Well, having had a dog that was aggressive towards strangers, I totally disagree with some of the above posters who say it's the dog owner's fault totally. I spent hundred's of dollars on trainers, behaviorists, rescue remedy etc. My dog had a screw loose. He was wonderful with our family and my young children. He just didn't see any reason for anyone else to come into our yard or house. It was very stressful having Kobe because I had to know where he was at all times. He had to be crated, or on his leash if I knew someone was coming over. He finally bit my neighbor - not a terrible bite, but enough to break the skin. I called up the breeder where I had gotten him and explained I couldn't keep him. She told me, "His daddy was always difficult around strangers too." I was like - who breeds a dog with a bad temperament? Anyways, she took him back, they live out in the country on a farm and since he was so well trained, they kept him in their house as a pet. I agree 100% that your neighbor needs to take action and probably have the dog put down. That was what I was going to do if the breeder wouldn't take him back. My dog's main problem was he was extremely fearful of people, and when he felt threatened, he became aggressive. He wasn't a mean dog, just saw things as threatening when they weren't at all. I cried more tears over this dog - he loved us all to death, and I loved him too. He just couldn't handle living in suburbia. I couldn't give him up to someone who didn't understand him because I was afraid they'd become violent with him when he lunged at people etc. Amazingly enough, he did well back on the farm where they didn't want any strangers just walking up their road or coming to their house. I also have to say, the comments about electric fences are just silly. Electric fences are for keeping your dog in your yard when they go out to pee, or to let them run around untethered. They are not designed to have a dog stay outside 24x7. Any dog who cannot be trained to stay within an electric fence has other training issues. My crazy dog Kobe was excellent in his fence. He just didn't like it when anyone came inside HIS fence. My current dog's collar just hangs like a necklace - he wouldn't even get shocked if he went through. He knows his boundries and when he hears the clicking warning sounds, he knows he can go no farther. I do agree that they do not protect your dog from other dogs or predators - but that's why I would never leave my dog outside for long periods of time or without checking on him. Many people can't have a fence due to trees around their property line or the sheer size of their yard. The electric fence is a great tool to allow your dog running room without them having to be on a leash.

I think that wandering more than 5 or 10 miles each way is quite doable for a smaller dog that's in shape and should pose no problem for a larger dog. (Our 50-pound collie got out through the fences twice in her life and went visiting at least 5 miles away to our kind neighbor who rescues dogs and cats.) You might consider visiting the farms and asking if anyone owns a dog, what it looks like, and mention your concerns. Even people who don't think their animals will get hurt by wandering (and a surprising number believe that the animal will be OK no matter what) don't want problems with their neighbors and will do something if they know you are seriously considering calling Animal Control. Or, as cindyb said, the owners might have no idea their dog is roaming so far every day and will be glad you told them. When we moved here 12 years ago our farm neighbors warned us they would shoot to kill any dog they saw going after their livestock. (That position didn't make them wildly popular but people did keep their dogs in.) On a lighter note, my father solved a stray-dog problem when we were little and lived in a neighborhood where everyone let their dogs out to run. Our house was on the corner and ALL the neighborhood dogs would mess in our yard all the time. He politely asked the neighbors to keep their dogs in and was mostly ignored. He took drastic action when he had to stop a stray German Shephard from chasing my little sister. The next afternoon (Sunday) he put a 100' log chain between the two biggest trees in our yard. Every time a dog came into the yard, he called it to him (or bribed it with treats) and fastened it to that chain (or he rigged a collar and attached the dog to the chain. He was an engineer and had devised a dog-safe fastener that only he could open.) He monitored the yard, and by mid-afternoon there were at least 15 dogs out there and many very upset owners telephoning, yelling at him in person, or trying unsuccessfully to take their dogs off the chain. One furious fellow even called the cops to complain, but the officer who responded ended up watching the scene and getting the design for the dog-fastener from my father!) People kept their dogs in from then on.

