OT: Crudy Neighbors

[stitchlover]

I just have to vent. We just moved to a new neighborhood 2 months ago. We have two beagles that roam free, like every other dog in the neighborhood. We are out in the country and live on an acre. Everyone has a minimum of one acre out here. We try to have our dogs in the house by 10pm each evening. We had a neighbor, who we have never met, call out of the blue the other night at 9:45 asking us to bring our dog inside because she was barking. I explained to the wife that we bring them in at 10pm and would that be okay, she said yes. Then she said your dog woke our daughter up at 1am barking last night. So I said, "No, we bring our dogs in at 10pm. Must have been another dog." She said okay. The next night we get a call from the husband at 9:45 asking us to bring our dogs in. I told him last night I told your wife we bring them in at 10pm, he said that doesn't work for me I want them in at 9pm. So I go outside, my dogs are not barking at all and bring them in. Last night, I RACE home from out of town and bring the dogs in promptly at 9pm. This afternoon we get an email to the ENTIRE neighborhood called Neighborhood Courtesy. They want the entire neighborhood to agree that all dogs should be brought inside at 8:30, 9:00 at the latest.

Ok...I get it, you don't like the dogs barking. It is annoying, I agree and we are trying to be good neighbors. But why, after I busted my but to get my dogs in last night at 9pm does this email go out today? I don't understand!

We do not have a HOA and there is nothing in the deed restrictions about pets. Pretty much no one out here has a fence and that seems to work for everyone. My question now is what do I do on the nights I'm not home at 9pm? If there is a high school football game or if I go to the town 30 miles away to the drive in? We don't leave our dogs inside if we are not home. So that is not an option. I really don't know what to do at this point.

My husband says not to respond to the email sent to the neighborhood. He said if they have a problem they can come introduce themselves and speak to us directly about this.

SORRY! I know this is TOTALLY OT but I just needed to VENT!

 

[zoie101]

cant pick our neighbors
hope all works out for you

 

[dpuck1998]

My kids go to bed at 8pm. If there were dogs roaming my neighborhood barking I would be upset. Not saying this is the case for your pets, but if you live in a neighborhood it seems the animals should stay in your yard and not make noise. 1 acre isn't anything more than an over sized lot.

I would however not send an email, I would call and ask first and it seems you were trying to accommodate.

 

[Poohbug]

Do we live in the same neighborhood?? I also have a PITA neighbor. If your dog barks, he call the cops and complains. Pretty much everyone in the neighborhood with a dog has had the cops called on them. If the police come out a second time you get a $100 fine. Right now we do not have a dog and really feel that we cannot get one because of this neighbor and all the extra cost. This guy lives three housed away and everyone has an acre lot-I just can't believe that the barking that goes on can bother him that much. We do not have constantly barking dogs-they bark for natural reasons-a visitor, other dogs/animals, etc. Nothing excessive. I wish people would mind their own business.

 

[PEANUT1]

I don't mean to sound contrary but 10pm is little late to bring barking dogs inside. I think 8pm is very appropriate. I would also be upset if I heard barking dogs that late at night.

I spoke to my neighbor about their dog because every night at 10pm they had the dog outside and the barking woke my daughter every night. They said that they never hear the barking probably because they are so used to it.

I think your neighbors could have handled it differently but in the end, it is not fair to have loud dogs outside when others may be sleeping.

If you are worried about being home, maybe there is a kind neighbor that could be called upon to help bring the dogs in.Or you coudl pay someone to do it.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

I know nothing about your leash laws in Texas, so can't speak to that. I detest dogs walking about my neighborhood, destroying my garden, breaking into my garage (you heard me right!) to tear up our trash, and disturbing the peace. Beagles make a particularly loud, baleful, annoying cry (I've had beagles all my life, love them to pieces, but they make for really bad neighborly relations!). So try to see it from your neighbors' point of view a little. One acre is nothing...no sound buffer on one acre.

