a leash law into affect a couple years ago for Thursday mornings only, trash pickup time, because dogs were running at large, getting into the garbage and making a mess. The city counsel meetings were packed with the largest crowds ever when there was talk of regulating their beloved pets.

It was a very emotional issue that divided the community for a time until the "big compromise" of confining the dogs only on trash day. I don't worry much about dogs running loose on my property. After tangling with my 15 pound cat a few times, all of my neighbors' dogs avoid my yard.

I keep my two dogs out of our Koi pond with a device called Fido-Shock. I bought mine at a Koi store, but I’m sure you can find one on the net. I just checked at e-bay and there are three for sale. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=304387106

The cool thing about using this product is that once the dog has touched the wire, they never go near it again. I don’t even need to turn it on in the daytime anymore. I do have it on a timer for my nighttime visitors.

Good luck

The best thing to do is to calmly knock on their door and ask to discuss the dog situation. ONLY DO THIS IF YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR TEMPER!!! Explain the trouble they are causing and the ask THEM what THEY think could be done to prevent this from happening again. IF they are reasonable, they will take responcibility to help prevent future trouble.

I used this approach my neighbor whose dogs killed two cats at my house. After he mentioned all the things he would do to keep his dogs in his yard, I thanked him and told him that good neighbors are hard to come by and we should not let a couple of animals mess it all up. I also mentioned that, if the dogs showed up in my yard again, I would feel forced to call the Animal Control people and report them. But, that I didn't want it to come to that. I haven't seen the dogs out of their yard since (about 6 months) and we still wave at each other as we pass.

Good luck,
Roy

I have to agree with mrfixit58. This should take care of it if your neighbors are reasonable. If they aren't, nothing will help. Animal Control calls are anonymous although it makes me sad to think of all of the could-have-been pets that will soon be put to sleep.

Well if their NOT nice neighbors, a laxitive in a treat might have the dog turn into a brown fire hose in their own house when they get home. Teriaki ribs do it to my brothers dog if too many people sneak him a treat. Man what a smelly mess that is to clean up. Poor dog though.

I sympathize here. My extended family (Myself, my wife, our son, and her parents) moved in here in October, and we have a dog next door that barks whenever he's out. It can be at 7:00AM, or 11:00PM. I thought only the small ones barked incessantly....

Although he's wired to a runner, he's come over to the top of the wall between our houses (Their property is level with the top of the wall), and growled at us. This dog is certainly larger than our 3 year old, and faster than my 8 month pregnant wife.

I once turned the spray from the snowblower at him, and he stayed away for a day or two. I've considered super soakers for the watmer weather.... Maybe I should let out our clawed cat (The other was declawed prior to our owning her). He's a fighter.

The neighbors on the other side have two dogs. They couldn't be more different. They bark, but not nearly as much, and not at obscene hours. The older one runs loose, but rarely leaves his own yard without being called or with an owner. The puppy is tied off, so he doesn't just run away.

Well, just to say it, I don't have great answers, either.

Now, before anybody gets the wrong idea, I don't practice this method here where I live (suburb of Indianapolis).

Country people (like several relatives of mine) often take care of animal situations through other methods. Often times whenever a stray dog (coydogs are usually the problems) if found on the property, they are pretty much missing after country people find their guns.

Sorry, but it's just a way of life when you don't have neighbors for miles around.

Again, I don't practice any such methods around my neighborhood. Too many people could get injured.

I installed the Fido-Shock in my back yard to keep my own dogs from digging holes under the fence. I have not even had it turned on in months! One shock is all it took. I tested myself and can tell you, it doesnt take long to let go of the wire! Since these are not your dogs, you could save some money and get a "cattle charger". They are higher powered and cheaper than the pet safe fence chargers.
Another thought- park in the grass, disconnect your negative battery cable and hook the hot lead of the fence charger to your chassis. When the dog does his business on your tires. . . OUCH!

[This message has been edited by Cooter (edited 04-10-2000).]

Stray animals, be they dogs ,cats,whatever can not only be a nuisance, they can be dangerous...CALL THE LAW! Everyday if you have to. I do live in the country and I know where my guns are. I like animals - but they do have a place. And thats generally not in my yard...

Hmmmm.... this Fido-Shock device sounds very interesting.

I've got some kind of an animal pissing onto my back door right through the screen door. I love animals but I'm getting damn pissed off about this. (Pardon the pun.) It's probably a cat, but the mark from the spray is about a foot and a half from the bottom of the door. If it is a cat, he's either aiming for the door handle, or he's bringing along a short stool. (The kind you sit on. The other kind is no doubt being deposited in my flowerbed!)

Anyway, for those of you familiar with this device, could I hook it up to the aluminum screen door?

There have been times I would rather use a full 120 volts AC, but...

Hey, has anybody heard that urban legend about kids in NYC horsing around on the subway, and one of them took a whiz on the subway track's third rail and was electrocuted (the third rail is electrified to power the train).

It sounds like BS to me, but I suppose if it works on animals peeing on an electrified fence, it would work with hoodlums peeing on the third rail.

It would seem to me that if an animal was looking for a place to take care of its "business", and you shocked it, he might lose control of his bodily functions and you would still have a mess...I guess its worth it to clean the mess up one more time knowing that the animal will take his business elsewhere.

That laxative idea...now thats classic.

OK fella's.. How the heck do you get rid of a cat problem? There's a cat in our neighborhood who has climbed all over my fiero. I wouldnt care but know my paint is sooo scatched up. I have no choice but to repaint and i dont want it to happen again. Ive thought about letting my dog have it as a snack @175 lb mastif or getting a BB-gun. Ive talked to the owners and they dont care. OHHHHH so fustrating. But my wife loves cats so i cant touch it with her around!!!

[This message has been edited by lennyb4 (edited 04-11-2000).]

I have my base unit mounted on my deck where there is an electrical outlet. There is a ground wire coming from the unit, which I attached to the house ground. From the unit you run a regular plastic coated wire to wherever you want to protect, in my case, the Koi pond.
The kit comes with PVC pipes you pound into the ground. The HOT uncoated wire is run through the PVC pipes. Nothing that conducts electricity can touch the HOT wire, i.e. grass, plants, rocks. When something, i.e. dog, cat, raccoon, me, touches the wire and is standing on the ground it completes the circuit. I have noticed if I am wearing my tennis shoes I don’t get shocked.
I think it looks ugly, but it works. We usually put it away for parties.

I just went out and took a shot of it so you get a better idea of the look.

How about a water gun for the cats on the car? For some reason, the cats love my car. Maybe because it's plastic and not metal. You could also try some hot pepper sauce in the water gun. Pretty expensive, but you'd only need to hit the animal once in the face. Technically, you're not harming the animal because pepper sauce/spray does no physical damage.

Just make sure the cat doesn't crawl up into the engine compartment, looking for someplace warm. I think it was on the Fiero list, that one guy had to pull out the (crisp) remains of a cat that was sleeping on or near the exhaust manifolds when he started the engine and the cat couldn't get out..