I would be worried! I think your idea of introducing yourself is a start in the right direction...I also think, I'd be looking into putting up the cyclone or a very sturdy fence...It would be terrible if the dogs ended up fighting....

What are you doing when your dog is prying away at the fence?
I get the feeling you're going to say you're at work and not there when it happens so I'll just go ahead and say to get a kennel, 10'x15' or so with a roof, adequate water and perhaps a little dog house. Suggest your neighbors do the same.

Either a kennel as Quirky suggest or if he is that uncontrolable about a dog on the other side I'd look into either an electric fence or a shock collar. It sounds like a behavior he has been allowed to do for a long time and it's not anything that kinder methods are going to work for. It is definatly something that needs to be stopped and stopped now. You can get an electric fence, not an invisible fence, the brand I'm familiar with is called Fido-shock, and run on the inside of your fence where he will be likly to touch it when he attacks the fence. It's not as bad as some people probably think it would be, feels like a strong charge of static, pretty unpleasent but won't hurt him. Or an electronic collar and let him have it when he starts. The good ones have several different intensity settings that you can adjust to what ever level it takes.

Lisa

More training. You should never have allowed that behavior in the first place. He should never be in the yard unsupervised to act it out. Get professional help if you need it. No one likes a snarling nasty acting dog of any variety, and no owner should put up with one---much less encourage them by never correcting that behavior.

I agree that you've let this go on too long. But appreciate that you are now concerned with potential harm to another dog. Since you haven't used any positive methods, only negative on this dog, I truly think that you should see a behaviorist. We can type our fingers off here, but starting postive training with a nine year old Chow is a challenge for an experienced trainer, so you do need help. And yes a sturdy fence while you're working on the behavior sounds like the way to go. Hope you can work things out for your dog's benefit and yours! Good Luck.

We have a new next-door neighbor who also happens to have a rather large, nasty dog.

Well, your dog is "a large 9 year old Chow", who:

>Savagely attacks the fence
>Sinks his teeth into the fence and pulls
>"goes into a trance"
>"he heard, saw or felt nothing when biting chunks out of the fence"
>Ate a wire fence.
>nothing you have done so far has deterred these behaviors.

I suspect the new neighbors are telling their friends that they moved next door to a family with "a rather large nasty dog"!

By the way, your neighbor's dog is probably not a Pit if it is large. Pits are medium sized dogs, 18" - 22" tall and 30 - 60#.

I agree that you need an animal behaviorist....this situation is a disaster waiting to happen, no matter which dog is at fault. Chows are one of the breeds that are frequently in the top 10 dangerous dogs lists...I hope you are able to work things out!

There is so much help here, but why don't you bring your dog inside as soon as it begins to misbehave? Do you have an area of the yard that you could section off for your dog to do its business, or browse around without being able to see the other dog?

Sammy

The ironic thing about the whole situation is that Wolfie is absoutely the nicest dog -- to other dogs, cats and even squirrels sometimes -- and if he were to cross paths with the neighbors "pitbull" on a walk, he would be fine. He has never even growled at another dog, even when some of the little ones come running up to us, yapping with an "in your face" attitude. He totally ignores them. (Unless he is in his backyard and they come up to the fence growling, barking, snapping, as was the case in our previous house, three years ago).

As I mentioned earlier, this dog next door just moved in a few days ago. Before that there was no problem as there was no neighboring dog to deal with.

I have not personally witnessed him doing this the last two days, however my husband has. He called in both of our dogs and the neighbor did likewise.

Truthfully, I really am not concerned that Wolfie would hurt/harm this other dog. I am more concerned that this other dog would kill Wolfie (he just isn't a fighter).

Since it is happening on BOTH sides of the fence, I feel that the new neighbor and I are EQUALLY responsible for our dogs behaviour, not just ME!

We have a similiar problem...our white GSD cross and little Puffball thing (both are adopted, who knows what they really are, but that is a good description) females...HATE the female bull mastiff next door. Mind you the bull mastiff is a sweetie, I've petted her, been to the neighbors house. Our dogs too are sweet. The three dogs just HATE EACH OTHER.