 

[jamieT]

Also you may not need to take the e-mail personally. They may have seen you bring in the dogs at 9 (it would have still been light enough) and they may have said ok it is not their dog. Maybe a neighborhood e-mail was the best way they can get it to stop

 

[WLfan]

My kids go to bed at 8pm. If there were dogs roaming my neighborhood barking I would be upset. Not saying this is the case for your pets, but if you live in a neighborhood it seems the animals should stay in your yard and not make noise. 1 acre isn't anything more than an over sized lot.

I would however not send an email, I would call and ask first and it seems you were trying to accommodate.

I completely agree. How about a fence? My dog is in the house unless we are home. I don't live in the country though. I'm sure things are probably different. That's just my suburban perspective.

 

[jjjmranch]

Sometimes those "neighborhood" emails are just the same people complaining. Unless all the neighbor put their names on the email, I ignore them. It's like the anonymous letter that states that "everyone" wants to you to put your dogs inside. If they don't have the guts to sign their names, why should you feel intimidated?

I live on a one acre plot. We have more coyotes howling than dogs. I love dogs, don't have any at the moment (due to son's allergies).

I just don't like when people hide behind the "neighborhood" email. That's in IMOP.

 

[drakethib]

Please don't take any offense but I would have an issue with this as well.

I really would like having dogs roam freely around in the first place. especially if little ones are around.


Hope everything works out ok.

 

[freepixie]

In my hometown there is a "Noise Ordinance" that all loud noises (i.e. dogs barking, stereos on cars, loud tv's, etc.) are to be quiet after 11 PM in the summer, 10 PM when schools are in session. The Noise Ordinance is lifted in the morning at 6 AM. Don't know if your town has anything like this, but you could at least look into it, may help you when dealing with your neighbor.

Hope that helps!!

 

[Vijoge]

Oh, my, we have leash laws here so we'd really be in hot water if we let our dogs roam free at any time of the day or night. They're either out walking on the leash or safely ensconced behind our 6 ft cedar fence. I don't ever leave them out when we're not home. They tend to be barkers-two are shi-poos and they make a racket and one is a beagle with his own brand of noise. . .Even in the house with the windows closed it sounds like a kennel if you walk by. Fortunately, my neighbors on both sides have dogs and we have an unspoken agreement to tolerate all of our respective pets.

 

[stitchlover]

Oh believe me I understand the wanting them in by 9pm and we feel that is a reasonable request. We live out in the country, not in the city limits so we don't have any leash laws or anything like that. When we bought the house we asked about the cost of a fence because we have dogs. The builder told us not to bother because no one has one and everyone lets their dogs roam, and they do. This is how the neighborhood was presented to us.
This morning was an email from a neighbor to everyone saying that if you have a dog you need to get a fence in his opinion. But we have no home owners association so there isn't anyone that can really enforce that.
I just feel that this is a neighbor we have never met, we have lived here 2 months today, and this is how you introduce yourself to us? My husband said please don't respond to any emails and if anyone comes to the house to talk to you tell them they can come see me when I get home.
We love our dogs but if we have to get a fence we will have to get rid of them. The deed restrictions require a certain type of fencing that will cost about $6,000 for us to fence our property.
And in all fairness it wasn't appropriate for us to introduce ourselves to the neighborhood by allowing our dogs to bark late at night. We understand that too!

 

[cccm]

I know nothing about your leash laws in Texas, so can't speak to that. I detest dogs walking about my neighborhood, destroying my garden, breaking into my garage (you heard me right!) to tear up our trash, and disturbing the peace. Beagles make a particularly loud, baleful, annoying cry (I've had beagles all my life, love them to pieces, but they make for really bad neighborly relations!). So try to see it from your neighbors' point of view a little. One acre is nothing...no sound buffer on one acre.

Mindy, that was me in your garage. But I swear I didn't touch the trash.

Things are different in different areas. Up here most houses don't have central air, so windows stay open all night June-September. If there was a dog barking past 8:30 I would probably be peeved. If it was consistent, then I would speak with the neighbors. I am not speaking about a bark or two, but consistent howling.

Now there are dogs that don't bark. We had a neighbor with a dog and he never barked once. That dog lived next to us for 5 years...not one bark.

Good luck with your neighbors and I agree with your husband about them coming to speak with you. This is definitely a good place to vent.

