Neighbours Dog entered my garden and damaged plants etc what are my rights please

[angel_1]

hiya all

 

what a bit of a nightmare - neighbours dog entered now my garden and has left my pots damaged, flowers messed about, lots of lovely poop etc

 

no note from neighbour and now i wish to know what are my rights

 

by the way last month entered my other neighbours garden too but didnt do any damage

 

so, im back from hols and came back to this nightmare - we have taken pictures of the garden and all the damage even my nephews football has new teeth marks arghhhhhh

 

1. my friend is on hols now who was looking after the house so am waiting for her return today for any other info

 

have spoken with my a neighbour who witnessed the dog in my garden tearing around etc

 

thus,,,, what are my first things i should do, i am actually waiting today so i can collect info and would appreciate your thoughts

 

we dont mind the dog when he barks in his own garden not very often that he does but this now i feel my privacy been invaded and not something i relish having to have to deal with but i know i must, have my neighbours backing too if we need a united front

 

we wish to be kind but i will not be taken for a fool niether, so best plans and approaches would be gratefully received

 

also not feeling that great so do not want to cause any bad confrontation but im a bit annoyed to say the least but i would like to handle this in a nice way at first

 

cheers laters angel

 

hope you all had a fun august by the way

[Conniff]

You say you don't want any bad feeling and want to be kind. The easiest way to do that would be to mend the hole in the fence and say nothing.

[labrat]

or strap electrodes to the fence and wait for next time......

 

sorry people not keeping dogs under control is one of my pet peves.

 

best advice is just keep it polite, explain its been seen on your garden and point out the damage, take it from there

[angel_1]

hiya guys

 

many thanks for your posts, ,, i guess i was tired and a bit angry when i wrote earlier - will be interested to see what others also think now too

 

however other half is furious but will wait until tomorrow to just see if the neighbour pops over to us to explain things first

 

laters angel x

[gemspan]

Hi

 

Firstly I would like to ask how the dog managed to get into the garden in the first place? Is the fence broken or is there no boundary?

 

Also, what evidence do you have that the dog actually knocked down the plant pots etc., Unless you see it actually doing the damage you cannot be 100% accurate in saying it was the neighbour's dog. It could have been another dog that came into your garden - or even a dog that your friend had visiting while you were on holiday. You just don't know for certain.

 

I have dogs and always make sure that my dogs are under control but, tbh if there is a gap in the fence a dog will go through it. That's why I make sure that my fence is completely secure. Perhaps the owners don't know that the dog is coming through to your garden.

 

My advice would be to check the fence and repair any holes etc., so that its 100% secure and the dog can't get through. Re-pot your plants and clear up the mess. If your garden is secure then it can't get through. You'd have a hard time proving this and remember you have to live next door to your neighbour. Sometimes it's better to clean up and say nothing. Must be annoying though and it seems like its not the first time as a dog will not do numerous poo's in a garden on one visit!

 

Regards

Gemspan

[2Grumpy]

Is the fence in question supposed to be maintained by you, your neighbour or someone else?

[patdavies]

Is the fence in question supposed to be maintained by you, your neighbour or someone else?

 

Doesn't matter. It is for the dog's owner to ensure that they cannot escape from his/her property.

 

As an extreme example, if the OP owned the fence, then he/she is at liberty to completely remove it; this would not alter the duty of the dog's owner to ensure that it remained within the owner's property and thus the dog owner would need to erect his/her own fence