Need help stopping pet harassment by neighbor

[Rocky]

I own Huskies that are a very important part of my family. For some years now, I have been battling some serious health issues and these dogs have been more than therapeutic, they have been my best friends. Unfortunately, I live next door to a neighbor who hates our dogs, particularly since they are talkative, as all Huskies are.

For years now, he has bombarded us with complaints alleging that our dogs bark continuously (they always sleep inside with us and since I am disabled and work from home, they are indoors with me a good deal of the day) and that they are creating a health hazard by going to the bathroom (We pick up the droppings several 3-4 times a week). He even resorted to filing an animal abuse complaint against us which forced someone from the local animal control agency to come by and inspect our premises. They found absolutely no grounds for the allegation.

Basically, this is a hostile and disturbed individual that doesn't like animals and has decided to harass and intimidate us just for owning dogs he doesn't approve of. I am at my wits end here as this as gone on for YEARS. I am often afraid to even leave my animals outside unattended for any period of time, even though our yard is enclosed, for fear he will try to harm them, which he has threatened to do. We have found suspicious bones that seem to have tossed over the wall.

I have meticulously responded to each and every complaint filed and every time they tell me he has thew right to file such complaints even if they prove unfounded. I have pointed out that this is an obvious abuse of the system and no one seems to care or want to do anything about it. Because of my health problems I am not exactly flush with money to spend on surveillance cameras or an attorney, but at this point I need help desperately to protect my animals and stop this threatening abuse of the system in an attempt to deprive us from enjoying our animals.

Has anyone else encountered such harassment and do you have any specific suggestions about what I can do? I don't even know what kind of attorney I would need to seek out or what kind of action or lawsuit . Are there any animals agencies or advocate groups that could help me with this? I am desperate for help and the constant stress being created by his threats and intimidation tactics are taking a toll on my health (I have Lupus).

I would welcome any help or advice from anyone.

[K9krzeee]

I would never leave your dogs ourside when u r not home; he could say they got out and in his yard and shoot them; and then it will b really bad. I would also try to get some of your neighbors who u r friendly with and ask them when they r outside or looking out their windows or door; to keep an eye out for this uncaring and dog hater. You could also go over to his house and c what his problem is and c what u can do to get him to stop; but go there with a tape recorder so u can have proof of his harassment and threats; then u can go and file a complaint on him; and u have proof of what he said. most people when they have to go to court and b fined will back off. good luck hope this helps. terri

[Campbell Welsh]

I work for a local Humane Society as an Animal Care and Control dispatcher and I am shocked they keep going out to your house when nothing is wrong! We have a board where there is listed "harrassment" cases - and it is a no dispatch list. It is not at all (unfortunately) uncommon for creepy neighbors like yours to call and call AC&C with false claims. After repeated reports have been done and everything checks out, however, it becomes apparent it is a waste of their time and the neighbor is a nut. Since for some reason, where you live the AC&C people have nothing to do but come to your house time and again, try contacting your local council rep (I work full time for local government). Nothing makes an agency JUMP higher than being contacted by a council rep. Just explain that the AC&C people have come out X number of times - have found nothing every time and you are being harrassed by THEM! And, would they please look into the reports and find out why they keep coming out when all the reports have been unfounded. At least that should put a stop to that!
Unfortunately, the dangerous man next door is another thing. All I can think is to never let your animals outside without you being out there with them. It sounds like a real pain, but if you are afraid the man might poison your babies, you would never forgive yourself if he ever DID poison them! Good luck!

[Vicki Martinez]

Rocky- I have had neighbors this ignorant before, luckily I lived in MT and my cousin is the Sheriff so after the second report of a "vicious dog" the gentleman and his kids were informed they were harrassing the dog and would be charged and if the dog bit them they would also be charged for tresspass as she was behind a 6' fence. This took care of it and they moved out of the neighborhood quite quickly when they found out the other neighbors LOVED my dog and all had pets of their own. I would definately keep your babies with you at all times and next time a "suspicious" bone shows up give the cops a call and tell them it was thrown over your fence and you suspect its poisioned and who you suspect threw it and have them test it and if it is then your neighbor will be charged and when he goes to court you go too and request a restraining order of 1000 ft and he should have to keep away from you, your dogs and your fence to comply with the court order if not then ANY time he comes within 1000 ft of your fence call the cops and report him for breaking the order and eventually they will get sick of this fool and his bull. As for the physical assault mention that in court and bring the report also your medical condition should help with the restraining order. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Edda Bataan]

that is great advice Vicki I hope it helps Rocky with his situation...good luck rocky our prayers are with you....

[Edda Bataan]

Rocky he has no right to physically assault you and make you fear for your babies or yourself on your own property so if those cops aren't doing their job can anyone on this site help Rocky???? Does anyone know anyone high up on this site that can help Rocky he needs our help.... Can we all help him stay safe and keep his dogs safe this kind of bull____ should not be allowed to happen his neighbor is an asshole and it's time we wipe him out.

[Rocky]

Hi Edda and everyone else. I can't tell you how much better your support has made me feel about this whole situation. I am working it very hard to solve the problem and will have some updates over the next few weeks. I will share everything I find out in the hope it might help others in my situation.

Unfortunately, I have a more immediate crisis I have to deal with. I am scheduled for surgery for my back this Friday and I am trying to get everything caught up before I go. It's not a major surgery and usually they send people home the same day, but because I have lupus, I am a little more at risk for infection and they will be keeping me there for at least a day to observe my progress. Then I will be doing therapy for a while. Ugh.

