How do you handle other people's pets wandering into your yard?

[klmama]

Do you try to capture it and call the number on the tag? What if the people aren't home when you call? Do you keep the animal comfortable and safe in the shade outside, or do you call animal control?

[nancypants]

Shoot 'em.

[nancypants]

Just kidding. :lol: If they are a neighbor's I would probably bring them back to them (if I could leave the house) or just call them... we used to have a "wanderer" who would escape and go visit the bar down the street for pretzels and beer. I kid you not! They always brought her back home!

Depending on how friendly the dog was I'd probably bring it into the back yard until its owner came.

If it was a stranger's dog I'd check the tags and call them... If it happened over and over again, I'd probably call animal control.

[6packofun]

Tell the neighbor. If that doesn't help, water gun.

[Sue G in PA]

Shoot 'em.

:iagree: No, seriously, I'd never do that. EVer. But, we have a serious problem in our neighborhood w/ irresponsible dog owners. Every spring/summer there are neighborhood dogs getting loose and wandering into our yard, terrorizing my kids who are afraid of dogs. They are NOT bad dogs...very friendly and tame. BUT, when you are a 2yo staring into the eyes of a large retriever and that retriever jumps on you and tries to lick you..well...it's scary. THe dogs have jumped on my kids, knocking the smaller ones over and the sheer fact of having an unfamiliar dog run into your yard can be rather scary to a young child. I get so sick of it that I threaten to call animal control all the time. My ds10 knows most of the dogs by now and usually will walk them back home, sometimes even putting them back on the chain in their yard. He's a good kid. Better than me...:glare:

[Andie]

Squirtgun - it's my default answer today! Cranky kids? Super Soaker? Stray dogs? Super Soaker!

Obviously, I'd try to talk to the owners. But water works wonders.

[Crissy]

In a neighborhood full of cat owners, I'm not sure there is anything to be done.
My gardens seem to be the communal litter box, and I cannot leave my car windows open unless I want to find a cat or two asleep on my driver's seat.:glare:

[cin]

As far as shooting them goes....a bb gun with one pump doesn't break the skin, but has been know to break the spirit :D. That is what we have done for wandering dogs and cats. They tend to not come back after that.

[Tap, tap, tap]

I would only look at the tags of an animal that came up to me. I don't approach stray animals....ever. I call animal control and then return the animal. That way when I return the animal, I tell the family to expect a visit from animal control because I already called them. This seems to be the most effective way to get people to take the escape seriously. Usually the kids know whose pet it is, so I go to the house and ask them to come get their pet. If they are not home and we can put the animal in the back yard we do, but otherwise if no one is home, we call animal control.


We have too many neighbors who used to freely let their pets go, or did little to contain an escape artist. We have a lot of little kids in our neighborhood and when a stray is out, all the kids go inside. It isn't fair to the kids to have to miss out on outside time because someones dog dug under a fence. Around here, if the dog escapes 3 times, the owner can get a fine, at 5-7 times, the animal can be required to find a new home. I am not the only mom here with this rule, we have many moms who call animal control on the first offense. They figure that just because this is the first time we saw the dog, doesn't mean that this is the first time he escaped.


It may sound mean, but my son has been bit 3 times by dogs that the owners said "are very nice dogs, and have never bit anyone before".

[Pegasus]

We keep our two dogs inside and take them out on a leash. Still, our dachshund is some kind of escape artist and manages to slip out unseen occasionally (the kids aren't always good at making sure the doors latch). We have a very kind neighbor 2 doors down that seems to find him every time, sometimes before we even know he's gone! I am grateful that she always either brings him home or comes and tells us that he is in her yard. One day we weren't home when he was out and she locked him in her garage until we got home. . .and he was barking the entire time.

Thank the stars for kind patient neighbors!

Pegasus

[Pamela H in Texas]

Nothing.

[Susan in TX]

If it's a dog I know and I don't think it's dangerous, I ignore it. If it's an unknown dog, or a pit bull, I call animal control.

Susan in TX

[hsmom]

I shew them out, if they won't go I get dh paint ball gun (without any paintballs in it, but hooked up to the co2 still) it makes the sound like they are getting shot at with out actually hurting them. Just scares them. Works wonders on my cat who likes to tree squirrels. LOL

[kortney in AL]

If it's a dog I'll try to find out who the owner is and return it. I did call animal control two weeks ago because a dog kept scratching at my front door and refused to go away. It had no tag. For wandering cats (I'm sorry, I HATE cats) I'll squirt them with the water hose.

[Janna]

Shoot 'em.

That's so funny! As soon as I read the subject line for this thread I thought to myself, "Use a shotgun". So when I opened the thread and saw your response first, I lol.

[Janna]

My gardens seem to be the communal litter box.:glare:

Oh, Crissy...yuck! Why so many cats? *shudder*

[Parrothead]

I don't do anything. Our dog gets out pretty often so I don't have any room to make a big deal if one of the neighbors pets is loose. And we have three or four cats that want to be friends with our cats. So we have extra cats around quite a bit.

[Cheryl in NM]

We really do shoot them with the BB gun. We have paid hundreds of dollars of vet bills on horses, cats & dogs due to neighbor dogs & cats. Not to mention the ones that get into the dumpsters. We've also had our chickens killed and they are a source of income.

Our neighbor's know that's what happens to their animals when they come to our yard. They are just thankful that we aren't asking for vet bills to be paid, yet.

Over the years the neighbors have tried harder to keep their animals at home and, also, at least the dogs are older and aren't wandering anymore.

[Crissy]

Oh, Crissy...yuck! Why so many cats? *shudder*

I don't know. It seems that most people on our street have at least one cat, and several have two or three. The problem is that when one person has an outdoor cat, the whole neighborhood has an outdoor cat.

[Mamabegood]

:iagree: For the first year we lived here, someone's cat (don't know whose) would "spray" our sliding glass door--every night. We tried the nice way (using various cat-away things from the pet store) for months, and when that didn't work we went to the animal shelter and got a cat trap. Problem solved.

[j.griff]

In a neighborhood full of cat owners, I'm not sure there is anything to be done.
My gardens seem to be the communal litter box, and I cannot leave my car windows open unless I want to find a cat or two asleep on my driver's seat.:glare:


Have you tried putting out some cocoa mulch? Supposedly cats do not like the smell, :D
I have used it on my patio, and I didn't notice any cats hanging around here for a while. Once it gets wet, it's not as effective, so you'd need to reapply it now and then.

[Crissy]

Have you tried putting out some cocoa mulch? Supposedly cats do not like the smell, :D
I have used it on my patio, and I didn't notice any cats hanging around here for a while. Once it gets wet, it's not as effective, so you'd need to reapply it now and then.

I've not heard this, but I'm going to check it out.
Thank you!

[KidsHappen]

we had one dog that showed up at our house three times. He had tags so the first and second time we called his vet and then got the owners name and number and called him to come pick up the dog. He (the dog, Owen I believe) lived far away and had to go over busy roads to get to our house. After that I just saved the owners info and called him when the dog showed up. I think that for some reason the dog liked us as the owner said that he never had to go get the dog from anywhere else. I have no idea why. We aren't dog people.

We did squirt the neighbor's cat with the water hose on a regular basis though as he would terrorize my cat through the patio door. And he frequently pissed off the skunks who lived in the woods behind our house. Then they would spray our house.