Ankle Biters at My Fence

Life the past two weeks hasn't been the easiest with the heat wave. Trying to exercise four dogs before the heat overwhelms us all is difficult especially when you have neighbors that insist you wait until 7 am because that's when the noise ordinance ends. My dogs don't usually bark while outside, but their play usually sets off one neighbors little ankle biters and when three or four of said ankle biters start barking it's really annoying. Especially annoying because they leave their yard to enter another neighbors yard to bark at my fence at my dogs. Even though I've been working with my four large dogs on not barking back at them, I get blamed for the dogs barking. Most mornings I'm out with my dogs they ignore the ankle biters and if for some reason one or more of my dogs starts to bark I'm able to quiet them. I do my best to control my dogs and two of the things I do is keep my dogs on my property and make sure my fence is in good repair.

I admit I wouldn't be as nice about the trespassing ankle biters as my neighbors. I would first ask that they fix the hole in their fence, if the ankle biters continued to escape I'd ask a minimum of two more times for them to fix the problem before I'd call the local Animal Control. Might sound harsh to some, because you might think those eight-pound ankle biters couldn't harm a fly, wrong they bite just like any dog but that's not the reason I'd call. I would actually be calling more for their dog’s safety. Their eight pounds wouldn't stand a chance with my 80-pound Greyhound or my other three 60+ pound dogs if a fight ensued. My dogs are well socialized and under close supervision would do fine with small dogs, but I am not a fan of small dogs with large and extra large dogs. Maybe if they heard from Animal Control and were fined for the trespassing they'd work on keeping their dogs safe.

While these noisy ankle biters provided me with an excellent training opportunity, I would much prefer that the dogs get their exercise in their own yard rather than running my fence line.

Until next time Woof, Woof, Woof and a Roo!