Cats and dogs...

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So we have new neighbors that decided upon arrival that their (up until now) indoor cat was now an outdoor cat. This hasn't been working out particularly well for anyone involved.

The cat treed himself a couple weeks ago during a heatwave and spent something like 5 days 60+ feet up in a tree until they finally got somebody to rope up the tree and drag the cat down. We thought that was the end of the outdoor privelidges... Nope. A few days later a much thinner version of the cat reappears outside and promptly trees his dumb ass again. This time the neighbors are on vacation and the cat spends like 6 days in a tree (no food, no water) before they finally come home and pay a guy to rope up and drag it's dumb ass out of the tree (again).

Now most folks would say enough is enough... Nope. He's back out. I can't believe he's still alive. I have since renamed the cat "Arnie" after Leonardo DeCaprio's character in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRsK...youtu.be&t=116

Anyway, he's not a bad cat or anything. I kind of like him. He's always rolling into the shop when I'm out there working on bikes, etc...

But here's the problem: I have a dog:

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He *REALLY* wants to get out and "meet" this cat. He exhibits all the same behaviors as when he sees a chipmunk/squirrel, etc, so I have no illusions about what he'd like to do if he were to "meet" this cat.

Our back yard is fenced in and the dog has free rein while we're home.

This morning I come out and the cat is drinking out of my dog's outside dish, on my deck, inside our fence line. Of course this day would come.

I have absolutely no interest in forcing my dog to stay inside because this cat might decide to hop my fence. I'm going to talk with the neighbor when I get home tonight, but based on their previously stellar record of responsible cat ownership I doubt the conversation will go anywhere.

I'll do whatever I can to prevent the "meeting," but what am I looking at if my dog gets ahold of this cat in our fenced in back yard? What if he kills it?

Based on the law, I'd likely be OK, but that doesn't always matter too much if/when people decide to get all cunty.

Anybody been through a similar situation in MA?

Section 157

"Section 157. (a) Any person may file a complaint in writing to the hearing authority that a dog owned or kept in the city or town is a nuisance dog or a dangerous dog; provided, however, that no dog shall be deemed dangerous: (i) solely based upon growling or barking or solely growling and barking; (ii) based upon the breed of the dog; or (iii) if the dog was reacting to another animal or to a person and the dog's reaction was not grossly disproportionate to any of the following circumstances:

4: at the time of the attack or threat, the person or animal that was attacked or threatened by the dog had breached an enclosure or structure in which the dog was kept apart from the public and such person or animal was not authorized by the owner of the premises to be within such enclosure including, but not limited to, a gated, fenced-in area if the gate was closed, whether locked or unlocked; provided, however, that if a person is under the age of 7, it shall be a rebuttable presumption that such person was not committing a crime, provoking the dog or trespassing."

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Originally Posted by Tricky Mike

Now most folks would say enough is enough... Nope. He's back out.

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That kid is back on the escalator again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOMZ-Buj2n0

Sorry, all I got.

Kind of ironic, I'm in a very similar situation. We have a now adoptive cat that our neighbor thinks is perfectly capable of fending for himself while she goes on vacation for a month at a time. The cat spends all his time on our property. Our newly acquired puppy is actually friends with the cat now, and the cat tolerates her, but the cat is somewhat of a nuisance, climbing on our screens, crapping in our yard, leaving piles of dead mice in the driveway or on the porch. And we get to feed it every morning.

The best course of action me and my wife could come up with was for the cat to "disappear" one night...and somehow end up about 20 miles away in the hands of either 1. the humane society or 2. a family that would actually love the cat and treat it right.

File a complaint with animal control that this cat is on your property and as such, making it difficult for you to comfortably let you dog into your own fenced-in yard. Speak to your neighbor and let them know that the cat is in your yard, and you have a dog who is not familiar with cats, and may decide to "play" with the new creature. Put it in writing. Save a copy. Take photos of the cat in your yard. Document everything. You can't keep your dog in all day if the cat decides to move in, nor should you be expected to change your lifestyle to accommodate someone else's animal.

Isn't your dog black? That's the extra special killy kind! Have to protect the pussies at all costs....

In all seriousness, I doubt what the law says really matters if the cat meets Darwin. If the owners suck, it's going to be a PITA any way you look at it :(

I'd let them know that the cat will end up dead if your dog meets in in your fenced in yard, and nobody wants that to happen. They will either get the point and do something about it, or you'll have to call animal control.

Just do whatever possible to keep the cat from getting killed. They are much dumber than dogs and don't know about territory. Not it's fault.

I'd say the random disappearance and drop off at a human society many miles away would be a good last resort.

When I was by your neighborhood the other day, I saw some Coyotes. I'm pretty sure one of the sumbitches had a gate lock pick as well. So, I'd keep an eye on your dog, and by no means would I let a cat out in that area. Maybe prime the conversation a little bit with the neighbor.

