Apparently the post office thinks it's YOUR dog. If I were you, I'd contact them and set them straight. I'm so tired of irresponsible pet owners. (Can you tell I live next door to some?)

Good luck on getting the right kind of action.

Shirley

Yes, you need to contact your Post Office. They are the ones who need to address the situation with your neighbor. You won't have much impact with him and you don't need hard feelings between neighbors. Let him be mad at the US Post Office.

The poor dog doesn't want to be alone all day, so he's basking in your yard where there are people around, I'd guess.

Does Buffy bark and growl at the mail carrier and others that walk by? Doesn't the owner have a fenced yard to keep him in?

Leslie/KS

He would not be able to get away with that in my town. Here you get a warning the first time animal control gets a report that your dog was running loose. The next time you get a $150 fine and it increases each time after that.

I don't know if Buffy barks and growls at the postman, probably does though. We are at work all day when the mail is delivered around here. I don't know why she prefers our yard over another, but she can be found sound asleep in our grass when we come home at lunch. I would never have it in my heart to be mean to her to keep her off our property, it's not her fault. When the neighbors mother got sick with cancer, she moved next door with her son, and he inherited Buffy when she passed away. He is an older fellow, and was just raised in the old days of letting the dog out the front door for the day. He will never change his ways. I probably couldn't count on both hands and feet the number of times he gets notes on his door from the dog catcher. I believe they know Buffy by name.
I will call the post office on Monday, and see if there is something I can do.
I hate to be put in a position like this, I really do.

Trin

Is there any possibility that you could put the neighbor's dog in his backyard before you leave in the mornings?

It may be a shame for the poor dog, but as the wife of a former meter reader and the sister of a mail carrier, I can assure you, NEITHER has to come into your yard if there is a loose dog there. Unless you can come up with a solution, and get the dog out of your yard, you'll almost surely be picking up your mail at the post office from now on.

Here's another thought. If that dog, while on your property with your permission, bites a little kid, you're going to have some liability issues to address. You may even have your homeowner's insurance cancelled because of it. And make no mistake, ANY dog with teeth can and will bite under the right circumstances. Actually, all the meter readers I've ever known who were bit by customers dogs? The customers went on and on about the dog NEVER EVER biting anyone before.

And don't forget--if that dog's out loose every day, there's the chance that he could be picked up and sold to a lab for experiments.

For your protection, for the protection of your mailman, your meter reader, and for the sake of the dog itself, you really need to do the right thing here--no matter how tough--and see that this poor animal isn't put in the position where he could bite someone and have to be euthanized; where he could be dognapped and tortured, or be run over by a car--or any one of a number of other horrible things that can happen to dogs that no one cares enough to take good care of.

We live out in the country. Our neighbor has two dogs that run loose all the time. Mostly in my yard. Besides doing there duty ( and there big dogs ) in our yard they dig at my plants. We spent all last summer asking the neighbors to keep them in there own yard. Well for a couple of days they would then it would start all over. They too would stop the gas meter reader from getting out of his truck. He then began using binoculars to read and twice the readings were off. This spring i again went over to the neighbors to ask them to contain there dogs but this time they didn't even do it for a day. Not wanting to, but i did call animal control and it was my yard they took them from. Two days later the dogs were right back in my yard. Neighbors had called the shelter to see if there dogs were there and then went and retrieved them. Now i'm back to square one. grrrr

Thanks for all your posts, Azzalea, you posted some very eye opening scenarios, that I had not thought of. The neighbor has no fence in his yard, his property ends where the lake begins. I do have a fenced yard, and can only think to put Buffy in our yard every day, which I can do.
It is the weirdest thing, but I see the dog all over the neighborhood, seems she has her day mapped out all over the place. She almost acts as if our yard is her kennel. I have never found her digging, pooping, or bothering our garbage as others have reported her doing. She just sleeps here, in the same spot, at the same times, every day after making her rounds, for the last 6-8 years or so.

This seems to be hardly a problem now compared to what is going on for the rest of the KT this morning, so I will just let you know what I end up doing.

