Op Ed: Dangerous and Vicious Dogs: One possible solution.

by Jp

FeedTheViIlage.com - Op Ed: Dangerous and Vicious Dogs: One possible solution.

Dangerous and Vicious Dogs: One possible solution.

After reading the article Irresponsible Dog Owners and all of the comments I had to write this article to possibly help someone else deal with the issue of a neighbor that is not responsible in their dog ownership and evidently will not be proactive in working toward a solution.

In the article the writer mentions that the irresponsible owner has 2 vicious dogs that re kenneled all of the time, have never been socialized or trained and now are a danger to the community and to her small children.

Obviously, we would all hope that the situation would have never gotten to this point and the any person that buys a dog would take responsibility and spend the money and more importantly the time to work with their dogs so a situation would not escalate to this point.

There really aren't any bad dogs - just bad owners!

Having said that, however, does not help this particular situation and does not make her children any more safe.

She has went to the authorities who locked the dog up for 10 days and then let the owner retrieve them for $1100.00.

It is my understanding that the owner paid the $1100.00 to put them back in a kennel and continue to neglect them.

Another opportunity wasted by the dog owner.

Spending that same $1100.00 on professional training would have prevented the escalation to this point.

My advice to the neighbor with the small children is this:

Notify the homeowner in this case (as you say the neighbor is the renter) in a very polite letter advising him/her that the neighbor has vicious a dogs on the premises.

Let them know you are notifying them of such as "surely they and their insurance company are not aware of this" and that you are looking out for their best interest.

** IF POSSIBLE: Get a copy from animal control of the "vicious dog" letter and attach a copy.

Being the concerned and good neighbor that you are - you would not want the poor homeowner to be taken unaware and something happen or their insurance company to become aware of the dangerous condition that the renter has created and the insurance company cancel the homeowners insurance or raise the rates because of the actions of the renter.

You might want to also include that recently insurance companies have adopted a "no exceptions" stance on the keeping of vicious dogs.

They will cancel policies quickly if that type situation exist.

We all know (or should know) that once you have been canceled by an insurance company it is almost impossible to get insurance again and if you can the payments are MUCH higher.

This is a landlord's worst nightmare.

Especially, if they own more than one property it could cost them a fortune in increased premiums.

Being the good neighbor that you are it was very important to you to advise your neighbor to protect them from what could end up being a bad situation.

Hopefully - armed with the new information in writing via certified mail:

1. That the renter has vicious dogs on site.

2. They have been given the knowledge and made aware of the situation in writing.

3. That if the dangerous situation is not corrected - then as a parent you will be forced to contact his insurance company to verify that he would have sufficient coverage in the event that the vicious dogs were to escape and cause harm to your children that his insurance would cover it.

Hopefully this information would cause the homeowner to take positive action to remove the threat to you and your family.

Sadly, it has reached this point - if the renters move then the problem has just moved to a different location and if they don't but have to get rid of the dogs then you still have to live beside them and that could be awkward to say the least.

The worst case is that nobody does anything, but you have copies of the letter and the certified mail receipt as well as the one you send to the insurance company if no action is taken, and something does happen.

Let's hope that is NOT the case EVER!

Perhaps this will help you get some resolution and make it a better place for you and your family.

Regarding the fence-

You might want to do that anyhow as the old saying goes:

"Good fences make good neighbors!"


Be Well