Warning: This'll be a long read since it's part vent and part advice seeking.
After being trapped in a small city apartment during the first year of the pandemic we moved this summer to have more space. We found an awesome flat in a 3 party house which comes with our own private garden (not shared between the whole house but exclusively ours) which we thought ideal for a dog.
There is no street alongside the garden but our house and the neighbouring house on 2 sides and other gardens at the other 2 sides which are seperated by a fence. When we moved in the garden wasn't tended for in about 10 years and was completely overgrown. We put a lot of hard work and time in it to turn it into our own little paradise with a fire place, veggie beds, a nice sitting area etc. and I am so fond of the garden.
Now here is the problem: There is a cat from this neighbourhood - I will call him Sir Ass in th following - which completely spoils the garden for my dog and therefore for us. My dog doesn't like cats and all the other cats in the neighbourhood just want no trouble so when we are in our garden they'll not show up. Not like Sir Ass. I swear to god this cat is a demon. It will show up immediately after we get in the garden and then tease my dog until he is out of his mind.
Freddy does not like cats so every time he sees Sir Ass he will charge at him. Sir Ass knows exactly where Freddy can't reach him and he will retreat just as much as neccessary and then sit there, meow and yowl and hiss at Freddy, walk up and down, get closer until Freddy charges at him again and retreat just enough so Freddy can't get him. If we humans shoo him away he will just go to the other side of the fence to the neighbours garden and stare at us but not run away. We tried to spray him with a water bottle but he doesn't care as well.
Now the problem is that the fence between ours and the neighbours garden is just 1,50m. Freddy usually would not run away but he could easily jump these fences when he runs after Sir Ass. Therefore we can never let our own dog in our own garden without a 10m leash which will not allow him to reach the fences.
Since Sir Ass won't leave Freddy alone we also had no success with desensibilisaton training. Whenever we had some sort of success where Freddy ignored the cat, that little motherfucker would not take it but start to provoke the shit out of Freddy, running across our garden at full speed or even walk up to Freddy. Sir Ass knows he just has to outrun the dog until the leash ends and he uses that knowledge to drive Freddy insane.
We only rent the place so we can't put up a higher fence (Technically we were allowed to but our landlord would apparently not pay for that so we'd spent about 2k for a fence around a garden which we don't even own.) And also that would not solve the problem because 99% of the time Sir Ass stays in the neighbouring gardens and teases Freddy through the fences. For that reason also spraying our garden with some pheromone stuff wouldn't really solve the problem since we can't just spray the neighbours gardens, too.
It got so bad that Freddy is so stressed whenever we go into the garden we can't enjoy it anymore. Freddy doesn't really want to go in the garden anymore, he hates this cat and is so frustrated he can't get him that the garden now is a "bad place" for him. I am so angry and desperate because I love this garden, I love being outside, I love working in it and I want Freddy to be able to just relax in the sun with me but this cat just ruins everything.
I spoke to the owner (grumpy old dude) but here it is very common to let your cat outside and he apparently won't lock it in the house just because it sometimes teases my dog.
I am at my wits end. Any advice?
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/r3gzsd/cat_problem_in_garden_i_dont_know_what_to_do/
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