Aggressive dog across the street

We live in a condo community, and there are dogs EVERYWHERE. We even have a dog park right by our house. Well, I have a young girl that's deaf that lives across the street from me, and she has a Staffordshire Terrier that's probably about 8-9 months old now. We first met Jackie (the dog) several months ago, and she lunged at Ruby. She was on the leash, and I honestly thought she was just playful because she was wagging her tail. She's of course gotten bigger, and the girl's boyfriend is always out walking Jackie and 2 full-grown boxers. Yesterday, my neighbor's Maltese was outside on the fenced in patio, and she always barks at dogs as they pass by. I don't know what happened, but somehow Jackie was loose, and she bit the Maltese on her leg through the gate. She ripped a tendon, and now she can't move one of her toes. The boyfriend, who's also deaf, didn't really see what happened and said that the dog broke the leash, a flimsy little leather leash that looks like a freaking shoe string. I just don't know what to do. I don't want to rush Ruby in everytime we see Jackie outside because Ruby's a little barky at times. But, I also am terrified that something will happen to her. It just amazes me that someone with a dog as powerful as that would walk it on such a weak leash. Oh, and this isn't the first time she's "gotten loose". Argh!! Sorry, but I just had to vent a little. It just frustrates me because this dog wouldn't be this way if they had her properly trained.

Maybe the condo community should write them a letter about their aggressive dog? Or the Animal control officer for the town could communicate with them somehow? Someone has to step up and confront these owners because this cannot be tolerated.

Sorry that this is going on across the street from you! It must be very frustrating.

The dog has already attacked another dog; now you have a very good chance of getting something done about it. I would start with finding out about dog ordinances, especially those having to do with aggressive dogs - which Jackie IS, unfortunately.

I'd also lift my own dog whenever that one is around.

As a "neighbor" who lived next door to one of these situations, after a year of being attacked and the owner telling me his 85 lb boxer wasn't vicious, i finally had to bring in Animal Control. The clincher was the day he attacked me and my cavalier in my front yard (she had a leash on too). Owner didn't even apologize, just kept screaming to control his dog. Long story, short... my neighbor's boxer finally got the fenced yard he deserved from the start. Unfortunately, not the training...

Two weeks ago, another sweet lady a couple blocks down the street from me came by to tell me another one of our neighbor's 2 lab retrievers had attacked and killed her little terrier. Get this - the 2 labs were on a leash and being walked by the owner! Shadow pushed open the front screen door and ran to the corner where the neighbor was walking her labs - they grabbed Shadow and killed her instantly. My poor neighbor had a broken foot so she couldn't get to Shadow in time to grab her I see my neighbors labs are still locked in the back yard as usual - what a sad situation for everyone concerned.

Sheri

Well, today I found out that Jackie didn't actually bite Sassy...one of the boxers did. That doesn't make me feel any better, though, because they're always outside and are HUGE. The boxers were on the leash, and my neighbor's boyfriend was trying to get to Jackie (who had broken hers) at the patio fence when one of them bit Sassy. I don't really think they're even her dogs, so I don't understand why they're at her house. The law here is that all dogs must be leashed, which these were, but that still obviously doesn't mean something bad can't happen. I am very protective of Ruby and have had to pick her up a few times when dogs have gotten loose and decided to come see her. I've always been worried that I would make her even more afraid, but I also don't want her to get hurt. As far as laws about aggressive dogs, I'm not too sure about those. I just know that my neighbor really is a sweet girl, and she feels AWFUL, as we all would if one of our dogs did something like that. I just hate situations like this!!

This will probably sound a bit harsh but if your neighbours dog or dogs that occasionally reside with her bite and seriously hurt a dog or worse which is where this behaviour could lead, the last thing on your mind will be how sweet your neighbour is, especially if it is your little one they hurt.

It is not as if you are asking her to put her dogs down but some simple measures could be put in place if you or you and others made her aware of how at risk you feel because of the big dogs. For a start they could be muzzled in public to avoid any major threat and probably should be anyway now that one has bitten, secondly perhaps some manners on their part, they shouldn't just let their dogs approach another dog without checking with the owner first, its just polite, even if the dogs just want to play they can hurt a smaller dog due to their size.

You could right an anonymous letter if really concerned but it is your duty to your little one to put their safety first and if you can help other little doggies in the neighbourhood whilst approaching the subject thats an extra bonus.

If I was in your neighbours shoes i would rather someone tell me their concerns up front so i could do something about it than wait till something worse happens and authorities are involved and risk the life of my pet.