neighbor's pit bull

I'm concerned about that because their reaction to big dogs is aggressive.

 
Are they aggressive or just excited?  Jean Donaldson covers this in her book Culture Clash.  Imagine you were taken by another life form and in your day to day life you saw another human.  Wouldn't you be excited?
 
In my opinion, the best course of action would be to socialize your dogs.  How old are they?  Have they ever had other dogs to play around?  It might be best to find another area like a dog park to introduce them to dogs bit by bit so they don't feel territorial.  Good luck.  Most of us would LOVE to be able to tell our neighbors what to do with their dogs, but seldom do we have that kind of influence on other people.  I don't think calling the cops is in the best interest of fostering a neighborly relationship.

My mom has a Chi that gets agressive with other dogs, I can understand this because they probably look like Godzilla to them.  My mom disciplines her Chi and will not allow him to be agressive, if he growls or snaps at another dog she puts a muzzle on him, this of course after many other tactics were tried.  Now all she has to do when he growls and snaps is tell him no and show him the muzzle and he quits this behavior.  If the pitbull in not leaving the yard of the people, I don't know that there is much you can do about that.  It sounds like your more worried about your Chi's behavior than the pitbull.  Good luck, I hope it works out for you.

ORIGINAL: ms_sherry

In my opinion, the best course of action would be to socialize your dogs.  How old are they?  Have they ever had other dogs to play around?  It might be best to find another area like a dog park to introduce them to dogs bit by bit so they don't feel territorial.  Good luck.  Most of us would LOVE to be able to tell our neighbors what to do with their dogs, but seldom do we have that kind of influence on other people.  I don't think calling the cops is in the best interest of fostering a neighborly relationship.

I believe quite the opposite.  There are leash laws where you live, and your neighbors need to obey them...for the safety of their dog, your dogs and the general public.  You have the right to walk your dogs without being approached by any unleashed dog.  You have asked your neighbors to contain their dog, and they haven't.  Your call to animal control was justified.  Your neighbors need to be responsible pet owners and keep their dog in their own back yard or leashed.

As far as socializing a pit and a chi, you would be making a big mistake.  Chihuahuas are tiny, and could be fatally injured by a large dog even in play.

I don't think there is a "right" answer to this!   Here's an idea - ask the neighbors if they could agree to a scheduled time for you to walk the Chi's.  They can agree to put Precious in the yard (gate closed) for the hour or so that you agree on?  Would that work?  I personally would try to work something out with them - Good Luck!

Hmmm...we have had a similar situation in my neighborhood, where a family refused to leash their pit; the dog got increasingly territorial, and started attacking other dogs. Not a good situation all around.
 
My take on this is, you should not risk injury to your chis by trying to introduce them to the pitbull; the owners have already demonstrated that they are irresponsible, so I would not trust their assessment of their dogs behavior around smaller dogs. Your neighbors are breaking the law by ignoring leash laws, (they are probably also breaking animal waste disposal laws by not being their to pick up after their dog when she defecates while roaming loose) If, as you say, L.A. is cracking down on pit bulls, they are also doing a grave diservice to the breed by setting their dog up to fail and reinforcing the sterotype of the "selfish, irresponsible pit bull owners."
 
It sounds like you tried to reason with them, but have failed. How about calling an organization like Bad Rap, explaining the situation, and asking for an advocate for responsible ownership to contact the owners and explain why their actions are endangering the rights of responsible people to own these dogs? Maybe the owners can be shamed into obeying the leash law.
 
If not, I would not hesitate to call Animal Control. These people are breaking the law, endangering their own dog (she could be hit by a car, or grabbed by dogfighters and used as a bait dog) They are endangering other peoples pets. And they are endangering the rights of responsible pit owners to continue to own their dogs.

I don't care what type of dog it is I don't care if it's my best friend. If I am put out by someone elses dog I ask nicely a few times then I get mad. I tried to be polite to our neighbours after they killed some of my ducks. I even kept their dog inside and fed her for a weekend because they took off and didn't seem to care that their dog was roaming the neighbourhood.  Until one day she attacked my dog. My husband was right from the start telling me to put an end to it because he didn't want to see the dog do anything bad. So I put an end to it, called the cops and the pound. They hate me now which is fine by me. If people can not contain their animals they do not deserve them.

