Once they had information (such as the dogs training, its history of remaining in the yard, how the invisible fence works, etc) they should have discussed with the dog owners if a compromise could be come to - such as please don't leave the dog unattended in the yard when the school bus comes, or during a certain time frame when they run, or whatever their biggest issue was.
I'm afraid I can't agree with you at all. Unless the dog had already had a break out, there is no reason for the owners to compromise with you at all. Their dog is contained in its own yard. I'm sorry you suffer from such strong fears, but that is not for dog owners to address. It is your issue.
I also disagree. If your kids' bus comes at the same time that my dogs are having their morning exercise time outside (which is scheduled when it is because my DH and I wake up at a specific time and leave for work at a specific time), I'd have to tell you "I'm sorry, that won't be possible."
Perhaps neither one of you is reading where I said "compromise". Perhaps they can't agree to the initial requests of the new neighbors but they can counter with some sort of alternate suggestion on their own. "Compromise" doesn't mean roll over and do what your asked or told to do, it means exchange back and forth suggestions until you come up with a solution which works out for both parties.
Being neighborly for the sake of being neighborly has extreme value. You have to live near your neighbors for years and might someday want to call on them for a favor (maybe they have a generator when your power goes out, maybe a tree falls on your house or you have a fire and need some assistance, maybe you go on vacation and want someone to keep an eye out for you, maybe they have a hobby that is legal but somehow impacts your life and you want to ask them to curtail it in some way), being open to conversation and compromise makes future interactions more possible and pleasant.
If I approached a neighbor with an invisible fence and asked for a compromise and they worked with me and then later somehow the dog got out, I'd call them, because we'd have rapport. If I approached a neighbor about a compromise and they rebuffed me totally and said they would do absolutely nothing to change or help me out and their dog got out I'd call animal control to have the dog taken in. Right there is a good reason to work with your neighbors.
They aren't going to remove the dog just because you don't like their invisible fence. And it requires more steps that just on your say so as well.
I'm not saying they should. but maybe they have specific times they let the dog out, well they can communicate that. A new neighbor might not realize there is a basic schedule. If the dog owners communicate the schedule the new neighbors can perhaps modify their behavior, etc.
This isn't really different then something like a neighbor playing loud but within legal limits music in their backyard all summer long. Sure they might be allowed to do it, and the other neighbors might not mind for whatever reason, but its still a legitimate concerns of some neighbors.
Its always best to approach the situation calmly and in hopes of a compromise first, instead of aggressively off the bat.
If the new neighbors had approached the dog owners calmly and politely, and were still rebuffed and then went around the neighborhood calmly and politely with their petition, this whole thread wouldn't even exist. The new neighbors have the right to be concerned about the dog. The concerns might not ever come to happen, but its not wrong to have them and to address them. Its merely the way the new neighbors are going about it that is the problem.
I wouldn't be so sure about that. If a neighbor,
especially a brand-new neighbor, came to my door asking me to sign a petition demanding that their neighbor's dog be tied up or kept inside at certain times, when the dog was already inside an invisible fence with no issues (i.e., the dog didn't have any history of escaping or acting aggressively), then it wouldn't matter to me how politely they'd approached the neighbor beforehand. I would still think they were being Special Snowflakes of the highest order, harassing the existing dog-owning neighbor, and (rudely) trying to draw everyone else in the neighborhood into their bizarre vendetta.
Sorry, WillyNilly, but if living next to a dog restrained by an invisible fence is something you can't stomach, I think it's your obligation to find a living situation where you won't have to deal with it or to find ways to work around it (for instance, finding out the dog's typical schedule so
you can avoid
it). Some neighbors might be kind and work with you, but they've already done their due diligence in restraining their dog. Asking them to compromise is reasonable (although IMO still pretty nervy in this case). Petitioning the neighbors when they decline to compromise is
not reasonable. Moving in next to a household that already has a dog with an invisible fence (like the neighbors in the OP) and then expecting the dog owners to change is simply absurd. If they can't live next to a dog with an invisible fence, the time to find out if there were dogs next door and how they were contained was
before they signed the lease.
