Dog_Horse_Girl Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 So I know it's school holidays and that kids are bored etc. The kids next door are not there full time AFAIK but there are two younger boys (probably about 8 yrs old) who seem to be staying and there's a teen boy as well who I think is there full time. Not 100% sure of the relationships etc but maybe the bloke who is my neighbour is either an uncle or grandparent. The bloke is quite nice and easy to have a chat with and his wife only died recently. Anyway, what's been happening: 1. They play cricket or soft ball in their back yard - fair enough. But they seem to hit the ball over my fence quite a lot. Six times or more yesterday and four times today so far. The kids then climb up the fence and yell out to me so I have to go and get the ball and hand it back. Okay, so I know kids play and I know balls can go astray - but really? You'd think they would either stop hitting the ball in my direction or perhaps go to the park to play...it's just down the road and a good size for cricket and that sort of thing. The older boy seems quite responsible and capable of supervising the younger two. 2. The dogs are normally quiet and they usually only bark for a reason. Ruby (staffy cross) has never been fond of kids, I don't know why but as she was a rescue, anything is possible. I also feel that she could have been a camp dog before she was impounded but we will never know for sure. Lots of impounded dogs in the Darwin area are camp dogs, and just as many - if not more - are not. She has always had a slight food aggression problem so is fed separately and there's no issue. But these kids climbing on the fence and hanging over it are seriously annoying her. Now it's escalated with one of the younger boys - he's decided that climbing on the fence gets a reaction from her, so he's upped the ante and has started (this afternoon) hanging around the fence - fence-running almost. He's posturing and growling at her. Naturally, Ruby has reacted to this. I told him that she doesn't like kids and he needs to stop behaving that way because she is already upset. The second time the ball came over in the space of two minutes, I explained to the child that he needs to leave my dogs alone and that if he doesn't I will be cranky. I'm trying to get a job ATM and while I know kids will be kids, it's really difficult to complete job applications when I've got to go outside regularly to retrieve someone's kid's ball. I'm not sure what I can do other than repeat to the kids that they can't gee my dogs up...any suggestions? BTW - dogs are inside dogs. I take them out and supervise them when they're outside. I don't want to get off-side with anybody here. I just want to protect my dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shells Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Just go politely speak to their parents. Just explain that the young boy climbing the fence is upsetting your dog and you are worried about the barking/noise she is making (even if you arent it kind of softens the blow) If it were my kids playing up I would want to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog_Horse_Girl Posted January 5, 2011 Author Share Posted January 5, 2011 Shells, I don't know who the parents are, or even if the parents are around. I don't know who the kids belong to but I think the teen lives there and the younger boys are just visiting. I've only recently moved here so I don't know which kid/s belong where or to whom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diva Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 (edited) Kids' balls over the fence are kind of part of suburban life. It will probably calm down after school holidays end, but if you can't wait you'll have to have a polite word to whoever the resident adults are or the kids themselves. Maybe tell them you'll return the balls but not one by one, everything can get chucked back at the end of the day. I used to get it a lot but the parents were pretty responsible and tried to minimise it. It reduced a lot when I got a new puppy - she got to the balls first a few times and there was nothing much to return after that, the kids soon learnt from losing a few balls. Edited January 5, 2011 by Diva Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siks3 Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Pick up the ball cut in half and throw it back over they will either run out of balls or stop hitting them over. win win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whippetsmum Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Another 2 options: 1. Buy a big pack of tennis balls from a discount shop and give them to the kids, $5 can buy a bit of peace. Make a point of telling them that you will return the Balls only if they go to your front door and ask nicley, and you will only do a ball collection once a day, eg 6pm. Choose a time that will suit you when you get a job, and make sure you make it late enough so they won't accost you as soon as you get home from work. OR 2. Tell them that the dogs like the balls and may bite if anyone tries to take the balls, the dogs like to kill the balls of course, so they can't be returned, very sorry of course, bue they need to be more careful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogfan Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 (edited) Another 2 options:1. Buy a big pack of tennis balls from a discount shop and give them to the kids, $5 can buy a bit of peace. Make a point of telling them that you will return the Balls only if they go to your front door and ask nicley, and you will only do a ball collection once a day, eg 6pm. Choose a time that will suit you when you get a job, and make sure you make it late enough so they won't accost you as soon as you get home from work. I like this idea, but they may start climbing the fence. Maybe you could put security cameras or something? Or maybe a hose that triggers when you go near it... Okay joking about that. EFS Edited January 5, 2011 by dogfan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Souff Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Another 2 options:1. Buy a big pack of tennis balls from a discount shop and give them to the kids, $5 can buy a bit of peace. Make a point of telling them that you will return the Balls only if they go to your front door and ask nicley, and you will only do a ball collection once a day, eg 6pm. Choose a time that will suit you when you get a job, and make sure you make it late enough so they won't accost you as soon as you get home from work. OR 2. Tell them that the dogs like the balls and may bite if anyone tries to take the balls, the dogs like to kill the balls of course, so they can't be returned, very sorry of course, bue they need to be more careful! No.1 is an excellent solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimzy Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 a few years ago we had a family next door who's kids liked to kick a basketball high into the air and watch it lad on our roof. They were about 14 years old and a basketball could have killed our toy poodle. I asked them and their parents nicely a couple of times but it didnt stop so the next time it happened i took the basketball down to the managment company that had the rental they were in and had them pick up the basketball from there. It never happened again. In your situation i really like the idea of buying the cheap tennis balls for them good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebette Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 I've been trying to get the 3 boys next door to stop throwing balls (and other crap) into my garden for the last 8-10 years now. To say it's been a long saga would be an understatement and neither of the parents of these kids are approachable. This week alone we have had 2 tennis balls, a soccer ball and 2 proper hard cricket balls arrive in our garden (we assume all from them but can't be sure) Is it really so hard to teach kids not to put balls over a fence? Had a cricket ball hit the dogs they would have serious injuries not to mention my kids can't play out there and even hanging out my washing is dangerous. They just won't stop. Sorry for my vent it's is a very touchy subject for me that goes way beyond "normal suburban" balls over the fence behaviour. In your case I would go and speak to your neighbour immediately and let him know of the beahviour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra777 Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 2 proper hard cricket balls arrive in our garden Lucky you - these are expensive but my dogs love them and they actually last more than three seconds Last time we lived next to a bunch of ball wielding kids they only had those soft tennis ball look alikes, didn't last the dogs very long at all Lilysmum - doesn't matter which kids belong where, if the kids are at this house speak to the adult of that house - let him sort it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
korbin13 Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 The kids next door stopped hitting, kicking their balls over the fence once my dogs started deflating them! Their parents were quite sensible though, I took back a particularly expensive Sherrin football back deflated (because I felt guilty, the ball would have been worth over $100). The dad told the kid that he hopes that teaches him to either go to the park or not kick it so hard. I offered to pay but the dad would have none of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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