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Originally Posted by mzdagrl

File a complaint with animal control that this cat is on your property and as such, making it difficult for you to comfortably let you dog into your own fenced-in yard. Speak to your neighbor and let them know that the cat is in your yard, and you have a dog who is not familiar with cats, and may decide to "play" with the new creature. Put it in writing. Save a copy. Take photos of the cat in your yard. Document everything. You can't keep your dog in all day if the cat decides to move in, nor should you be expected to change your lifestyle to accommodate someone else's animal.

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I would do this and only because of his breed and as you know I have 2 and deal with the BS too......they will be at the door with Pitch forks if not

tough spot to be in Tricky.. I think there is some advice in this thread I would follow as far as talking to the douche bags and documenting some stuff. It's tough to have to be on the defense before anything if anything happens. AS far as the tree'd cat. It'll come down as my friends father, the farmer says.. "You never see a cat skeleton in a tree do ya..."

I say take the same cavalier attitude as the neighbor and let your dog out whenever you want.
We have a dog door that leads to a fenced in area. The dogs can go out whenever they want and I love it when a squirrel/cat/woodchuck wanders into the fenced in area and the dogs literally fly through the dog door to chase the varmint.
I swear the younger dog (a boston terrier) can clear 15-20 feet in one leap when he launches off the deck.

Are you sure your dog would kill it? Sometimes a face to face between these animals tends to sort out the boundaries real quick. Our neighbor has two big black standard poodles that are always off leash. We constantly had to bring our Bullmastiff inside because they kept coming on our property. I wasn't able to get my dog inside quick enough one afternoon and the poodles got very aggressive with her - neither got killed or hurt badly but they took a fucking beating and now will only stand at the property line and bark occasionally. Problem solved. If the dogs barks or chases the cat off that might work, or maybe they'll be BFF's....or maybe you'll need a shovel.

:lolup: No need for a shovel. Crows clean up roadkill pretty quick.

Yeah, it's a pain in the ass. I really don't want anything to happen to the cat. It really isn't his fault. The new neighbors are nice folks and we have gotten along well. Just not too sure what they're thinking with this cat. It just defies logic... which opens up all kinds of questions about how logically they deal with things... The neighbor mentioned that they tried to keep him inside and he's not having it, shitting in the tub, etc. I suspect the husband would be elated if the cat disappeared, not sure the his wife agrees... and that could be the problem. Who knows.

I'm going to shore up our fence tonight to make extra sure the dog can't get out. We'll be keeping an eye on the back yard before we open the door to let him out. Not much I can do if the cat decides to come in once he's out...

Not really sure he'd kill it. I actually doubt he would. He's kind of nutty, but not the least bit aggressive. I've never seen him respond aggressively even when other dogs took a run at him. The one time he actually managed to get a squirrel he didn't know what the hell to do. The two of them just looked at each other all stunned. I had considered letting the dog out but it's just too unpredictable.

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Originally Posted by Pigman

I would do this and only because of his breed and as you know I have 2 and deal with the BS too......they will be at the door with Pitch forks if not

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Yes (and if something DOES happen, they probably still will call up the pitchforks, but at least you'll have some documentation on your side). I have 2 cats, and had a dog until he passed away this April. The cats were together before the dog came into our home and it took them all of 15 seconds before boundaries were drawn. Dogs and cats don't get along as poorly as we all like to pretend. What I would be concerned about is that your dog might try to play with the cat, and as a result potentially hurt it. Cats are actually pretty smart and have a sense of self-preservation that would out-do any dog's, and have this crazy ability to get away no matter how hard you try to catch them. Anyone who has ever tried to get a cat to the vet knows exactly what I am talking about.

We've been running into similar situations with dipshit vacationers that let their little-shit dogs run amuck. My shepherd bitch gets along with dogs as long as they're not in-your-face little shits. Unfortunately, just about every limpdick that vacations around us has just that and they let 'em run around the neighborhood, getting the dogs all wound up. I don't know what the exact law is, and I couldn't give two shits. If my dogs are restrained in my yard and those little unrestrained fuckers come rile 'em up, I'm just gonna sit back & watch. Plain & simple. If it were a cat, I'd probably toss it in the kennel for a snack...

^ I like cats. Drop kick dogs not so much. Please feed the dogs the ankle biters instead.

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Originally Posted by Tricky Mike

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He *REALLY* wants to get out and "meet" this cat. He exhibits all the same behaviors as when he sees a chipmunk/squirrel, etc, so I have no illusions about what he'd like to do if he were to "meet" this cat.

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is you fear for the cat or your dog?

we just acquired a stray cat about a month ago, couple weekends ago, I had a bbq in my back yard and invied family & friends, one came with is dog, that acts more human than dog, my friend was sitting next to the cat petting her and trying to introduce the two. the dog, was just ignoring the fact that the cat stood up and hunched her back, soon as the dog got with paws reach, she let out a yelp and ran away whimpering and I didn't even see the cat move she was so fast
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Originally Posted by RandyO

is you fear for the cat or your dog?

