Reply #66: I'm not sure why you're taking this personally

[Modem Butterfly]

You need to relax. Seriously.

I'm not sure how old your kids are, but kids can and do do things their parents aren't aware of and one of those things is teasing dogs. A large number of bite cases are traced to unsupervised child/dog interactions. I'm thinking of one case in particular on a Chow Chow discussion board I'm part of where a woman came on saying her Chow had bitten her stepson who had been playing with the dog for half an hour. Turns out, he had been hitting the dog with a wiffleball bat for half an hour. You hit me with a wiffleball bat for half an hour and I'd bite you, too.

We have some kids in our neighborhood who like to run a stick up and down our privacy fence. They yell and bark and throw things to make my dogs go nuts, especially my Pei. I had to get video of them doing it before their parents would believe me. They told their parents my dog was vicious, well, he was just frightened and annoyed, like anyone getting yelled at by invisible (to him) people.

Look, why don't you talk to your neighbor? Check the dog out yourself. See if he behaves the same way when he can get a good look at you. If you feel comfortable, let him smell your hand a bit. Dogs are like anyone else, they're frightened of the unknown. Try removing the mystery a bit and see if that doesn't help.