I use spray-n-grow! Love the stuff! Just got a new bottle the other day!
keeping a dog (and kids) out of my yard
I tried to order Liquid Fence on line just a couple of days ago and it wouldn't go through. Do you know of a retailer that carries it?
www.spray-n-grow.com carries it. was that what you tried? liquidfence.com is the company url; maybe they have a retailer locator on the site.....
Decklife, did you try the liquidfence? Anything good to report back?
talk about keeping dogs out of your yard... how about keeping them out of your house??
I woke up from a nap on sat to find my neighbors 16 week old puppy in the middle of my hall way with both my large dogs on either side of it growling.. Seems while all of us (me and my dogs) were napping the neighbor let his puppy out loose and left it out.. it came over to my yard, crawled between the pickets of the fence and came into my home thru the doggie door. I woke up to a dog fight about to happen. I grab the pup and take it back to its home.. its owner had gone to bed leaving the pup outside on its own.. real responsible person here...NOT!!!!
I woke him up and told him if he didnt take better care of the dog I was going to file a report with the police. I told him I didnt want this to get nasty but his dog could have been hurt. If he chose to do nothing then I will be forced to file the complaint.. that means that the next time I caught the dog in my yard it was going to cost him 500.00 so building a pen was cheaper than the fine Guess what!!!! he built a pen!!!!
I dont understand why I had to threaten him to make him take care of his dog.. I dont get the mentality of some people ..
I don't know why someone like that has a dog. I have neighbors here that have a beautiful dog. I've lived here 5 years and I've seen that dog out of the yard a total of one time. He never gets walked or played with. When we replaced the fence between the yards, he was over here the whole time the fence was down. It was sad to hear him whine every day after the fence was back up when our garage door went up announcing DH's return from work. The dog wanted over here. He got out of their yard once and wouldn't come when they called him. DH called and he immediately came to him. That's the 1 time he was out of their fenced yard. I'm not one of those people who think of their pet as a child or child replacement, but geesh, why have one if you pay it absolutely no attention and don't want to take care of it. Irresponsible owners that let dogs run loose or barking all day drive me nuts. That's a short drive though..........
Maybe people like that belong in a cage or fenced in area so that they can enjoy the same kind of life they are giving their animals.
Years ago while in MI I reported a neighbor to the SPCA for animal cruelty.. they had it in a filthy kennel, never let it out,never played with it.I had to give it water most of the time. it was sicking to me how the poor thing was treated. I called and they came out, investigated, and took it away. No creature should have to live like that in MHO...
FW has finally this last year passed a law against chaining dogs. That always seems to make them more agressive even if they are well cared for.
I have never understood why anyone would chain a dog. I mean, if you want it for a watch dog, it wouldn't do much good chained up. If you want it for a pet, interaction would be limited if it were chained up outside, so why have one? I truly don't understand what they could be thinking. If they just don't want the animal, why not take it to a shelter where it would have a chance at a home where it was actually wanted? Of course, I don't understand what motivates a lot of human behavior that seems particularly inhuman to me. Some of the things people do their kids is so bad that you'd think I wouldn't be surprised at how they treat animals. That Baby Grace trail that is in all the news right now has brought me to tears more than once. That has to be one of the most disturbing news stories I've ever heard. Sorry, I've rambled and gotten waaaayyyyy off topic. On to happier gardening thoughts. Sorry about that.
Crow
I agree with all of the above, Crow.
Christi
Haven't heard of Baby Grace, but many things I have seen in the news in the past with regard to how people treat children or animals makes my stomache turn over. Just can't understand how anyone can even bring themself to be so cruel and inhumane. And the scary part is that they are really human.
Like I said that is illegal here in Fort Worth now.
I have dogs that don't get out of my yard but they have a few acres to play in and they come in at night and they are spoiled rotten. I guess I wouldn't have a problem with putting a dog on a chain if it were only for a short period during the day and definitely not in bad (hot or cold) weather. But I think alot of people don't use any sense and they leave the animals on a chain 24-7 and just basically forget about them, which I do think is cruel and no decent life for a sentient and intelligent animal like a dog. I would rather someone just shoot me than to treat me like that, and I'm sure most dogs would agree. I think I got turned off a bit to chains watching the Animal Planet shows with the SPCA going out and finding dogs with chains enbedded in their skin because they were left that way so long. Or just abandoned chained to a tree with no food or water and on the verge of death. Sickens me. Surely there has to be a better way to keep a dog from wandering. And if not, there is the option of not getting a dog or giving it away.
We always have two dogs at a time. Hate to admit it but they sleep with us. Cannot imagine mistreating an animal any more than my children or grandchildren. I believe that God will judge us on all accounts.
Christi
Caution...this is graphic....
I used to work for a vet and when I think of chaining, I think of this little black cocker mix that was chained when the people first got it. When they brought it in about two months later, hair was matted around the collar an it had to be cut away it was buried into the dogs neck. It had a slit in it's throat from one ear to the other all the way to the bone and legiments in her neck. Surgery wasn't possible because there was no viable skin to stich together. It had a dried beef look to it where the chain had wore away at it's neck as it grew. We treated it with a medicine that created a skin of sorts on the wound and eventially after a couple of weeks it was released. Hopefully that was a lesson learned by that family. If they had paid any attention to the pup, they would have noticed long before that happened.
Sorry to be so negative on chaining, off my soap box now.
