I seem to have a bit of problem regarding my neighbours’ cats and I’m not sure how to address it.

When my dog was a puppy we used to have cats so I can safely say that my dog gets along with cats (and even ferrets) fairly well. However, in the last few years he developed a certain appetite for chasing fury little things that don’t belong to our household. I don’t encourage this behaviour and I can call my dog back from any chase or stop him running off (provided that I spot the little fury thing first :) ). I’m not prepared to suppress or punish this behaviour in any way as I think it’s only natural and should just be accepted as long as it’s under control and doesn’t put my dog or anybody else’s pets in danger.

So far so good but here comes the problem.

We have a decent and sizable garden that is “lightly” fenced as I like to put it. That means we have dense hedges around and that’s a plenty enough indication for my dog to understand that “that’s the border of our territory”, no going beyond - and he never does.

In any case, I never leave him in the garden unsupervised but I certainly let him sunbathe on the patio while I’m in the kitchen that directly opens to said patio and has two overlooking windows too.

The problem started when some gorgeous black cats started trespassing in our garden. I’m not sure who they belong to but I know they are from the direct neighbourhood as I see them on the drive on a daily basis.

To cut it short; when my dog first spotted a strange cat in our garden he was off, chasing the poor feline and he did not stop at the hedges – ran straight through and ended up in the next door neighbour’s garden. I called him back – he came immediately – the whole thing didn’t last any longer than 10 seconds.

From that moment however, I know that I have to keep my eyes peeled for cats AT ALL TIMES and can never relax while my dog is in the garden.
You might say the solution is obvious; I should build a proper fence, but I just have a sense of unfairness here.

My dog is totally harmless and has no intention to leave our property unless triggered to do so. Is it OK for a cat to enter my property without my permission but it’s wrong for my dog to enter my neighbour’s property in the same fashion?

I know I’m exaggerating here but it’s a little bit like being held responsible for your dog biting a burglar and chasing him out of the house.

I haven’t said anything to my neighbours yet, partly because I have no idea about who the cats belong to, partly because I expect people to think along the line that you can’t stop your cat wondering off and you are not responsible for your cat’s actions.

I would like to know what you think.

For further comparison, I’d like to mention a Jack Russel that used to live in my neighbourhood and kept barking day and night. It really was horrible but when I confronted the owners they just said “you can’t train a Jack Russel” and for them the matter was closed.

So could I realistically think about asking my neighbours to keep their cats away from my garden and if they fail to do so, should I just say, “well, I can’t guarantee your cat’s safety and you should definitely forgive my dog appearing in your garden”?

Thanks for reading, I would appreciate any opinions.

c

:lol: My dog did the same, I had a weak area in one of the hedges and the cats like to use it as a path and the dog decided a few weeks ago to follow which he would never dream of doing!

I have the whole garden surrounded with chicken wire weaved into the privet hedge it take ages to get it in place but in a year the hedge grows nicely through and around it and you just keep pushing and bending it into the hedge. I can cut my hedge nicely with a electric hedge cutter and it is also dog proof. The only way the cats can now get out is over the top of the hedge or to run up one of the trees. then jump down back into another garden.

Since I closed off the last hole last week (I had left as an escape route for the cats) they have stopped coming in and the dog has stopped chasing out of the back door. So everyone is happy :) No upset neighbours as you can't really ask them to stop a cat wandering into your garden however annoying they are :hihi:

Legally you have no reproach over the cats behaviour - HOWEVER you are legally responsible for your dog runnng through the hedge onto neighbouring properties.
Unfortunately you have two options a) ignore it and let your dog do as it please b) fence the property correctly and relax.
If the cat comes in the garden then it's fair game for the dog imho.

I knew of someone who had four greyhounds and moved to a property who's next door neighbour had cats and she was so worried that one the day the cats would wander over and be ripped to shreds. She spoke with the neighbour and between them they both water pistol'd the cats if they made any attempt to wander next door (It worked);)

Your neighbours can't keep their cats away without keeping them indoors all the time (cat-proofing a garden is for most people impossible, seeing as they can scale a 6ft fence of as if it were nothing, and I think that is the legal max height without planning consent). You'll probably have to put some sort of proper barrier up to stop you dog escaping. Hopefully the cats will realise that the dog will chase eventually and stop going there.

I know my neighbourhood cats no longer come in my garden since we got the dog, even though all she does is 'play bow' to cats. Well apart from one of my next door neighbours cats, my dog is crazy about him for some reason, just loves him.

Break out the hose pipe also :D

It's nice that your dog normally respects his territory boundaries but it's safe to have a fence just in case, for example, he chases a cat, gets distracted and runs out. How would you feel if he'd run into a road?

It's nice that your dog normally respects his territory boundaries but it's safe to have a fence just in case, for example, he chases a cat, gets distracted and runs out. How would you feel if he'd run into a road?

Well, not possible, given the area but generally you are absolutely right.

I suppose it has to be proper fencing.

Every were we moved to first priority before anything else was to make sure the dog was not able to enter the neighbour’s property.