My yard was partially fenced when I brought my dog home. I didn't think it was a big deal until I realized that my dog wanted to run and play on his schedule, not mine. He wanted to be further than five feet from me when taking care of his business. An idea I was not opposed to either. I tried one of those extending leashes but quickly gave up on that idea because it was unsafe for both of us. So I learned how to set a few fence posts and installed a drive gate so I could still have access if needed. Best thing I ever did for him. Now when he is anxious to go out he doesn't have to wait for me to get dressed or bundled up in winter. He can explore and lay in the sun without being tied and best of all he can play to his hearts content since he no longer has to be on a leash. Playing fetch is much easier when you can actually run. There was benefit for me too. I can now get out of bed and put my robe on instead of having to get fully dressed then come in and undress again to take a shower in the morning. And since neither of us likes to be out in the cold or wet I'm sure my Ollie is glad I no longer have to go out with him because he can sprint out, do his thing, then run back in faster than I could get him out to his favorite place. The best part is that I know he is safer too from other dogs allowed to run loose in the neighborhood. Love having a fence, even though it isn't anything fancy.

I've still been wondering about this and decided to search for the terms and read them carefully. You can find the Member Agreement without going through the membership process. Here are a couple of things I found that will keep me from joining. "Nextdoor may offer similar accounts to businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations. These accounts do not have access to neighborhood discussions or to messages between neighbor members. You can make choices about receiving messages from organizations at (link omitted). Nextdoor provides organizational members with some aggregated statistics about neighborhood activity and size." AKA unwanted advertising. "Preferences. By default, we subscribe you to messages both for your neighborhood and nearby neighborhoods. You can customize your neighborhood subscriptions at (link omitted)." What I don't like about this is that other neighborhoods will be subscribed to MY neighborhood, and after seeing the huge area assigned to my neighborhood, I can only imagine the number of people then subscribed. Might as well just put the whole town in and be done with it. "Content. You retain all ownership rights to the text, photos, video and other content you submit to Nextdoor (collectively, your “Content”). You give us permission, in the form of a nonexclusive worldwide license, to use, copy, and publish your Content as described in our privacy policy." So I own the rights to my photos but nextdoor.com can do anything they want with those photos, including publishing them as their own. No thanks. From the included Privacy Policy: "Verification as a Resident Of Your Neighborhood. Nextdoor requires members to verify their status as real-world residential neighbors.....by...(1) having a neighbor who already has a verified account....confirm your address, (2) (2) submitting your name and street address (and email address....and then providing us (or a third-party service provider directly) with additional authenticating information....such as a unique code....(or)....we may allow you to use a credit card number or the last four digits of your social security number. .... To help with verification, we may share or confirm your verification information with our service providers. ... We may retain your verification-related information for a reasonable period of time (further down it says 'as long as necessary') even if you do not complete all verification steps." "Facebook Connect. If you register for Nextdoor using your Facebook account, we automatically request your email address and publicly available information, including your account ID, name and gender as well as public information about your Facebook friends. If you revisit Nextdoor while logged into Facebook, we’ll automatically log you into your Nextdoor account. If you don’t register for Nextdoor using Facebook but later attempt to log into Nextdoor using your Facebook credentials, we’ll connect your Facebook and Nextdoor accounts and request the information from Facebook as if you were newly registering. ... If you register or log in via Facebook, we may give you the option to invite your Facebook friends to Nextdoor. Those friends will see some information about you along with your invitation." Great. So every friend, even those I really don't know, on my Facebook page will see my neighborhood if not my exact address. There is a lot about collecting information and sharing it with 3rd parties, their expanding corporate family, and even google. This maybe the scariest part of their privacy policy: "Export of Data (Non-U.S. Residents). By using the Services, you authorize Nextdoor to use your information in the United States and other countries where Nextdoor operates. Please be aware that the privacy protections and the rights of authorities to access your personal information in some of these countries may not be equivalent to those in your country."