leash law and great dane

Question
Hi,
Our neighbors have a great dane type dog (might be a mix).  Seems friendly enough, but they have a short section of fencing that whenever kids go by, the dog barks its head off and lunges over the fence.  The dog could easily jump over the fence.  We think the dog is confused about his territory.  They also let it loose in the river behind our houses.  Our neighborhood is full of little kids from 3 to 11.  We have a leash law.  We have asked them repeatedly to leash the dog when they walk it, and they sometimes do, and sometimes don't.  They seem to resent being asked to do so.  We think the dog is a nice dog, but worry very much about the owners letting it off leash in the neighborhood.  They even encouraged my daughter's little friend to come up and pet it, without us present.  We don't understand why they aren't more careful about the leash law.  They seem to think there is no danger, and that the dog, because it is a friendly dog normally, would never bite anyone. Isn't it true that any dog can bite, and because of its size, they should be more careful?  We don't want to call Animal Control and hassle them, they are already kind of angry.

Answer
Becky,

Leash laws can only be enforced by the police or animal control. Whether your neighbor has a Dane or not, they should respect your request to not allow their dog to run at large all over the neighborhood.

Regardless of whether they are angry or not, you NEED to call animal control, the last thing you want is an innocent child being mauled by a dog that the owner has no care to have control of. And yes, even the sweetest of dogs if provoked, spooked or taunted can lash out and bite. That is why you should NEVER leave a dog alone with children, even if you have had the dog for 10 years. A dog is an animal that does not think rationally and when something un-nerves them, they will bite as this is their only way of communication.

I wish that I could tell you that there is another way, but if you have asked nicely, been polite and your requests have gone unchanged, I would notify the police and animal control, you can make an anonymous call...

Hope this helps and I am sorry you are in this sort of predicament.