Bubba, I know what you mean about having people let their dogs run free and destroy others property. I can't stand that either. I guess my point was that if you have an animal, you need to be responsible and treat it decently. If people don't have a fenced yard and don't want the animal in the house, then they shouldn't have the dog if they live in the city. Houses are too close together and traffic is too bad to have a dog run loose. I am a dog owner. My dog is a 75 pound lap dog, a boxer. She is sometimes outside in our fenced yard, chasing squirrels. If she's outside the fence, she's on a leash, no exceptions. I walk her twice a day, but she's always leashed. She's a big goofball and loves people, but she's big and if she runs up to someone to get petted, if they don't know her, it could be very frightening to see this moose sized dog charging at you. I know lots of people out in the country who let their dogs run loose. That's different if they don't have a problem with neighbors or traffic. I guess I've just lived in the city so long, I forget that other people don't actually have neighbors 20 feet away.
Well, we just had to resort to buying three jennies for our place. We've been told that they will discourage to dogs and coyotes from our pasture and I hope it works!
I was out at about 4:30 AM with our three dogs (a corgi, a rat terrier/chihuaua mix, and an ancient red heeler--she had to go out) a week and a half ago. It was pitch dark out and I had my man-light with me. The r/c stays on a leash even though we have a fence around the house as she is a bit cookoo and might run off, but the other two know where they belong and generally stay put. (They all sleep in the house and don't go outside unless someone is with them). I didn't see anything but as we wandered about while the red heeler picked her spot the security light came on. Thinking it was just a night hawk or some such I didn't turn right away but just casually glanced over. There stood the massive, black Great Dane from accross the FM road. He was half hidden by the garage and was just standing there staring at us. Needless to say I just about jumped out of my skin. I turned the man-light on him and in the background I could make out several pairs of glowing red eyes, so he had friends. I just casually gathered up my dogs and went inside. The Great Dane never moved the whole time. I don't know if he had evil on his mind or if he was just watching. I just got the heck in the house. Once inside I ran and got DH and he jumped in the truck and went chasing the whole pack accross the pasture. Of course we can't be doing that often as there are cows and calves in our pasture. A fellow who works for the neighbor behind our property told us that those dogs were in his pasture chasing his cows so I'm sure they were doing the same on our pasture. We've talked to the family who own these dogs several times, but they seem to think there is no problem with their dogs coming over to our place. They think the dogs are chasing off coyotes for us.
Soooo an aquantance of ours has some donkeys on his pasture and offered to let us have a couple. Three jumped in the trailer, so we have three. I think the jennies might be fun to watch and so far I have seen them stare down the boldest coyote...I hope they do the same to these dogs. DH is most displeased about these dogs (so far the coyotes have only torn up my watermelon patch and we put up and electric fence for next year) and we all want to rectify that condition as soon as possible :)! We barely know these neighbors but really don't want this situation to escalate. I'm begining to feel like Poland hoping that England can keep Germany from crossing the border...
Hope those girls work out for you. They are really excellent defenders and protect their territory well. We have a dairy farm out behind our house and we were walking out that way one day with my blue heeler, Blue. The dairy farm keeps some donkeys around to ward off the coyotes that roam around here and I got to see first hand how they deal with dogs. That jenny saw Blue, stared her down, and started making a bunch of racket and then got up on her back legs, coming at my dog the whole time like she was gonna kick Blue in the head. I have never seen my dog run so fast (even though she loves to chase after everything). She turned and ran for her life and went flying into the creek before that jenny could get her. I had toyed with the idea of a jenny for our place to keep the coyotes at bay, and after seeing one go at my dog, I 'm convinced. My six year old son was with me and in the flash of the moment I thought she was charging my son. So I grabbed him and picked him up to run with him, but then realized that the jenny didn't seem to mind us at all - just the dog. :)
Yes, I've taken a walk and they seemed to just watch me. I hope they work out, too, and thanks for the encouragement.
Be careful when those dogs that have that totally quiet, fixed gaze. That's a predator stance and if it's you they're fixed on, that means you're the prey! That instinct seems to be much more pronounced in dogs that run free and in packs. Running would have been a really bad move. We actually had several incidents here in Houston last year where a pack of loose dogs killed several FHA animals that kids were raising. It happened several times and there were a number of animals killed. It had to get television coverage before the city would try to catch the loose dogs.
Speaking of dogs and kids, did any of you see that octuplet mom on Dateline last night? I think she's nuts. She already has 6 kids, 3 of who are autistic, no job, no husband, is living off student loan money, is on food stamps, and now has 8 more children of which several will likely have disabilities including autism or cerebral palsy. She was on social security disabliltiy due to back problems until she got pregnant with the octuplets. I guess they figured if she could carry octuplets until successful live delivery, her back must not be that bad. The estimated cost to the state for their hospital and medical bills is 1.3 million dollars. No income, yet she can afford acryllic nails and plastic surgery? What's up with that? I'd love for some agency to tally up the lifetime total that family is going to cost in federal tax dollars, never mind the state funds.
I think whoever her doctor is should lose his license and foot the bill himself. That is completely irresponsible and unethical for a physician. I have one high functioning autistic child and believe me there is no way that woman can ever do right by those children and give them what they need to be happy, well-adjusted, and successful with the resources she has. Not to mention the clear lack of common sense and good judgement. I know everyone has a right to produce their own progeny but some people should just not be allowed to reproduce themselves as they are obviously carrying some serious mental defects that are harmful to themselves and others. OK, off my soapbox now, just had to vent. :)
This last year the state of Texas passed a law about chaining dogs. It limits the hours a dog can be tied up and also during certain weather conditions. I read this law after it passed. If you see a dog that lives it's entire life tied up then it's unlawful in Texas.