Inconsiderate Neighbors - HELP!!!!!

[Beth]

I am wondering if anyone else has the unfortunate experience of having ignorant, inconsiderate neighbors that tease their dogs and throw things over the fence into their yard?

We are at our witts end with our neighbors and I need to vent to other dog lovers.

Our dogs, and I am not being bias, are great dogs they only bark for the normal stuff they hear someone on the other side of the fence, animals on the other side of the fence, etc. Our other neighbors in the neighborhood have actually asked us how we keep our dogs so quiet and well behaved. We also don't just let the dogs bark and bark in the yard we let them in to calm down before they can go back out.

So when we find apples in our yard with ants on them (when there are no apples trees to be found anywhere), and BIC lighters in our yard when neither one of us are smokers, and see the kids next door waving hockey sticks and toys over the top of the fence teasing our dogs we just don't know what to do. Yesterday it was firecrackers at the back of our fence it was driving the dogs mad so I took them inside and they settled some but still heard the firing of fire crakcers and they could not get completely settled. I was home yesterday from work too with a sick infant.

I want to talk to the neighbors but we are afraid they will not be approachable, and that a feud will ensue and we all have to live on the same street and we'll be even more miserable.

They have 3 dogs that they let roam the neighborhood and pee and poop on everyone's lawns. We have a leash law in our town and no one else allows their pets to roam around unleashed. Other neighbors walk past our house to use the woods (our street is a dead end that has state protected woods) and walk their dogs and the neighbors dogs will come running out and annoy the people walking their dogs, not to mention not all dogs are dog friendly, and we all know how scarey it is to have an unleashed dog come running up at you when you are walking your dog.

Their dogs have sprayed on our bushes and my husband caught one in our garage spraying some boxes that we had sitting on the floor. Our garage door was open and we can let our dogs out there and they won't run out the garage but imagine if we had let them out at the exact moment their dog was in our garage spraying?

I mean we have a fun loving female pitbull/lab mix who is a big baby - but we wonder sometimes rub her the wrong way and then what? Especailly now that she has been exposed to the teasing. Don't get me wrong she is by no means aggressive we have toddlers in our family that can put a cookie in their mouths and she will genlty take it out. Our other dog is a jack russel terrior mix and he's not as dog friendly or people friendly as our older dog. He is more of the barker and these kids make him crazy. And he's a puppy still so it's not helping our cause of trying to get him socialized.

We just don't know what to do these people are irresponsible animal owners they have wild cats, wild dogs, and wild kids and I am begging for suggestions on what to do.

Any suggestions? Any great wisdom out there?

[Vickie]

Hi, Beth
How I am sorry for your pain in the butt neighbors. I have to agree that you need to call animal control about the loose dogs. I don't know about where you live, but in Michigan where I live dogs have to be liscnesed and if not they are picked up by animal control. You don't know if these dogs have had any of there shots either, and you don't want you kids to get bit by them, not saying these dogs would. I am sure these dogs are loveable dogs if shown some love and proper care.
I would first say something to the parents and let them know if they don't do something that you will have no choice but to call the police or animail control on them. Good luck to you !! keep us posted.

[Christina Pontius]

I live in Michigan too, but unfortunatly it depends on the city you live in if the animal laws are enforced. In the town I live in, you are only fined if your dog does not have a lisence. I have problems with people letting their dogs outside without a chain or into a fence. I walk my dog everyday (on a leash), these dogs come running up to me & my dog. It bothers me & worries me, because I do not know what these dogs are going to do or how my dog will react to them, we are still working on socializing. I have called animal control to try & find out what the law is. I was told that if the dog is in the owner's yard, it is within the law, but if it leaves the yard it is in violation of the leash law, that includes the sidewalk. Unfortunatly the animal control officer has to see the animal leave the yard. I was told I could file a complaint, but the only thing that could be done was the animal control officer would go to the offender's home & talk to them. They could not ticket them because for all animal control knew, I was having a feud with the people. We only have two animal control officers in our county, they never patrol so I do not understand how they can see if anyone is in violation of the leash law. When a dog runs up to us & the owner is outside, I am told the dog will not hurt us, but they do not know that. Anything about us could not seem right to the dog & set them off. I do not feel safe walking my dog, I know other people who carry broken hockey sticks when they walk their dog so they have some form of protection. What are people supposed to do when animal control does not seem to care about doing their jobs? They are not voted in, they are hired. In a rural town that usually means they are someones "buddy", so complaining is futile.

[Ginni]

Please call the police and complain before this situation becomes worse. These people are being cruel to your dogs and putting thier own dogs in danger letting them run loose.I'm speaking from the heart. Our golden retriever Sam was poisoned by antifreeze by cruel neighbor. He died April 1st and would have been 4 this November 20th. It sounds as if your neighbors are capable of this kind of behavior. Please read my little girls story about Sam at ipetitions.com/petition/antifreezepoisoning

[Kendra]

Call your towns Dog Control Officer. They can give them tickets for dogs running at large and not licensed. I am one and that is what I would do. Hope I helped.