So who's responsible when they fight. I feel I'm responsible for my dogs, and neighbor tries to control his dog(s)..he also has a male, but the male watch the females like..what the he** is the matter with you three?!?!? ANyway, we can control ours a little more than he can as he recentle became a parapolgic. BUT, we both do all we can to prevent the dogs from fighting.

IF they do get at each other (and recently mine went to the vet, DD#2 didn't watch and they got at each other), I feel it is totally my responsibility. Why, when I got dogs I took on the reasponsibility of MY DOG. I don't care what he took on. IF my dog is acting aggressive in ANY WAY, then it is MY RESPONSIBILITY. I don't care if his dogs watch for mine to come out, it is my responsibility to see if it is ok to let mine out the back, if not, then I need to let mine out the front as I have that choice.

Vickey-MN

I have a chow too, so I kinda understand what you mean by focused. My 2 dogs are within a radio fence & stay there quite well,whether it is on or not. There are always wandering dogs though,& mine has never been in a fight, thank goodness. But he is very single minded when he has a goal, & totally stubborn. I think if it takes something like a shock collar, then that is the way to go. Of course, could be the other dog has the same issues as yours about a fence, they might neither be a fighter. Still, listening to barking, snarling dogs isn't pleasant.

I have a somewhat similar problem. I own the fence and therefore take care of it.
Our two dogs HATE the neighbor's dogs. I don't know why, they usually don't hate other dogs but for some reason they do not get along with their dogs.
We have put wood logs to prevent their dogs from digging under the fence. Their little dog had almost escaped into our yard once! We also put a smaller fence about a foot out from the big fence. The smaller fence is more decorative and we will put plants behind it so it looks like a garden area. The further the dogs are from the other dogs (by using the second fence) the less their aggression, it seems.
We have decreased the problem over the past year by "controlling our anger" so to speak. It can be frusterating when you call your dog and they won't come and they continue to dig and bark while your neighbor's dog does the same thing.
We figured out that we were calling the dogs and then they would have to go inside and we would get mad and yell at them. Of course who would want to come to someone when they are just going to get yelled at! We were TOTALLY making the mistake here!
We figured this out and changed how we called them. Then I had to retrain them by carrying treats in my pocket all the time and calling out "where are you?". I did this for a week or so. Finally they seemed to understand they were only getting good things by coming to us.
If we had to go outside and get them because they were barking too much they used to struggle, now we go outside and say "comeon! time to go inside" and they go in, still they are a little reluctant. However before they used to be SO aggressive at the other dog it was scary. Now they bark and sometimes growl but they are 100% better.
If we are all outside and they run to the fence and bark they go inside to rest.
It is hard to not get upset when you are calling them and you KNOW they KNOW they are doing something wrong. However, you have to think that noone wants to come near you when you are mad and yelling!
We are still working on training them to leave the other dogs alone (while the neighbors don't care about what their dogs do!) and it is getting so much better.
It does make me mad that our neighbors are not making it easier on us and training their dogs to stay away from OUR fence but I guess we can't rely on other people to do what we want them to do.
I am SO proud of my boys when I go and say calmly "come on inside" and they do and I hear the neighbor yelling and yelling at their dogs to do the same. I feel bad that I was like that before though! At least I learned my lesson! :)
-renee

Assuming this post is not a joke, you need to wake up and smell the coffee. You are both wrong, which unfortunately does not make a right.

You both need to hire a professional animal behaviorist. The sooner the better, lest someone other than the dogs, perhaps your child get seriously hurt or worse.

