Hi Lahree.
A neighbor on one side of ours has 3 small dogs (terriers-kindof) that in the 3 years we've lived in our house, have never been walked. The neighbor lets his dogs go in the backyard and that is the extend of exercise for these poor dogs. Result: they are extremely territorial, reactive, and they back a hell lot.
When our Zoey was a little pup, anytime we'd happen to be in the backyard for her to do her business, they would hear us and bark their lungs out. Zoey got traumatized by it. She'd cower and wasn't able to do her business when they'd bark at her from the other side of the fence.
Well, Zoey's got a bit of an attitude, so one day she had enough, and she started barking back and them. VERY VIGOROUSLY I will say. And not only she'd bark, but run at the fence, tackle the fence, try to slip her paws through the fence to reach the dogs. She has a very vicious face, show teeth, and she is relentless.
The dogs on the other side react the same. At some point, one of the dogs may get tired and go away, but there's still 2 barking and Zoey will NOT stop.
We can't let Zoey out because of this. The dogs are so reactive that if Zoey happens to bark while in the backyard, the dogs will hear her from inside, bark, and the neighbors (dumb and stupid they are), automatically lets them out, and we're screwed.
My boyfriend and I didn't know how to resolve this. The last thing I wanted to do was to confront the neighbors. So we've just tried to observe when the dogs weren't out and let Zoey out. Naturally we had some incidents which they'd let their dogs out at the same time. My boyfriend and I had to team up to get her back inside.
One day my boyfriend noticed that he could get Zoey to stay away from the fence by standing between the fence and the dog, and use a stick as an obstacle. For some odd reason Zoey sees the stick as an extension of the arm and will not go past it. When she is away from the fence, she calms down and is easier to bring back inside. This technique helped us a lot in calling her back inside when the dogs are out, and it increased my confidence in being able to control Zoey in the backyard.
Fast forward to the last few months. Because of this technique, I'm in the backyard with Zoey more often. Zoey is passionate about frisbees. She will go her way out to catch them and return them. When I have a frisbee session, she gets tired faster in 15 minutes than if I walk her for an hour, and she looks happy as a clam.
I've discovered that she is so in love with her frisbees that they are sufficient to redirect her attention away from the fence (without using a stick). Zoey is extremely food driven and treats will not get her away from the fence when the dogs are out.
So now, I'm able to play with my dog outside, even when the neighbor's dogs are outside.
I feel for you because I hate my neighbor's dogs so much too. I hope you can find a compromise or a way to work around it. It took me and my boyfriend a lot of trials and errors, but the fact that I can have frisbee sessions any day I want now has improved Zoey behavior inside the house and with us by so much. At night she is super well behaved, barks very little, and even has stopped showing seperation anxiety with me.
Raya.