Okay - so no trying to socialize the dogs?  My dogs are great around other small dogs, and even medium-ish dogs - anything larger, though, and they get aggressive. 
 
I hate to call animal control - Precious really is a sweet old dog.  I've had a bit of interaction with her and she's really malleable, but I also hate the fact that I'm nervous about taking my dogs out.  And it does irritate me that we've asked them to close the gate, and the cops have been by and done the same, and it still isn't happening. 
 
What is Bad Rap?  Can I find it on-line?

I would play on their sympathetic side. Seems an 11 year old nice pitbull has probably had a good life and is loved and adored by his family.
I would remind them that not everyone knows that and with the misconception going on about the nature of pitbulls in general they are putting their dog's life at risk.
Tell them it would be a shame to have their dog hauled off by Animal Control, if the dog is seen running at large, and possibly be PTS due to the laws in the city.
The only way they can prevent that is to keep their dog home.
Reasoning with people doesn't always work (much like my neighbor when he let his chi mix run loose and I begged him to stop doing that cause I didn't want to hit their dog. His answer was "when he gets hit he'll stop chasing cars". And when someone did finally hit his little chi he cried like a baby). Hopefully your neighbors will think about the dog rather than the ease at just letting it run.
But work on the sympathy factor for the dog...some people will listen when they think you have THEIR dog's best interest at heart.

I suspect that if your dogs are ok with small dogs and not large ones, what they get is fearful, not aggressive.  It's just that they are trying to create their best defense by having a good offense.  []
 
I would not try to have tiny dogs and bully breeds playing together.  Not because the bullies are awful, but because of the extreme size difference and the muscularity of those dogs.  It only takes a minute for an accident to happen.
If your neighbors were asked nicely to keep their dogs confined, and you have a leash law in your area, IMO they are simply blowing you off and should be reported.  Despite the fact that their dog is nice, these are still the kind of people who cause BSL because they don't respect others and keep their dog from being a nuisance.

Marynh has a good idea.  I'd also mention the fact that sometimes an older dog isn't as aware or as fast as a younger one and could easily get hit by a car.

My girl plays very nicely with small dogs.  She is very, very careful of them.  It's like she knows they will break if she is rough with them!

When we get little dogs in at the shelter, we check to see if they are dog agressive (just like the big dogs).  If they are, we sometimes try to work with them.  Mos tlittle dogs are fearful because they ARE so litttle.  However, some little dogs are terrorists with Napoleon attitudes! The owners don't help because they pick their babies up and croon, "It's OK. Mommy won't let those big, bad dogs hurts you". The little ones then realize that they get good attention by doing this and it escalates.  Or worse, the owner thinks it's hilarious that Fifi has turned into Cujo to "protect Mommy" and encourages it as well.

As for the Pittie being  loose, she needs to be confined.  Let them know that some people SHOOT Pits on sight! Or, she might get stolen to be used as a bait dog.  Would they REALLY want their 11YO baby to come to such and awful end?  We assume they already know the dangers of loose dogs versus cars. Nuff said.

You said you take your dogs out loose, is this to mean that you don't put leashes on your dogs either?  If this is the case then you're just as much in violation of the leash laws as the pit owners.  This especially applies if your chis dislike larger dogs and may try to attack them.  I REALLY REALLY hate it when loose tiny dogs run up to my leashed well behaved boxer, attack, and then my dog gets blamed because she's bigger.

Its not the dogs fault, and thats who you would be punnishing by reporting and having her taken away.  That would be very very sad for a sweet dog who did nothing wrong.

ORIGINAL: swamper

You said you take your dogs out loose, is this to mean that you don't put leashes on your dogs either?  If this is the case then you're just as much in violation of the leash laws as the pit owners. 

 
Ahhh....I didn't read the post carefully.  I missed this part.  You cannot call animal control if you too are in violation of the law.  In order to hold your neighbor to the law, you yourself must follow it also.