SG

Dogs can be territorial. If your dogs say it is their fence, then the neighbor's dog is not to come by it. If the fence belongs to you, then keep them inside and replace the privacy fence since it's in such bad shape with thicker boards not the skimpy cheap ones. Then put up chainlink in front of it. If you don't like the looks, plant holly bushes that will also keep them back from it.
Sorry, regardless of how sweet you think your dogs are, if they go through the fence, you are liable for all damages and then some. If determined by a judge they are aggressive, they could be put down!!!
When we have pets it is OUR responsibility that others are safe from them. If your neighbor has to go through any expense to keep your dogs out of his yard, you are responsible for the bill.
With all the dog attacks on children, most states have tightened their laws. If you love your dogs, do something about them.
I rescue animals and currently have 9 dogs. All have been neutered or spayed and all their shots. We live in the country but they do not run free. It does take work to walk and check the fence on 6 acres but we made the choice and we are the ones accountable for anything they do.
A dog is not born with bad behavior, it is learned. Please check with your Vet or the Humane Society to get some ideas on someone to show you how to change their behavior.
Lynn in Al

Fence Syndrome, sure wakes some feelings of invincibility. Is it feasible to use a solid material to line your side to dog height? The sight of the other dog seems to inflame passions more than sightless smell, IMO. A stop gap measure, to be sure.

Another perspective: What about socializing the dogs? Sometimes the aggression comes from defending the territory and is an "offensive move" but isn't their true nature.

I have a jack russell who goes on the offensive with every new dog. It doesn't matter how big the other dogs are! But, when I let her spend time with them, initially on a leash, she gets better each time. Now, all the dogs she used to want to attack, she can somewhat tolerate and even play with occasionally. The dogs next door that I spent two years keeping her away from are now ignored.
The unknown is often the greatest fear.

Two chows, young one learning bad habits and temperament from the older one can be a major problem for you. Chows are known for unpredictable aggression and not the best students of behavior training. I would put up the chain link fence immediately and hide it behind shrubbery if you find it unesthetic. Then get busy and hire a dog behaviorist and seriously train those dogs. A snarling dog under any circumstances is not lovable, IMHO.

I can assure you that this no joke, and at a loss to see anything remotely amusing about it. As far as someone, perhaps our children getting seriously hurt, this is not an issue, as neither one of us has small children  my youngest daughter is 19 years old, and seldom ventures into our backyard anyway.
I fail to understand some of the antagonistic comments that I have read here. Perhaps there really are a lot of Chow haters out there. If I were to have said that I own a large Poodle, I believe that I would not have received as many negative and condescending remarks.

My specific problem is trying to keep two "guard" dogs from protecting their territory. I believe this is instinctual, and therefore fairly hard to break. The idea of a fence in front of the fence is what will probably be done. In the meantime, I will vigilantly monitor my two "vicious" Chows for any and all transgressions.

This is the last word (promise) I'm going to have on this one.

Zoewolf, there are people on this who post really stupid questions, I believe just to get well meaning animal lovers riled up.

Your quote if you meant it as a joke or not: "We have a new next-door neighbor who also happens to have a rather large, nasty dog. My oldest daughter swears that it sounds like a Pitbull. Regardless, of what breed of large dog it is, Wolfie , who is a large 9 year old Chow, and "Pitbull" have greeted each other at the backyard fence, each trying to be more vicious (and destructive) then the other one. Zoe who is a small one year old Chow, has yet to try and tear down fence (with her teeth) but is right in there snarling and barking a "Pitbull" seems to fit that category.

There is no reason, let me repeat this, NO reason these dogs should be acting this way. You are responsible for the actions of your dog if it injures someone. As stated in another post, if taken to court, your dog could be destroyed if it had unacceptable behavior.

Since up to now you have not taken appropriate action to correct this aggressive behavior, I doubt that you ever will. A fence will do NOTHING to cure the problem, it's just going to contain it and make it worse. Sooner or later, something is going to happen that will be of the serious nature, perhaps then you will wake up and smell the coffee, but I seriously doubt it.

BTW I am not a Chow hater, just very intolerant of pet owners who fail to realize the stupid things they do with their pets.
SG

Zoewolf,

I too have a dog that goes nuts with certain dogs on the other side of the fence, he also can not stand delivery trucks. However, I have had success with a trick suggested by the dog listener and vet.

when he goes crazy, call him in the house. When he gets in the house give him his most favorite goodie. ( I mean the BEST goodie you can give him). If, at the beginning you have to get close to him to get his attention, do so.

