So we have a male maltese. He is an inside dog. But of course uses the back yard to do his business. We occasionally leave him out while we are gone.

The neighbor has two larger dogs. Not sure of the breed. They are nice enough. They bark fairly often. But don't seem overly aggressive. The dogs will go up and down the fence and bark at each other. But no big deal.

Two nights ago my wife put our dog out for a few minutes. When she looked outside to see if he was ready to come back in there was a second dog in our yard. I quickly went out to figure out what was going on. The neighbor dog broke through the wooden fence and came into our yard.

My question is this....the fence is 5 years old but is in fair/poor shape as it is. We purchased the house 1 year ago. The builder (in Bryan) used less than desirable material on the fence. So honestly all 4 sides could use replacing.

How should I handle this situation? I put a storage box in front of the hole to keep the neighbor dog out for now. But how should I go about fixing the fence?

Just repair the fence and let your neighbor know the dog broke through. Casually make a statement about how badly the whole fence is in need of repair/replacement. Once the fact is acknowledge by the neighbor, ask if he/she would be interested in splitting the cost of the entire length of adjoining fence.

Option 1: Offer to handle everything, assure them that you'll get competitive bids, and tell them you're more than happy to bid the job to any of their contacts if they have them.

Option 2: If you're capable of doing the work yourself, offer to do all the work if they'll pay for most, if not all, of the material costs.

Recommend an electric fence for your neighbor. About $50 at Lowes will solve the problem.

Our dogs and our neighbors' dogs do the same thing. We have had their dogs in our yard and our dogs in their yard.

i see this as a good opportunity to reduce cost for an improvement to your home. Just word-smith it so it's a mutually beneficial deal that the neighbors feel like they want to contribute to. ie - "well, we both have dogs and we found one of yours in our backyard so they can get back and forth b/c of how bad of shape the fence is in. I think it would be good for both of our peace of minds to have a better fence, not to mention it'll be an imrpovement we can both gain from." try not to put them on the defensive and feel like they are getting pulled into somethign they don't want.

we install cedar fences in fort worth, it is both of yalls so tell your neighbor that it is in need of replacing and that you will get 3 bids and communicate w/ them and decide on a company. make sure each estimate includes 8' galvanized posts (6' once installed), 2x4 pressure treated runners, and either 4" or 6" cedar pickets.

I have this same problem and I share the backyard fence with 4 other houses, one of which is a renter. I've talked with my neighbors on both sides who are nice people and they've offered to split the cost with me whenever we decide to fix our parts. I'm thinking about just sending a letter to the other two to ask for help.

Fences suck, especially in these types of situations. There really isn't a way to force somebody to split the cost with you, so you just have to ask, maybe be a little pushy, then decide what you want to do about it.

Good fences make good neighbors

I'm in the same position, my house is on a corner lot and since I have one of the largest lots in the 'hood, I have 2 neighbors along the back of my fence and one on the side. One of my neighbors along the back of the fence just moved in and is renting, so they have no desire to chip in for a new fence, neither does the owner. If I don't get a response by the time it's cool enough outside to build a new fence, they just get to look at the metal post side of the new fence.

Just curious why everyone hates looking atbthat side. My fence only shares with one else and that's the only side I don't see the metal posts. Doesn't bother me one bit. Just curious