We have a bit of a problem on our hands people, and I need your advice. Our genius bachelor neighbors (the ones with the redneck truck, broke down boat and 6 other cars in the driveway) got 2 pitbulls a couple of months ago. I'm not a huge fan of big dogs to begin with, but I always try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Pitbulls on the other hand, freak me out. And these are no exception. They snarl, bite and beat at our fence whenever we are outside. And if it's just Toby outside, it's even more aggressive behavior. I've caught them with their paws under our fence. Toby is a great dog, but he has the heart of a lion. But coming in at 16 pounds when soaking wet, his bark is bigger than his bite. Which scares me if these dogs ever break through the fence because they'd rip Toby to shreds in 0.2 seconds. Of course, I have the added concern that my toddler thinks it's fun there are dogs barking next door and wants to go and stand next to the fence to investigate. I shudder at the thought if his fingers ever get through the cracks. EEEGGGG. Momma bear will come out and those boys next door will not have puppies no more. Anyways, this all leads me to what happened this morning.
Toby and I were sitting in the kitchen while I was preparing our weekly menu. Toby kept muffing (this subdoed bark he does since we don't allow him to just bark for no reason). I kind of realized what was going on and then realized the reason he was muffing was because the pit bulls were barking. Incestantly barking. Which is weird because no one was in our backyard. Then I heard clawing at the fence. Like the dog was trying to GET THROUGH THE FENCE. I got up and looked out our window in the kitchen and was in disbelief. Yall, that pit was literally teetering on the top of the fence, scraping it's claws trying to GET INTO OUR YARD (like, 1/2 it's body was hovering in the air over our yard!)! I was FREAKING out. I ran to get my camera, knowing that no one would believe me and I needed proof that these are indeed PSYCHO dogs, but by the time I got back to the window the dog had fallen back into its own yard. I immediately called Drew to tell him what had happened. I was more scared than angry. I would not confront these dogs myself, and if Toby had been in the backyard this morning I am sure that that dog would have had more umph to make it over the fence. And then I would be typing a totally different story, a story that involved a dead Cairn Terrier who was trying to defend his turf. Ughh. Drew's going to go next door to talk to our neighbors because we are legitamately concerned, but legally there's not much we can do. They are abiding by the law, so it's not like we can file a complaint. Drew told me not to let Toby out in the backyard by himself today, but I feel so bad because it's BEAUTIFUL and he normally will go and lay in the grass in the sun during this kind of weather. So what do we do? To protect ourselves, and our dog and child? What would you do? Or have you faced something similar? Surely other people have had to deal with mean neighbor dogs. I don't want our neighbors to hate us, but at the same time they may have no choice if we end up having to do something to those dogs should they get over into our yard. Suggestions, comments and advice appreciated.....