Neighbor/dog issue

VaSteve · 03-20-2007, 04:43 PM

I own my house and the guy next door rents while the owner is away for a couple of years. I paid to have a wooden 4 post fence put up. They put chicken wire mesh on the inside I guess as the style (not all fences have that). I have a dog...a 30 pound mutt. The nieghbor has a beagle that is only semi-housetrained and bays all night.

Apparently the dog can get under the fence since the mesh has been banged up a bit with my weedeater. (It's my fence and I'm going to cut off some of the mesh this summer to make the weedeating easier). He asked me tonight if he could put 2 x 4's across the bottom to keep the dog in.

I initially said No because it will look like crap and suggested that he could get more mesh. I frankly don't want him to do it, and he should keep his stupid dog in the house like we do with ours 95% of the time.

Usually, I'm a nice guy, but this opens the door to other issues I think. Why should I bend for some short term renter?

What would you do?

stomachmonkey · 03-20-2007, 04:51 PM

No way. Your fence, his dog, not your problem although it is. Recommend a dog run and offer to help him build it.

VaSteve · 03-20-2007, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mikester
Seems like you need to fix your fence.

Why? I built it to keep kids out and my dog in. There's no requirement to have the mesh. Edit: he's got a "dog run" basically a post in the middle of the yard and the dog runs in a circle all day. Nice life.

stomachmonkey · 03-20-2007, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by VaSteve
Why? I built it to keep kids out and my dog in. There's no requirement to have the mesh. Edit: he's got a "dog run" basically a post in the middle of the yard and the dog runs in a circle all day. Nice life.

May not be so bad for a Beagle.

Had a neighbor with one. Whenever the dog got loose all he'd do is run in a circle on my front lawn.

Dog would do it for hours if you let him.

Made him easy to catch.

notfarnow · 03-20-2007, 05:31 PM

It's they're issue., so it seems like an odd request to me. Let them deal with it. Tell them they are welcome to modify YOUR fence from their side.

FWIW, if I let my beagles loose, they're GONE. Those are dogs with lots of energy; they need to get exercise or they start causing trouble (for example, digging under fences).

We have a very, very large dog run for them... almost 100' long. Sometimes they get a scent and start digging. I have to lay heavy bricks or stones along the base of the fence, nothing else can stop them.

VaSteve · 03-20-2007, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by notfarnow
It's they're issue., so it seems like an odd request to me. Let them deal with it. Tell them they are welcome to modify YOUR fence from their side.

That's what they want to do. It will look like ass, I'm certain. I'll grab a photo when the sun is up. Frankly, I paid for the fence and i don't necessarily want stuff screwed to it...

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

My father told me that neighbor/fence/dog issues were the #1 reason for calls to a residence in the suburbs where he was a cop for 30 years.

tdatk · 03-20-2007, 05:51 PM

I had a Beagle.....once......for about a month......hole diggin,howling at anything little bastid. Decided to keep his howling ass in the house one night....Bastid ate my wallet.......Gave away a purebread $300. dog, threw in a doghouse, chain, food, papers. Never again.

VaSteve · 03-20-2007, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mikester
Maybe I don't "See" what you're talking about in the description but I know my fence (which is block wall) keeps my stuff in as well as other folks stuff out.

It isn't a check valve so much as a stopper.

It's a check valve mostly. Keep people and random deer out.

Imagine a ghetto 2x4 nailed across the bottom row:

928ram · 03-20-2007, 07:43 PM

drun a string or 2 of razor wire under there, even a dumb dog will find somewhere else to dig

CRH911S · 03-20-2007, 08:18 PM

I thought dog-run suggestion was good. Have you consider suggesting and electronic fence? They're supposed to work well. Like labs, beagles need to be well exercised daily our they tend to resort to their own resources...like digging holes and under fences.

Joeaksa · 03-20-2007, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CRH911S
I thought dog-run suggestion was good. Have you consider suggesting and electronic fence? They're supposed to work well. Like labs, beagles need to be well exercised daily our they tend to resort to their own resources...like digging holes and under fences.

Second the electric fence idea. Seen it work with the most difficult dogs.

After seeing the photo, agreed that I would not want a 2X4 on the bottom of the fence either...

CRH911S · 03-20-2007, 08:43 PM

sorry about the spelling errors...the wine did it.

Dueller · 03-20-2007, 10:26 PM

+1000 on the electric fence. Pick up a cheap one and get the neighbor to split the cost. You probably can get one for $50 or so including the wire. It doesn't have to be cattle quality. We had a lab mix that was a perfect dog save for climbing a fence. He hit the hot wire strung across the top once. Amazing that one jolt cured him for life. We took it down after a week or so.

Plus it was funny as ***** to see his reaction

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

Why not one of those invisible fence/zapper collar things?

CRH911S · 03-21-2007, 02:10 AM

My father had this horse name Dax and very curious he was. Anyway, he had 2 1/2 acres fenced to run but had a thing for this Arabian stallion that was being boarded. So we put up a hotwire to keep the two from biting each other. He couldn't wait to test the wire and when he did he took off running the entire perimeter of the 2 1/2 acres and stopped exactly where he got shocked. He stood there for awhile and just stared at the wire. We had a good laugh. He never got closer than two feet to the wire after that. It's amazing that a little wire can intimidate such a large creature.

CRH911S · 03-21-2007, 02:11 AM

That's what I was thinking at the time, the invisible fence. Supposed to work pretty well.

speedracing944 · speedracing944's Garage

Triple the electric fence option. Run a strand of wire between the bottlom board and the ground. It will do the trick and not look ghetto. All it will take is one jolt. You could wire it to a switch to shut it off while the kids are playing outside thisway they don't get shocked. We have our horse pastures fenced off with electric and never hd problems with our kids touching it. We just pointed to the wire and said "HOT!" kids are 6 years and 2 years old.

Speedy

VaSteve · 03-21-2007, 03:32 AM

Not so sure on the electric fence..... a couple of reasons.

It's his problem, why should I spend my money fixing it?
I put my dog out in the yard. I don't want him to get shocked.
There is already mesh on there. He's worried about his little dog getting under. I'm worried about the engineering required to keep from lighting up the entire fence (if the wire touched the mesh) vs. just one ground based wire.

I'm not unreasonable....thanks for all the thougt thus far.

Eric 951 · 03-21-2007, 03:54 AM

Steve,

Just remove the mesh and leave it at that. The fence keeps YOUR dog in YOUR yard. If your neighbors' dog gets out of HIS yard--he needs to put up his own fence, or take other measures to deal with it--and nailing 2x4s to such a nice fence would definately not be an option.