OT: Crudy Neighbors

[TrulyMadlyDisney]

I agree your neighbors handled this poorly. If it is a neighborhood courtesy, don't you get a vote or opinion? You are part of the neighborhood, too. I would not respond to them.

On the other hand, if I lived in a neighborhood where all dogs roam free, I might be crudy too.
There is nothing worse than a barking dog.
Our neighbor lets his dog out at 6:30a EVERY day. Forget trying to sleep in on Sunday. We talked to him and he agreed to wait til 7a. Gee thanks.
Nothing makes your blood pressure rise more that listening to a dog bark, hour after hour. Just mho, I guess thats why I'm a cat person.

 

[JCandKT]

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

Oh MY! I am so sorry for your granddaughter's loss... that is just about the worst thing I've heard in awhile! That poor kitty! I'm just in shock...

 

[tinkbutt]

I can see this from both sides!!! you are trying your best to make everyone happy but maybe the best solution is to bring them in earlier and maybe take them for a quick walk before bed if the reason for keeping them out late is so the won't make a mess inside over night!???


I have neighbors who have about ten dogs in a small kennel that stay out all the time and all you can hear is their barking early in the morning!!! so I know how annoying it can be!!!!

hang in there ..... maybe a simple routine change can work for everyone!

 

[SamIAm21]

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

If you are in area highly populated with children, I would most definitely call your local Animal Control and find out what your options are. If these dogs are already showing signs of aggression at a young age, they will, if not properly supervised and trained, hurt someone or someone's pet someday. They are a very dominant breed of dog. If these dogs roam free and there are leash laws in your area, the owners will have to adjust their lifestyle and supervise THEIR animals.

We have "property" regulations where I live. The dog can roam free as long as it never leaves your property. The minute it leaves the property, your dog is in violation and you can be cited. I had a pit bull come after me when I was out on my morning walks. He crossed his property line and came right into the street after me. Luckily, the owner was able to call him off before he attacked me. I was "this" close! I called Animal Control immediately and they were out there that day and the pit bull attacked the officer. Bye bye doggie!! Dominant breeds are like loaded weapons if they are not well trained.

 

[MODisFan]

In the 2nd post by the OP, it was stated that if the got a fence it would cost $6000 Have you looked into getting an invisible fence? What would that cost be? While a fence may cost quite a bit up front, the peace it can give you with your neighbor(s) may be worth it in the long run.

 

[LilGMom]

I can also see both sides. If one of my neighbors had a barking dog and it went on until 9pm I'm might get a little ticked since my kids go to bed at 8pm but since they can sleep through anything it more than likely wouldn't bother me. I'd honestly look into getting a fence or at least fencing in a portion of your lot so that the neighbor can't say that they are roaming and to prevent the neighbor from doing something to the dogs (not saying he would but after reading pwdebbie's post you just never know). Check your HOA covenants, rules and regulations. The HOA might say what type of fence you have to have around your lot (our HOA dictates that we have a 6' wooden privacy fence) but see if there is anything in the covenants about not needing HOA approval for something that is behind your house and not visible from the street. Maybe that would be a route to take until or if you decide to fullly fence your lot in. Or if you consider fencing your lot in consider doing it yourself. We paid to have our fence put around our half acre because we didn't want to fool with it and then a month later Hurricane Dennis blew it down. We ended up putting it back after that and saved half the cost. It isn't that difficult, just time consuming and a little labor intensive but if my non-home improvement DH & I can do practically anyone can!

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.

That is just awful and extremely uncalled for! Too bad the creep could have been cited for unlawful discharge of a firearm.

 

[mickeyluvr004]

We have a Brittany and Border Collie and a Lab puppy and we have the invisible fencing this in my opinion is the best, before we got the fencing they were in a kennel (before the puppy) and they barked all day, now they run and run around on my 1 acre and love it, now we also have this one lovely neighbor who lives through the woods who allows his dog to bark ALL NIGHT yep 3 oclock in the morning what a lovely sound well the other day now mind you my older 2 don't bark often at all the puppy on the other hand she is 4 months old and until she is 6 months she can't go on the invisible fencing well he had the nerve to come and ask me to keep my puppy quiet this is at noon and she was only out for an hour and wasnt barking that much, she wants to play with the others, so I told him to get off my property and how he has the nerve to ask me when HIS dog is out all night barking, boy that shut him up he left right away. Now when we are not home we have crates that they go in can you get those to keep them inside while you are at work? I would definetly look into it we paid around 1500 for our acre and we have not had an issue at all and we have had it for 3 years. No escapees also as for the email how did he get your email address and can you block him? That should shut him up and don't answer the phone when he calls Good Luck

 

[camdensmom]

I hate to say it, but I find it to be extremely rude and irresponsible to let a pet roam freely. I'm not trying to offend you or start an argument, but people should not have to tolerate someone else's animal coming onto, possibly destroying and pooping on their private property.

A dog left outside in it's own yard barking is annoying.

A dog let to wander the neighborhood is just wrong.

 

[LilGMom]

I would definetly look into it we paid around 1500 for our acre and we have not had an issue at all and we have had it for 3 years. No escapees

Hmmmm... wonder if the invisible fence works on kids?

(I'm kidding of course!)