During my down time, I will be doing more research on picking out a surveillance system and I will be continuing my letter writing campaign to both the city and county which I have been doing vigorously. This kind of behavior is simply intolerable and not only personally upsetting, but is also a waste of public resources by a disturbed and hostile individual.

In talking to some of my other neighbors, I found out this same person told his neighbor on the other side that their kids were making too much noise when they played. They're kids and they can't play in their own back yard during the summer!!

I did find one attorney who clued me into something called "abuse of process," which, it turns out, can result in damages in court. Up to now I was thinking I could only pursue a restraining order. It's still litigation, which is very costly, but it's a possibility that I will be following up on as soon as I am able. I think the threat of not only being dragged to court and but having to pay damages may act as a powerful incentive for him to stop.

In the mean time, the cameras are my top priority and I keep the dogs with me or watch them all the time.

Thanks again for all the support. It means a lot to me and has helped reduce my stress level, which is not good for my lupus. I may be down for a couple of days with the surgery, but I will post again afterwards-hopefully :-)

[Sharon Mistic]

If you peruse this, please look for Community help in paying for your legal bills, at least in Illinois I know there are Public Defenders who work for DCFS and charge minimally

[Rocky]

I wanted to give everyone an update in the hopes that some of what I am doing might help others with similar problems.

While I am down from my surgery, I have been writing letters to every agency and organization my neighbor filed a complaint with, stating facts and disputing his claims. He filed two claims in which he alleged my dogs were creating a health hazard by going to the bathroom, so I invited the health agency to come to my home and check for themselves. I also started keeping a log in which I am writing down everything that happens and every conversation I have had. I was advised to do this by a lawyer.

On the camera front, we are having a system installed this week. It's going to cost us, but I want to protect my animals. I found out a lot about surveillance systems and if anyone needs help with the technology, let me know. We wanted a system with a DVR and internet capability (so I could check in if away from home) and many have this. The DVR we are getting has motion detection capability, but more importantly, it can save footage to a DVD and time stamp it in such a way that the police will accept it as official, untampered evidence. This was something I was told could be important if I wanted to press charges and there was dispute about what time an incident occurred. I am having the company route wiring for a microphone with the video cables and I will be adding a microphone to the back yard. Most companies in California won't install audio monitoring equipment because they don't want to get into local privacy law. I guess the laws are very spelled out when it comes to where you can put cameras and what you can point them at, but audio is a little more touchy and not as clear. Generally they follow what is know as "a reasonable expectation of privacy" rule. So does that mean if you record a conversion from your neighbor's back yard it is illegal? Well, the fact that you can hear it, unaided, in your own back yard would say they don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy, but then the issue becomes whether or not any recording equipment is augmenting your ability to hear. Touchy stuff.

The reason I want to record audio is that it will allow me to record sounds from the dogs so that if he claims they have been barking for 2.5 hours straight, which he has claimed, I can produce recordings that dispute this. My lawyer says this will be invaluable in court and doesn't feel this will cause any kind of privacy violation issue.

This system is gonna set us back, but we had to do it. My next step now is to get copies of all the actual filed complaints. I have requested them, but because of privacy issues, many will be redacted, i.e., the filer's identity will be blacked out. Can you believe that? So much for our right to face our accusers. I have to subpoena the records to get them un-edited with the filer's id intact, but I am going to do this. Rather than pay the lawyer to files the subpoenas, my wife is looking into a self help law center which will help us do this at a greatly reduced cost and that is our next step. Whatever I learn about this, I will share.

After that, I a going to put together a complete file of everything and hand it over the lawyer. I want to organize it to the maximum degree, with summaries, to reduce the amount of time the lawyer has to spend reviewing it and coming up to speed. He charges a high hourly rate, but the lawyer I selected is very versed in nuisance laws, abuse of process, and homeowner's association law (some of the complaints have been filed with the homeowner's association). I can't do this until I have the money, but the goal is to start by sending our neighbor some pretty strongly worded cease and desist letters. If that doesn't work and he decides to get his own lawyer, we may have to pursue litigation, which I would like to avoid simply because of the cost. Nevertheless, while a restraining order won't get me any compensation for having to shell out legal fees, I am being told we may be able to sue him for abuse of process and slander for which there are damages. The lawyer said we HAVE been slandered, but he cautioned that determining damages is tough and that getting any kind of reasonable award would be difficult. He felt the abuse of process path was better.

That's about it for now. I will post more as I get more experience. Like I said, I hope some of this may help others, but I am thinking we simply need legislation against this type of system abuse, maybe something that discourages people from filing numerous, unsubstantiated complaints by associating fines after X number of such complaints have been filed and can't be shown to be true.

Good luck all. My babies are doing great and I am hanging in there. I think I will go play with them right now :-)

[Sharon Mistic]

You GO-ROCKY!

[Rocky]

Here's a little more information I found on audio monitoring regulations as per US law.

United States Codes, Title 18, Section 2510 (2) states: Oral communication means any “oral communication” uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception under circumstances justifying such expectations. By definition of the code section, a person cannot have an expectation of privacy, nor can he or she expect that communication will not be intercepted, if there are public signs posted, indicating that the communication is being monitored. The First Amendment of the Constitution provides that any conversation between individuals is private, unless otherwise notified. In simple terms, this means that any overhearing or recording of a conversation is illegal…unless both parties are aware that it is being done.

In order to comply with the law, it is generally your responsibility to clearly post, in plain view, at all entrances and exits where microphones are installed, the following warning: “AUDIO MONITORING IS IN USE ON THESE PREMISES.”

State laws may place further restrictions on this.

[Rocky]

California

[Edda Bataan]

awesome you go!!!! take action and I hope you prevail as you will our prayers are with you