I have lived on good terms with a neighbour who is about 2/300 metres away for about 10 years. He got an Italian mastiff about 5 years ago, male, uncastrated and has received no training. This dog has been allowed to roam. My first intimation of problems came when one of the neighbour's sheep ran into my yard bleeding profusely from the neck - the dog's handiwork. Subsequently I heard on the grapevine that this was not the first time and that the dog had also attacked other dogs leading to emergency visits to the vet. It was also rumoured that the dog had even had a go at its owner. On a single occasion the dog turned up on my property and chased the smaller of my two dogs but I was able to chase it away.The problem. About 6 months ago the smaller of my two disappeared for a couple of nights(totally out of character behaviour) and when he turned up he had wounds which the vet confirmed were bites from a very large dog. Unfortunately, one of the wounds was infected and this required the removal of a large area of flesh from his shoulder. The damage was so severe that I really wondered if I was doing the right thing in putting him through all this.The surgery and aftercare cost more than 500 euros. My suspicion was that the mastiff was probably the culprit. I talked politely with the neighbour raising my concerns and asked if he could make an effort to confine his dog. Of course, I acknowledged that I couldn't prove anything but nevertheless on past history the finger pointed in the mastiff's direction. He was reluctant to do anything and seemed to make light of the dog's past history.A couple of months later I witnessed a second attack on my smaller dog on my property. Another vet bill but the damage much less severe.This time the vet himself revealed that he had had to deal with another victim. Another conversation with the neighbour, I was pretty annoyed and called upon him to confine the dog when it was unsupervised to a large walled and gated yard in front of his house. He wasn't really very keen on even accepting that there was a problem but eventually agreed to confine it at night. Fast forward to this Wednesday. The dog suddenly appeared in my yard and attacked my younger larger dog. Two wounds, one deep requiring anaesthesia to carry out stitching. I was furious. Saw the neighbour and was subjected to a stream of the most bizarre and outlandish assertions including the suggestion that I put up fencing so that his dog can't get onto my property!What do I do? The vet suggested a report to the gendarmerie. I value good neighbourly relations very much and I do NOT want to spend the rest of my time living here " at daggers drawn". The most frustrating thing is the unwillingness of my neighbour to properly acknowledge the danger that his dog poses. This dog doesn't do the usual snap, snarl, bare teeth demonstration of his male dominance, he wants to kill.