Do this EVERY time he goes nuts at the fence.

It didn't take long for him to realize if he comes in, and is a good boy, he gets the best thing in the whole world. In fact, just in the last few days, I'll hear abut 2 easy going barks and he's done.

I also do a pre-emptive call in if I see a delivery truck on the way or someone getting near us walking their dogs.
He's not perfect yet, but we've had times where he didn't make a peep or move off the porch when in the past he would have. So it's a vast improvement.

It sounds as if your neighbors are just as concerned as you are. If you both can try this together, you both may get better results.

Good luck, and let me know if it works for you.

This is the last word (promise) I'm going to have on this one, also.

Thanks jerriellijay, and to all the contributors -- positive or negative -- for your input on a "real" situation.

Here is a picture of my very "vicious, child killer" chows:

I can tell ya right now that if it were a pitbull, it'd have been up and over your fence 10 times over by now, more than likely. My large old and moldy pitbull mix, could still scale the fence if he really wanted after something in the alley or across the fence. And he is dog agressive if they're out in the yard or alley way.

This being why we don't leave them out alone, at the sound of ANY bark, they both come in, even though the most my beagle will do, is run yelping in the other direction.

For my dogs safety and the other owners saftey, I bring them in. My dog could most likely hurt, (or worse) most dogs that come through our alley, if he chose to. We don't let him get to the point where he's snarling and trying to take the fence down.

We have a neighbor who has a lab two houses away who is VERY dog agressive, and they allow him to roam free and I'm surprised he hasn't been hit. Well, the first time I noticed this lab, he was outside my yard and my pitbull mix was half way up the gate. Since then I check for the lab before I let him out of the kennel (they ALWAYS go in the kennel before they play in the yard, as I can leave him in there and not worry). If the lab is out, big guy comes straight in.

If your neighbors dog IS a pitbull, you're dealing with lock-jaw if it ever gets to your dog, so if you're not going to break the behaviour immediately, by correcting it, I suggest you watch your chows like a hawk, because I don't think you want to pry a pitbull off your chow, or any dog for that matter.

While your neighbor SHOULD be responsible for their dogs, don't count on it. Don't rely on a nice happy meeting that ends in results with the fence or the dogs. Worry about your dogs on your side of the fence, because you can only correct their behaviour, not expect the neighbor to do anything.

TRAINING.

Also, dogs aren't like people. They have their very own code of behavior, one that we humans too often DON'T understand. Barking, growling, snarling, posturing are all part of it... if the dog can't see the other dog (for the fence!) they can't read the signals and postures of the other one. And so, the aggression is ratchetted up. Dogs need to "work it out", too.

Have you "introduced" your dogs to each other? why not? Is the reason you haven't telling you something about your own dog's behavior(s)?

Training. It all comes down to training. And how much of it you're willing to undertake.

We have a lab that will lick you to death and pop you in the head with her wagging tail but as soon as we got new neighbors that brought their 3 pound dogs with them, she started barking and snarling back at them when they charge our chain link fence. We've since put a solid cover over the chain link and they've just eaten through that. Since the neighbors won't control their dogs, we're having to resort to a shock collar for ours to work on the behavior. It's really aggrevating since my dogs only get to go out to potty and have to come right back in--they're not able to enjoy hanging out in the back yard. Now that they've had a baby they seem to leave the pound pups outside 24/7. So, it's not just chows or pit bulls that exhibit this behavior, don't feel bad. We've been working on correcting it from the beginning but it's hard when both sides aren't trying to correct it at the same time.

De

Could the problem be the the dogs know each other are there but cannot SEE each other, which makes them defensive? I wonder if a chain link fence (very tall though, as tall as your wooden fence) would be a better choice? If your dog doesn't mind meeting other dogs on walks or elsewise, that could be it.