[Ranee]

I can relate to your situation. Too bad we cannot put all the neighbors from hell in one area. We moved into a new neighborhood in May of this year. We have 3 dogs a great dane, german shepard and chocolate lab. We built a dog run that is 18' wide by 15' long the dogs can go and out on their own through a dog door in the patio door. They rarely bark except when they see other dogs running outside of the fence because they want to go play. Well the neighbor had a dog that he lets run loose and the dog comes up to the fence and runs back and forth barking which of course starts my dogs barking then he has the nerve to complain to me that I had better shut my dogs up or he will call the cops. I asked him kindly to keep his dog in his own yard and my dogs will be quiet or at least to let me know when he is going to let his dog outside loose because I can let at least the chocolate lab out to play (she make the most fuss) and we can start socializing our dogs. NO WAY he said if he ever sees my dogs on his yard he will call the cops yet his can come in my front yard and my mother's yard and poo all over and he doesn't bother to clean it up. My dogs are on a leash when they are outside except the chocolate lab if she is by herself. I take my dogs to a 20 acre farm I have access to to run and get the energy level down prior to training.

I have tried talking to the neighbor. Fortunately I have grown up in this town and I know all the police officers personally and they know my dogs. I have spoken to the police so they know what is going on if the neighbor calls. One night the police did show up and said that MR Anoymous called and complained that my dog pen had not been cleaned in weeks. Well with 3 large dogs that would be a mess. I showed the officer the 3 poo piles in the pen because it was after supper and they went poo and he laughed saying that he had to follow up because of the complaint but that if Mr Anoymous kept making unsubstantiated calls that he could get into trouble. The officer said it loud enough that the neighbor, who was looking out his window, could hear it.

My suggestion to you is to talk to the police now so that when and if the neighbor does start complaining that it is on record that you were there first and warned them.

Good luck

[Vladimir]

I absolutely agree with this advice, which has been given often. Talk to the police and get this made official. There is no reason to wait, and I am a bit annoyed (!) reading all of this and waiting for that to happen. This is a situation which can get out of control very easily, and Beth, you need it documented, and known to the authorities that you are the reasonable one. I would not tolerate neighbors tossing stuff into my yard (with the clear intent of antagonizing my dogs) at all, and neither should you. Many posters have said the same thing, what is causing you to wait? Don't bother trying to discuss it with the neighbors themselves, clearly, they are unreasonable. The next step will be for them to toss poison laced meat or something over the fence-- it has been done-- or to throw across something they might choke on, even if that WASN'T the intention? Why are you waiting for this to escalate? I would not rely on your neighbors to hold back or be reasonable any longer.

[Jroc]

Hi... My name is Mike and I have/HAD the exact same difficulty up till a few days ago. I have a 6' wood privacy fence around the sides and rear of my home and a couple neighborhood kids..(10-13) used ta antaginize my 4 Purebred German Shepherd Working Dogs. I finally got sick of it. I saw them coming from a couple houses up. I went in the back yard and got my 2-1/2 year old female german shepherd and walked back out front. When they came by, they stopped...I thought ...HERE GOES...they started asking ..does she bite...duh....I walked her up to the chain link fence, I let them see her growling/showing her teeth...Course I kept my hands on her leash Secured. They finally got the picture....

[Kelly]

I too have neighbors and people who pass thru our neighborhood who have no common sense as well. So annoying. But, the good thing is that the neighbors on each side of us don't have kids or pets so I don't have a problem nearly as bad as yours.

Enough is Enough. Time to address the issue.

First thing, call the sheriffs dept and see if you can file a report. About both the kids terrorizing your dogs and the stuff being thrown into your yard. This is a great way to document your issues.

Second, call Animal Control each and everytime you see their dogs running around. Program your animal controls number into your phone. What will happen is there will then be repeated reports about the dogs being out of their yard. Again, more documentation.

Third, write everything you don't like down (kind of like you did here), take a few days, and re-read what you wrote and write it down again, this time with less emotion (this can be hard) but eventually you will have something you can take over to the neighbors and use to read from. You will need to talk to them, but try and disarm the conversation, and don't use any accusatory words. The intent of this visit is to let them know you are aware of the problems and that you want to resolve the issue, not make a feud.

From here you should start to see results...and if they ask if you filed a report or called animal control, say "Yes, I did." I've spoken with you about the problem and your not resolving it on your own." thats all you need to say.

And don't be afraid of them. They should be afraid of you! LOL

Good Luck!

[chance01]

Thats good!!! You r right they need to take all these steps to stop this non-sense!

[cathrine]

Yes i unfortunaly have that preoblem only they cut him on the pad of his paws so what i have done is this when I hear Turbo bark we quietly open the back door and see what is going on when we see it is someone teasing him we ask them please dont tease the dog if they do it agin we tell them we will call the cops if they dont stop teaseing the dog since i have done this so far (knock on wood) no one has hurt him another thing you can do is put security camras up catch them in the act and give to authories that is our next step cause we suspect someone is feeding him.. we know when one of the kids are teasing him cause he barks like he is gonna rip someone apart so we go out and investigate

[Lateria]

Hi im Lateria, im 14
my mom said you can contact the city and city police, Maybe you can put a restraining Order against your neighbors.

[chance01]

My neighbors too have kids they r very rude & don't really listen to their own parents . In the begining we would just call the dogs in the house & they knew we were watchng them not being nice. I hav a pitt & a american bull dog you don't want these kind of dogs be teased w/ bat's or any object thrue the fence. Finally I got sick of it & told the mom their kids are teasing my dogs w/ bats thrue the fence & that was gonna stop. You don't want these kind of dogs havng any anomazity tource kids or people because eventualy they are gonna react to the situation. My dogs are very sweet but when they see him playng w/ a bat out back she thinks the kids r coming 4 her! The teazing stopt & now the kids come over & dogs r fine they still don't like bat's!! I would confront them about the situation very nice but firm that this behavior will not b tolerated any more. If you loose a neighbor it's still better than loosing your pet!!! You pay to live there & you deserve to be there w/ your dogs in peace!