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Yes ;)

I say if your dog does kill the cat just deal with it the quite way and revel in the amazement of what is the "survival of the fittest"

I'm sure they will just assume it either ran away, got eaten by an animal out in the woods or ran up a tree and died there.

No reason to get people all pissy so they bring out the pitch forks...

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Originally Posted by TheIglu

I'd let them know that the cat will end up dead if your dog meets in in your fenced in yard, and nobody wants that to happen...

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I've tried this approach with aformentioned shit-dogs. Typically, we get the '...then YOU should train YOUR dogs not to act that way...' answer. Believe it too. Their dogs running up & down the road, yipping & shitting all over our yard. But WE gotta train OUR dog. I've outright told 'em their dogs were literally playing with their lives, yet it's still a constant, summer-long battle. And no, not every town in the United States has animal control-blah-blah-blah ready in the wait.

I've even demonstrated what could happen using a raw chicken quarter to get the effect across. The reply to that? '...you shouldn't give that to your dog. No wonder they're vicious...'

Fuckin' people just don't get it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3ZOKDmorj0

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Originally Posted by Stoneman

I've tried this approach with aformentioned shit-dogs. Typically, we get the '...then YOU should train YOUR dogs not to act that way...' answer. Believe it too. Their dogs running up & down the road, yipping & shitting all over our yard. But WE gotta train OUR dog. I've outright told 'em their dogs were literally playing with their lives, yet it's still a constant, summer-long battle. And no, not every town in the United States has animal control-blah-blah-blah ready in the wait.

I've even demonstrated what could happen using a raw chicken quarter to get the effect across. The reply to that? '...you shouldn't give that to your dog. No wonder they're vicious...'

Fuckin' people just don't get it...

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We had the same thing in our neighborhood. Pit mix in an unfenced yard and a loose for walks Border Collie. I was friends with both owners. Now they hate each other and get mad at me when I'm seen talking to the other.

Collie got bit in the road by the pit, now the pit is dead from a bullet to the head to keep the lawsuits at bay. He was a good dog. So was the collie.

There is no winner. Dogs don't care about litigation. Toss up a fence. If you can't keep the shithead dogs from coming around, then keep yours from getting themselves euthanized or you sued. The legal line of responsibility is your property line and unfortunately dogs aren't good surveyors. I'm lucky enough to have 500 feet between me and the road and an electric fence between our property and the only neighbors even close (cows/horses). I'm still considering putting up the fence anyways.

3k' of 5' chicken wire may not be cheap, but it's sure cheaper than a lawyer. Plus no more worrying about those god damn porcupines puttin holes in Bishop's face.

That's ok....Today our neurotic dog barreled through a screen which the window was open on, and climbed our neighbors fence to go "hide from the thunder"....how/why this happened, is beyond me...

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Originally Posted by TheIglu

We had the same thing in our neighborhood. Pit mix in an unfenced yard and a loose for walks Border Collie. I was friends with both owners. Now they hate each other and get mad at me when I'm seen talking to the other.

Collie got bit in the road by the pit, now the pit is dead from a bullet to the head to keep the lawsuits at bay. He was a good dog. So was the collie.

There is no winner. Dogs don't care about litigation. Toss up a fence. If you can't keep the shithead dogs from coming around, then keep yours from getting themselves euthanized or you sued. The legal line of responsibility is your property line and unfortunately dogs aren't good surveyors. I'm lucky enough to have 500 feet between me and the road and an electric fence between our property and the only neighbors even close (cows/horses). I'm still considering putting up the fence anyways.

3k' of 5' chicken wire may not be cheap, but it's sure cheaper than a lawyer. Plus no more worrying about those god damn porcupines puttin holes in Bishop's face.

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You understand these are other people's dogs coming on to our property while our dogs are restrained? Even if our's aren't restrained, they won't leave the yard unless we say. None the less, I have no problem watching some little shitbag that won't listen get eaten alive if they won't obey their owners and stay the fuck outta our yard and away from our dogs. Dogs are very animated when it comes to giving warnings. Little yaps won't listen to their owners nor heed the warnings of the dogs they're tormenting in my yard? G'head, call the cops. While you're doing that, I'm watching it all go down, all the while telling you you've been warned over & over...

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Originally Posted by Stoneman

You understand these are other people's dogs coming on to our property while our dogs are restrained? Even if our's aren't restrained, they won't leave the yard unless we say. None the less, I have no problem watching some little shitbag that won't listen get eaten alive if they won't obey their owners and stay the fuck outta our yard and away from our dogs. Dogs are very animated when it comes to giving warnings. Little yaps won't listen to their owners nor heed the warnings of the dogs they're tormenting in my yard? G'head, call the cops. While you're doing that, I'm watching it all go down, all the while telling you you've been warned over & over...

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That probably came off a bit more bitchy than was intended. But that's my stance. Can't keep 'em outta my yard after repeated warnings? Fuck, I've even got BEWARE OF DOGS signs posted on my mailbox, garage and back deck. It gets to a point each & every summer now where I just don't give a shit if it happens...