The Doberman’s owner, by adhering to your wife’s request to keep the dog muzzled and leashed when off of her property, seems to be cooperative. You may wish to express your concerns to her and perhaps tell her what times you walk by her house. It may be possible for her to keep her dog indoors at those times. Since you find the situation to be nerve wracking, you should also consider not walking by this particular house on a regular basis, if at all possible. It certainly can be very intimidating for persons to walk by houses and have dogs dashing at them, particularly when the person walking by does not know that there is an electric barrier. You can also contact animal control. If the dog has already been declared dangerous after a trial, then the invisible fence probably would not be deemed an acceptable method of confinement. Again, I suggest you try to talk with your neighbor to work out an amicable solution for you, your neighbor, and the dog.

It is illegal to shoot a cat or a dog. The only exception to this is in an emergency for a dangerous dog or a severely injured dog or cat who is suffering and cannot otherwise be aided. In New York, the police and societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals (SPCA) have the authority to enforce the animal cruelty laws. If you provide me with the county, I will see if I can give you any further information. The difficulty in some of these cases is proving that the person actually made the statement (he might deny it) and proving that the person alleged to have killed the cat actually did so.