 

[lilmrsellis]

I see both sides. On the one hand, if your neighbor has a problem with you, he should just come and tell you. What's with the email? In the country, roaming dogs tend to be the accepted. Cities are a different story. Many have leash laws and noise ordinances.

That said, I can see where a barking dog would wake a child or simply be annoying to a neighbor. My BFF's mom has to be at work at 3:30am, so a barking dog at 9:00pm would be unnacceptable in their neighborhood. It all comes down to the fact that your neighbor really dropped the ball on handling the situation.

 

[dmccarty]

One acre is not alot of land when you are talking noise. We live on 4.5 acres. Having three other houses on our 4.5 acres would be horrible but having barking dogs that close would be even worse. We own the land around our house as well. The nearest neighbor to our SW is a church. If the wind is right on a quiet night I can hear them on Friday/Saturday nights and they are a good 1/4 mile away through the woods. To the NE another 1/4 mile away we have some houses with dogs that are kenneled and stay outside all night long. They bark. We can hear them. When my parents visit those dogs keep them awake. I don't know how the nearest neighbors to the dogs put up with the racket. I would complain if I was as close as they are to the kennel but they don't. They are both on 5 acre lots.

We are in the county and it does have leash laws. If you have not looked into this yourself you should. There very well may be leash laws. One of the other neighbors lets their dogs roam but enough complaints to Animal Control has all but stopped the problem even though their nearest neighbor, a very nice widow, had to put up a No Dog Poop sign to show her displeasure to the owners of the roaming dogs.

I have talked to farmers who have been here for generations. Roaming dogs used to be shot to protect livestock. If they saw dogs they did not know they followed the three S's, Shoot, Shovel and Shutup. If the dog was running livestock it was shot period. When I worked on a farm we knew a neighbor's dog was running our cattle. If we had seen that dog on the farm it was going to get shot. Roaming dogs can also pack up and be a danger to not only adults but children. A forester I know was treed for hours by dogs with collars. Many years ago I remember people being killed by roaming dogs in Kentucky.

Dogs should not be allowed to roam. Especially hound dogs that are bred to chase game. Its not fair for the dog, other property owners or the game. People we know used to have beagles. The let them run. The dogs all died when hit by cars. Not far to the dog or the people that hit them.

Regarding the person who has the pit bull problem, Animal Control or law enforcement needs to be contacted ASAP.

If you can't afford a fence or an electric fence can you build a kennel/run. Or crate the dogs when you are not at home. Or put them on a wire run if all else fails.

Later,
Dan

 

[simonkodousek]

I definitely agree with you about the neighbors being so pesky regarding the dogs barking, etc., but I do see where they're coming from. We live next door to an older couple with two miniature poodles, one of which is the nicest dog you could ever meet (other than my dog, of course! ) but the other one is honestly the most annoying dog EVER! Whenever we open any door to the outside of our house, she starts barking like crazy, and doesn't stop until we either get in the car and leave or go back inside. Sometimes, I just wanna take a French baguette and...!!! Arghh!!!

 

[WaltD4Me]

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!

What good will a fence do for the barking problem?

And if you get a fence, can you leave your dogs out until 10pm then?

I've never been in a neighborhood where all the dogs just roam free, but it sounds like this new neighbor just doesn't like dogs. If you don't have a leash law though, I don't see how there is anything he can do about your dogs being out after 9pm, especially if they aren't the ones barking.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

I definitely agree with you about the neighbors being so pesky regarding the dogs barking, etc., but I do see where they're coming from. We live next door to an older couple with two miniature poodles, one of which is the nicest dog you could ever meet (other than my dog, of course! ) but the other one is honestly the most annoying dog EVER! Whenever we open any door to the outside of our house, she starts barking like crazy, and doesn't stop until we either get in the car and leave or go back inside. Sometimes, I just wanna take a French baguette and...!!! Arghh!!!

SIMON! Put down the baguette!

 

[tinkbutt]

I definitely agree with you about the neighbors being so pesky regarding the dogs barking, etc., but I do see where they're coming from. We live next door to an older couple with two miniature poodles, one of which is the nicest dog you could ever meet (other than my dog, of course! ) but the other one is honestly the most annoying dog EVER! Whenever we open any door to the outside of our house, she starts barking like crazy, and doesn't stop until we either get in the car and leave or go back inside. Sometimes, I just wanna take a French baguette and...!!! Arghh!!!

I love Ham on a french beguette!!!! the best ham sandwich MMMM.......

 

[wishspirit]

I love Ham on a french beguette!!!! the best ham sandwich MMMM.......

Wow, that took quite a while to get into food, i'm proud!

 

[simonkodousek]

SIMON! Put down the baguette!

I think I sleepwalked into the kitchen last night and ate it... darn, now the only bread product I can throw at annoying dogs is a tomato and parmesan focaccia. Oh, the horror!

 

[Vijoge]

I think I sleepwalked into the kitchen last night and ate it... darn, now the only bread product I can throw at annoying dogs is a tomato and parmesan focaccia. Oh, the horror!

I had a parmesan focaccia but my dog ate it and then had the nerve to bark at me when I complained.

 

[simonkodousek]

I had a parmesan foccaccia but my dog ate it and then had the nerve to bark at me when I complained.

Dogs...