 

[Timon-n-Pumbaa Fan]

We live in an older neighborhood without a HOA, but there is a leash law here. Our dogs are only outside in our fenced backyard a few times a day to go potty and/or play. We have Chihuahuas and their hypervigilant little butts do bark quite a bit. Luckily for us, one neighbor is in his 80's and almost deaf. The other neighbor says that she never hears them, but we are afraid that we will be losing her as a neighbor soon, since her husband just passed away and there is nothing really keeping her here. Anyway, their time in the yard is usually at 7:30am, 6:15pm, 7:15pm, 8:30pm, and finally at 10:00pm.

With all of this griping about barking dogs needing to be silenced by 8pm, I worry about the attitude of our potential new neighbors. Not to mention the fact that we are considering doing Chihuahua rescue work next year, mostly because we know that Beverly Hills Chihuahua is going to prompt a lot of people to make a bad choice and adopt/buy a new one as a pet, when these are NOT the dog for families with kids. They are far too fragile and we know that it's going to be a problem that we can and should help with.

Yet another reason why we won't be going back to WDW in 2009.

 

[DisneyWorld Delight]

I can't believe roaming dogs. I'd be worried something would happen. To the dogs or to someone else. If there was a dog roaming my neighborhood, I'd call the dog warden. That is protocol around here.

That being said, dogs roaming your neighborhood is the norm. The catty email would tick me off, and I definately wouldn't respond. You are obviously not the only dog owner.

 

[JCandKT]

JC and I are parents of an adorable little mini schnauzer. If you know anything about minis...they like to bark. They think they're big dogs trapped in little bodies. They can get annoying. That being said, we're very conscious of that fact, and he stays in our backyard (fenced in) for only small amounts of time so that he doesn't drive the neighbors batty. (We live in a pretty congested area, so we don't have the pleasure of having 1+ acres to let him roam around) When we take him on walks, his barking is at a minimum.

Now...our neighbor... totally disrespectful, in my opinion. He has 2 pitbulls that he lets roam around the neighborhood OFF LEASH and they terrorize everyone. We've asked him politely, on several occasions, if he could either put them on a run or put them in his fenced-in backyard (which is about 5 times bigger than the fenced-in part of my yard). He says, in so many words, that I can just...well...it's a family board, so I won't say it here.

Now his pit-bulls have scared kids, nipped at other dogs --- they are just puppies, but they are growing fast.

So what do I do in my case? Do I let him just do whatever he wants or do I involve the authorities?

I just think it's completely disrespectful. Not everyone are dog lovers like we are... so I don't think it's right to let them have free-reign over everyone's yard to do their business and bug people. Again, I live in the city, so it's a bit different than the OP who lives in a place a lot more spread out then my neighborhood.

JMHO

 

[froggy5657]

JC and I are parents of an adorable little mini schnauzer. If you know anything about minis...they like to bark. They think they're big dogs trapped in little bodies.

We have mini schnauzers too one of ours will be constantly barking at anything that moves on our walks. I feel terrible for our neighbors. We have a fence and we live in the suburbs, so we try to get them inside as soon as they start barking.

I hope it all works out, but I doubt it is your dogs. You seem extremely courteous and very aware of how others feel about your them.

 

[pwdebbie]

I have a beagle, and she is always on leash outside. We lost our first beagle when she took off into the woods, not risking it again. I was under the impression that it is the nature of beagles to run and not look back. I'm surprised yours haven't taken off.

But I think I have you topped for the cruddy neighbor award. Wednesday at 4:30, my granddaughter's kitten (10 mos old) slipped out the door and went off property for the first time. We tried to catch her and couldn't, so we hoped she would find her way back home. At 7:10, we heard a gun shot -- Yup, someone put a .22 through her chest. Beautiful kitten, heartbroken grandchild. To put a bullet through her chest, she must have been walking straight up to them with her head held high, not a fear in the world.

If your dogs roamed in my town, that would probably be their fate. Be glad you don't live here. I'm still crying over this.

Deb
POFQ, 2007

 

[della]

I just happened upon this thread/board so excuse me for butting in. I was just blown away by PWDebbie's post. I am not really even partial to cats but this just seems like it should be considered a criminal act. How awful!