Trouble at the fence

[Jerilyn]

Wiki has always gotten along with the neighbor dogs through the fence. She mostly just ignores them but occasionally does nice sniffing with them. The house behind me has a German shepherd mix, she’s probably 3 years old.  She would occasionally bark at Wiki when Wiki was ignoring her, but they still mostly ignored each other. They added a second German shepherd this fall, she’s probably just about a year old now. Those two play hard with each other, a lot. When either one of them is outside alone they will greet Wiki at the fence nicely. But we’re having an issue when they are both out and all wound up and Wiki is near the fence. It’s happened three times and best as I can tell the original shepherd starts it. Barking, snarling, running the fence line. Once those two start, Wiki joins in. It only lasts less than 30 seconds and I’m able to eventually call Wiki off. But I don’t like it. I worry about Wiki getting hurt or this escalating to happening every time they are out. I’m at a loss about what to do. Any suggestions?

[FiveRoooooers]

That would annoy the crap out of me. If possible I’d set a barrier fence along that fence line to keep them from getting nose-to-nose through the existing fence. 

[BatterseaBrindl]

Agree...very annoying.  

Assuming the other owners don't care and don't call their dogs away?

What kind of fencing?   Can the dogs actually touch?   That is worrisome.

 

[greysmom]

Without seeing it it's hard for us tell for sure.  It could have several causes, and none of them are really "fixable" by whoever is on your side of the fence.  Wiki's not doing anything wrong except responding when the other dog goes off.  She may be the cause, but any dog would be.

If I had to say just going off your description I would guess the older/longer resident dog is either feeling protective or feeling threatened by seeing Wiki out when the younger/newer dog is present.  Are either/both dogs fixed/neutered?  That could be a possible source of tension, as well.  Especially since it only happens when both other dogs are out at the same time.  The behavior *might* extinguish itself as the newer dog gets older.  Or it might not.  I don't think you can count on anything you can't control.

So...  Easiest is to just not let Wiki out when both dogs are out, or call her in until the coast is clear.  Second would be to establish a visual barrier between the dogs, either with hardscaping or landscaping.  Though I will tell you a 6 ft solid wood fence between us and the two shepherds behind us doesn't stop them from barking at Andi and Flizzie.  Hardest is to teach Wiki to ignore them.  I've got my two to the point where I can call both of them to me when the barking starts from next door.  From there we usually go inside for a while.  If they haven't done what they need to do, we just ignore the barking as much as we can and go in as soon as we can.  FWIW, the barking doesn't set mine off anymore, and we can usually get the job done without too much trouble.  

I have a harder time with the golden next door through the chain link fence.  They both love River and would happily run up and down the fenceline barking and jumping around like fools - it's definitely play behavior with River and not a fear response.  Fortunately I can distract River with treats, and once she's not running anymore I can get my two away and inside.  If the folks behind you don't object to your feeding their dogs treats, you can try that strategy.   I taught River to sit through the fence that way and she's a champ at it now!!  I don't see the shepherds often enough to try the treat/distraction game with them, but if I can get them to focus on a hole under the fence and toss a treat through I can usually calm things down.

Good luck!

[Jerilyn]

All my fences are my neighbor’s fences.  And that side is the worst, just cheap, flimsy chain link. I really don’t want to put up a barrier, and it’s winter in Wisconsin.

All dogs are spayed girls. I had the same theory as Chris, that the original shepherd doesn’t like the new one visiting with Wiki. I don’t know if Wiki’s response is, “Hey you kids knock it off” or “You wanna rumble? Let’s go!” 

The owners are good. They try to call off their dogs when this happens, but they don’t listen, and they are often in the yard unsupervised because they will run and play for hours.

I do try to check if they are out before letting Wiki out. And most of the time if they are all out at the same time nothing happens. But we do like spending time in the yard and I don’t want to not be able to do that.

I suppose for now it’s just vigilance and hoping they get over it.

[LBass]

Jerilyn, I remember watching the dogs in their long runs at the "puppy farm" Bill and Cathy Lambert had.  I was visiting MoMo Meany Pants.   At any rate, what you describe sounds a lot like the activity of Greyhounds in those runs.  The runs were long rectangular, fenced areas that were side by side. Each run housed 3 Greyhound pups/adolescents.  The dogs spent a lot of time running back and forth along the fence line, barking at each other--talking smack.   They got strong and practiced running in groups, lots of direction changes.  It was clearly a fun activity, though if it was happening in my back yard, I'd try to quiet it down as well.

[racindog]

I am sure Wiki is acting with typical, not unexpected, non-aggressive greyhound behavior. Please don't take it for granted that the GSD's are also non-malevolent.  The GSD's are doing it out of prey and territory drives and their own history. It is not happening because one is 'jealous' of the other.  And its most likely that the owners will do NOTHING to correct the reactivity of the newest one that creates the dangerous situation.  If the fence is as flimsy as you said I am surprised that they have not already breeched it and gone after Wiki. IDK of any solution short of building your own privacy fence.  I don't mean to be negative but I am a K9 handler that handles the craziest dogs there are-malinois. I have learned to take their drives very seriously because when a malinois' switch flips on(and it can be triggered by ANYTHING) it is a very dangerous situation because their brain stops working. That means they may attack anyone they can get to-even the handler.  Wiki would not stand a chance against 2 GSD's. Greyhounds may try to run away but they seldom are able to due to a lack of space and just plain fear.  There was one sad story on here years ago about a greyhound owner who had rented a private play field as part of a special day of fun for her and her hound. Sadly some stupid person released another dog into the private field. It scared this particular greyhound so bad that he tried to run away as fast as he could to get away from the new dog. He ran straight into the fence, broke his neck and died. Our beloved hounds are no match for the riff raff reactive dogs.  If you go out with her on a lead TBH you should take some kind of a EFFECTIIVE deterrent-maybe bear spray or a stun wand or club etc) with you to protect yourself as well because they may go after you also if they get to Wiki. Just wanted you to know that it is indeed a serious situation that probably needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. The GSD's will not 'get over it.'  Actually they usually get worse. Another biggie to be aware of is that it is not uncommon for a dog that has been attacked to in turn become reactive itself after that.  Many formerly trustworthy and laid back dogs have become dangerously reactive because once they survive an attack from another dog they then become aggressive themselves out of fear-usually for the rest of their lives.  It is one of the reasons that people who let rogue dogs run loose are one of my pet peeves.  There have been very loyal (and expensive) service dogs ruined and made jobless when they were attacked by some rogue while they were working in public and then themselves became dangerously aggressive  

Edited January 2, 2023 by racindog

[Apollo_the_Grey]

Fences are scary.  Fence fighting can lead to aggression out of frustration of not being able to physically interact with that other dog.  And that can lead to leash aggression/reactivity.

I would suggest coordinating walks with your neighbor, if possible.  Get those dogs walking together.  That creates a very strong bond, if it's done regularly.  It's especially important if it's 3 females.  That is a scary combination.  

If you cannot do that, then consider putting a visual barrier to prevent the dogs from seeing one another.   My reasoning is simple:  two dogs become of the same mind, and fences can be jumped, broken, or tunneled under.  

 

I firmly believe that getting the 3 dogs together and having group walks would be the most beneficial activity for all of them, as long as all the owners are on the same page and in control of the doggos.

Please keep us updated.  

 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by Apollo_the_Grey
clarification