Trin

Definitely go to the Post Office, ask for The Postmaster and explain the situation. I would also write a nice, friendly letter to the neighboR and drop it at their door. I feel sorry for the poor dog.

It's too bad someone doesn't come along and "adopt" the dog and give it the good home it deserves...I feel so bad for the dog...

Yes, let the PO know it is NOT your dog, then contact animal control or your city. If you do not get your mail, how long will they hold it? Or will they return it right away? Late charges on bills? Has the PO contacted the owner and why not?

About to suggest contacting Animal Control to tell them hos the situation is about to affect your life when I got to Mariend's post. If you contact them, it's a matter of record & Postmaster will know your are trying your best.

People who don't care properly for pets shouldn't be allowed to have them- but they always seem to have 1 or 2...

Suzi (another who's fed up with other people animals in my yard!)

Hi patches 02,

Are people in your area required to have a dog licence? Is the fee larger for a female ... and a lot larger for one unspayed? Are they required to renew it annually? Is the fee substantial, and are there rules about number of dogs, gender, whether they've been "neutered" or not?

Do you have an animal control office in your area? Will they come to your place to capture a dog running loose?

If so, what do they do with the animal? Is there a substantial fee for trapping and collecting the animal, plus maintenance while in the shelter, plus penalty/fine?

Few folks around here who want to let their animal run loose may choose to have animal control pick up their animal more than once, as that initial experience provides them with a substantial education regarding the financial unwisdom of letting an animal run loose. Local animals are to leave their own property only on a leash.

When I was a child, my uncle, who lived on a farm on a rather quiet unpaved rural road, had a dog, which was a Border Collie cross, with medium long hair, I think, that would run after every car that came down the road - which was a rather infrequent occurence in World War II, when it was difficult to get permission to buy a tire, and gas was rationed.

Their son had an air rifle, and they placed it by a post beside their milk house, which was between the house and the barn.

Whenever they heard a car coming down the road, they'd run for the gun, and as the dog made a run for the road, s/he'd get a pellet somewhere in the neighbourhod of the back end.

It didn't take the dog long to learn that chasing cars was not a good idea.

If using an air gun would not be permitted, would it be possible for you to use a whip on the dogs? It would likely be possible to sting them a little without causing substantial pain, with skillful use.

After about one experience, though, as soon as they saw you, especally with the whip, they'd stay beyond your reach ... but without leaving, unless they chose to.

What about getting an animal trap from animal control? Woulde it be lawful for you to use it? And if so, what would you do? The dogs are too big to lift the cage and haul it to animal control office. Would they come and collect the dogs, then charge a substantial fee to the neighbours before they could take their dog home?

If you have a front-end loader on a tractor and can find a 400 lb. block of concrete, maybe it'd be a good idea to suggest to your neighbour that if he lacked inclination or capability to confine his dog(s) to his own yard, that he might come out some morning, ready to go to work, to find that block dropped behind his car, making it impossible to move it, so he couldn't drive to work. Or away for the weekend, etc.

If he were to call the police, asking them to charge you for being a nuisance on his proerty, you could explain to them that the train ran both ways on that track.

Good wishes for success in finding a suitable solution to the problem.

ole joyful

Our neighbor's dog ran loose (ours was on a chain in the backyard) and spent his days sleeping on our porch. Nonetheless, he was very territorial about his own home, and once went charging across the yard to try to bite some guy who was on his way up to ring the doorbell. (the wife's boss)

The guy was a lawyer, and got all over my mom & dad's case, until my mom pointed out that the dog belonged to HIS employee!

For Trinity, I think I'd make a photocopy of that letter from the Post Office and send it to your neighbors, along w/ a letter that says, "dear friend and neighbor, look at the problems you are causing me; please do something so we can avoid this. I'm sending a copy to the Post Office, so they'll know it's not my dog. Also, I'm worried about your dog's safety, and my own liability if someone else should think "my" dog has bitten them, or scared them. So I'm sending this to you registered mail, and to the Postmaster, registered as well, so that everyone will have official record of this."