Who's responsibility is it to keep next doors dog out of our garden?

aMeLia'S~MuMMY

Just wondered if anyone knows this, my next door neighbour dog sits for her daughter whilst she is at work, it is a fairly large dog, we have a quite thick 5.5ft high hedge between the back gardens, however recently the said dog has made itself a hole in the hedge which it uses to come in and out of our garden, we have a young daughter so have concerns re: dog poo, the dog knocking her over if she is out playing or even biting her. My husband has put boards up in the gap but the dog just keeps knocking them down and we cannot afford a full fence along our back garden.

We are also concerned as sometimes ( it is quite rare though due to DD) our back gate is left open and if the dog comes into our garden it could escape through the gate, I cannot use this as an excuse with the neighbour as she herself knows full well that this is rare due to DD.

Does anyone know whose responsibility it is to keep the dog from our garden ?

:A

pboae

It is the neighbour's responsibility to keep their dog in. Your first step woul be to speak to them about it and ask them to either fence their garden, or not to leave the dog out there unsupervised.

If they won't, you could complain to the dog warden, and see if they will intervene, but by doing that it would become an official dispute and they would have to declare it if they wanted to sell up.

We had the opposite problem, our dog got through the hedge and into our neighbours' garden. They were fine about it, but I was mortified. It would have been a shame to fence it, because of the lovely hedge, so we got strong chicken wire, and round posts that just hammer straight into the ground. I put the posts as far into the hedge as I could, and gunstapled the chicken wire onto it. The hedge grew round the wire in one season, and although you can see the posts if you look, most people never notice.

If your neighbour doesn't want to properly fence their garden, maybe you could suggest trying that, as it is pretty cheap but quick to do.

As a last resort you could do the same on your side of the hedge instead. You shouldn't have to, but is they won't be reasonable, it's sometimes easier to do it yourself than deal with the hassle of a neighbour dispute.


EDIT: hmm havign said that I just found this link:

http://www.bexley.gov.uk/service/publicprotection/dogwarden.html#k

Which says
"My neighbour’s dog keeps getting into my garden. What can I do?
There are no laws regarding the trespass of dogs. If a dog of its own accord enters land without permission but does no more, the owner is not liable under civil law for the trespass; nor is it a criminal offence.
If the dog causes any damage whilst trespassing, the law is not clear but it is possible that the dog’s owner will be held liable for any damage caused.
If a dog bothers you by regularly straying into your garden Bexley Council can advise further. They can contact an owner on your behalf if you are able to supply the address."

I assumed it came under 'straying', but it looks from that link like it doesn't :-\

aMeLia'S~MuMMY

Thanks for that, the chicken wire contraption sounds like a good idea as I do not want to make a fuss over the situation ( or spoil the hedge ) or for it to cost a bomb!


It sounds like the perfect solution ~ my neighbour must know that the dog gets in the garden so I will mention it to her ( as she has never mentioned it to us ~ possibly hoping we hadn't noticed!!), we are friendly with her and look after each others animals when each other are on holiday but did not want to upset her or anything

Thanks again

:A

lemontart

http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/information/factsheets/doglaw/presentlaw/

here is info on current laws etc