Cat /property Question.

[PlecMama]

Hypothetically - your friend opens your door and your cat runs out and is off. You look around a bit and then your friend thinks he sees the cat run down the street, down someones gated alley between their houses, and, presumably, into their garden.

It's midnight and you do not know the people whose house this is. What would you do?


These people actually came on our property, leaned over and unlock the back gate, wander round our yard, tried to get into our shed! Why would you enrage my husband and meet my large snarling dog, face to face, (on indeed enrage my dog and meet my large snarling husband!) rather then knocking on my door and saying "Please can we go in your garden".

We would have let them.

It would have been a lot more sensible to ask us, there's a great big "Beware of the dog" sign on the door....didn't they think that if we heard them, the first thing we would do is let the dog out? that would have been real bad for the cat if the cat had actually been there.

I am so amazed that someone would do this. The first thing we knew was when the security light popped on, Dan looks out of the window and there's a man down the bottom of our garden, trying to open our locked shed!! We confronted him (Sasha got there first) and he said "I was looking for the cat"....

We are very unhappy about the incident. We didn't know who he was, he's lucky the dog didn't have him. For all we knew, he was a burglar. I was milliseconds away from calling the police to have him arrested, when his girlfriend comes wandering down our alley, right in on to our patio too, in tears, and starts telling us about a cat as well.

I can't believe they just though it was ok to do this. So much for your home being your castle.

 

[dthoffsett]

I have to admit I've gone tramping through peoples backyards (unfenced) after my own escape artist before (cat), but I have and would never unlock someones gate or try to get into their shed/garage without knocking first. While it is incredibly rude and stupid, some people just panic and don't think things through when they are upset. Too bad the dog didn't get them.

 

[l.michelle]

Yeah, I don't like the idea of someone wandering around in my yard. In the old house I used to live in, there was a weird lady across the street who we would always find either trying to get into our backyard or in our backyard with her two small dogs saying our dog (over 100lbs) wanted to 'play' with her dogs. Luckily our dog wasn't in the backwayrd when she was in, but I would hear goliath (our dog, and yes, the name fit ) growling and feircely barking, go outside to find her arm over the fence trying to unlock the gate. We ended up padlocking all the fences.

It is very ignorant of them to unlock your backyard to wander in, they don't know if you have something in the backyard that may not be vicious, but that you don't want let out...You have chickens, have you not? What if they were to have left the fence open?

I really do not like the thought of people in my yard or on my property. You have every right to be upset. I agree that knocking on the door, even if you rouse the people from bed, and explain to them, i think that is the right way to go.


dthoffsett - I would hope the dog doesn't get them. If their laws are as messed up as here, then I think that the owners are still held responsible if their dog attacks someone, and could potentially be put down. I remember there was a case of a break in, the burglar fell inside the house he was burglarizing and successfully sued the owners!

 

[dthoffsett]

I was actually joking about too bad the dog didn't get them. We have messed up laws like that here too. Hell, in the US someone can break into your house, cut themselves on the window they broke getting in, and successfully sue you for emotional and physical damages. We sue for WAY too many stupid reasons.

My apologies for hijacking the thread.

 

[Tolak]

Opening a latched gate is tresspassing as far as I can call it, and messing with a locked shed is attemped burglary. Around here if you are seen you are confronted by the homeowner or neighbor with an appropriate weapon.

Anyone with half a brain looking for a lost or escaped pet brings a leash with them, it doesn't matter if it's a dog, cat, or whatever. Someone walking around with a leash with no animal at the end means you are looking for the animal that belongs at the end of that leash.

Rattling locks at midnight means you get held until the police arrive. It is their job to sort it out after that.

In most areas of the US the laws have been changed. If a criminal is injured during the commission of a crime the criminal is responsible. If another person is injured, even if the criminal did not cause the injury, but it was related to that crime, the criminal is responsible.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i agree, that sort of behavior is ridiculous. if i were you, i would have called the police even after their sob story--who's to say they didn't just manufacture it in order to excuse breaking into your property?

 

[Bloo]

To the best of my knowledge, you can legally retrieve your property if it happens to be on someone elses' property (a ball kicked over a fence, an animal etc.) but only if you do no damage to the other property in the process (i.e. kick down a gate, break a lock etc.) or disregard any signs. "Beware of the dog" does not mean "do not enter". However trying to get into your locked shed is unlawful.

But the most sensible things would be to just ask. Obviously not usually that easy in the silly hours of night.

Anyone with half a brain looking for a lost or escaped pet brings a leash with them, it doesn't matter if it's a dog, cat, or whatever. Someone walking around with a leash with no animal at the end means you are looking for the animal that belongs at the end of that leash.

I have no leash for my cat. To be honest, I think very few people do. On the occasion that my cat has run out of my front door in the middle of the night, I have never taken anything with me such as a leash. The only thing I usually grab is a small tin of biscuits to rattle and lure him out.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

not saying wehat they've done is right but i imagine they thought they could just sneak in quietly and not disturb you rather than waking you up at midnight.

to be honest if that was my cat I'd have just left them out, they've stopped out overnight a few times before (miss mittens has a tendancy towandering the streets) without any serious harm done so rather than enrage my neighbours and risk getting caught by the police and done I'd just leave the cat and they'd more than likely be on my doorstep in the morning

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Seriously, they should have knocked on the door first, didn't they even try?

i agree, that sort of behavior is ridiculous. if i were you, i would have called the police even after their sob story--who's to say they didn't just manufacture it in order to excuse breaking into your property?

Exactly. I would be highly suspicious if i saw someone trying to get into my locked garage or garden shed, no kidding i would come out there with a weapon and tell them to get the hell off my property, cat or no cat. Simply strolling onto someone's property with no regard for the owner/s shows a complete lack of respect for other people's privacy and property. If they asked if they could come on my property first to look for their cat, that would be no problem at all, although i'd definately moniter them as they looked for their cat.
Even in gardens, there is stuff to steal- i have hundreds of pounds worth of tools and equipment in my garage and garden shed that i would be very annoyed to have stolen from me.

 

[GoldLenny]

I would have called the police on them to check out their so-called story. I bet the "lost cat" was just a ruse they use when they get caught trying to break in to someones shed. Maybe you should still call the police to go question them and run their names. They could all have RAP sheets a mile long.

 

[PlecMama]

no kidding i would come out there with a weapon and tell them to get the hell off my property, cat or no cat.

Our sentiments exactly. My husband made it very clear as to where they should go

We are still mad over it. Sasha is on super-patrol right now, I think she's hoping it will happen again. It must have been exciting for her. Every time the wind blows, she rumbles, that's 75 pounds of deep meaningful rumble, I'd sure get out of the way if I saw that coming. He was lucky she stopped when Dan called her off.

 

[Phishy25]

Reminds me when I saw a man in a pair of boxer shorts in my mums garden at 5.00am a few years back!!! I worked as a postie back then and couldn't believe my eyes when I looked out the kitchen window. Not sure if I was being brave or just plain stupid, but I went outside and confronted him. Something like "What the **** are you doing in my garden?" Hmmmm not very tactful I know! He just smiled and said his dog got out and his girlfriend had ordered him to search for it. I was amazed at how this guy really had no problem with walking into someones property! He too had opened two gates. He even had the nerve to ask if I had a lead he could borrow to get his huge rottie home!