My dog got into a scuffle with a former neighbor's dog 3 years ago and I've kept my dog away from other dogs since that time. New neighbor moved in 2 weeks ago, has been letting his dog run around off leash, and has made it pretty clear he has no intention to leash his dog. What do I do?
She didn't break the other dog's skin during the fight, but she went for the neck and it was really sudden so we've been super cautious with her around other dogs since then (she has never shown aggression toward humans fwiw). There have been a couple of "close calls" where unleashed dogs tried to approach her, but I was able to prevent them from getting to her while yelling at them to get their animals.
I've lived in this apartment since 2013. My apartment is one of 14 with a giant fenced-in area that includes all 4 of the landlord's adjacent houses plus a vacant lot. Because of the large fenced-in area, new neighbors have been tempted to let their dog run off-leash in the communal property. In the past, I've been able to just say "hey, leash your dog" and everything has been fine. This time, not so much.
The new neighbor lives upstairs, and the (outdoor) stairs end right outside my front door. The first incident happened when I was talking to my neighbor with my door cracked, and his dog barreled down the stairs without warning. My dog barked, causing his dog to want to investigate, and I had to grab my dog's collar to keep her from running out the door. A minute later, he walked down the stairs and let his dog outside the gate onto the public sidewalk. The dog was unleashed, and in fact didn't even have a collar on(!)
My neighbor talked to the owner on my behalf after the incident and asked him to keep the dog on leash, but he was non-committal (this was a couple of days ago). Tonight, he let his dog barrel down the stairs without a collar or leash again, and we tried to talk to him again. The dog's owner, who seems nice enough although pretty stubborn, has argued that his dog is well behaved (true, from what I can tell) and that his dog doesn't need to be on a leash because his dog isn't a problem, and if my dog attacks his dog that's my fault and not his problem. He claims his dog doesn't have a collar because a skunk sprayed it and he is waiting for a special order collar.
As far as I can tell, legally speaking, is if both dogs were a public area and his off-leash dog approached mine while mine is leashed and his dog was bitten, it's actually his fault for not having a leashed dog. I don't know if that changes because it's private property or not and I'm really concerned about what my liability would be if something happened. I've already talked to the landlord about this. He said he asked him to leash the dog, and that he said he didn't have enough money for a leash. My landlord is definitely on my side, but he's been frustratingly passive in the past when it comes to resolving these sorts of neighborly conflicts, so I'm not too hopeful.
I really don't know what to do in this situation. I'll continue pushing my landlord to do something, but I'm hesitant to piss him off because he hasn't raised the rent since we moved in and he could easily rent it for double what we're paying on our month-to-month lease. My first concern is for our dogs' wellbeing, and my second is about liability. How should I proceed? |
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