Neighbor problems... Getting rather frustrated. :(

[turney31]

Ok I am going to play Devils advocate. I agree with the others that if what you are describing is all that is happening, she seems extreme. But I suspect there is more to it by you saying, she said, Don't you people ever sleep? For 3 years we lived next door to Night owls. We both got up at 4:30 am for work. They played their stereo loud while they cleaned house and moved furniture. WE SHARED A WALL... Apt. They had children in age range 3 to 12. These were townhouse apts. They ran up and down the stairs. Children screamed playing. Parents screamed at playing children. They had the belief that it was too hot for the children to play outside during the day, so they played outside at night. We had the end APT and their basketball goal was 15 feet from our bedroom wall. This mother explained she could not afford college for her 12 year old, so it was important for him to practice basketball for several hours a night. This child had a basketball in his hand dern near 24/7. He dribbled it everywhere he went, in the house, down the sidewalk, to the school bus.....everywhere! I had a home day care so I had a lot of outside toys, I told them at first they were welcome to play on them as long as they put them up. We would find toys in the driveway, road and a block away. One night my DH told me to come here and look at this, I saw a child stuck on the concrete base of a street light. This was the 3 yr old, she had climbed up and could not get back down. Dh said she had been crying for 15 minutes. I went and helped her off the pole. Took her to her house and told her mother what happened. NO PARENTAL SUPERVISION. Then there was the time I stepped outside to smoke only to catch the 12 old and his cousin smoking pot on the back patio. Did I tell you we were working for the Prison system, living in Prison employee housing? I personally thought we should be better than those we kept. We thought kids will be kids so we told mom. Then kids went to stay with the GM , mom was smoking pot, you could smell it. It was her stash he got into. Then there were the dogs kept in crates on patio no shelter, food water until 1 died. I reported it to unit and police during and after. Nothing done. Many other things could go on and on......... BLA BLA....

Yes your neighbor is showing signs of stress. Lack of sleep will do that to you. Being disrespected, will make a crazy person out of you. One point in trying to reason with all involved in our neighbor problems was: I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO ASK GROWN PEOPLE TO USE COMMON SENSE AND TO ACT RESPECTFUL!

Micah

 

[bgelber]

Sorry to hear that your having problems with your SN. Is there a neighbor on her other side, if so is she doing the same thing to her. It never hurts to try and find out if they are having the same problem. Don't cower down to her, once it's not the barking dog it will be something else, that's just how SN are. If you know any one on the police force talk to them and see if in their opinion you are doing anything wrong but in my opinion your not.

I'm sorry dogs will be dogs and they can't control their bladder any more than we can. When nature calls we have to answer. We sometimes let our dogs out a three in morning, the only one's to complain is our ducks.

We have back-door neighbors that have dogs our all night and he barks, doesn't bother me that's just what he does ( he does it all day too). Now what does bother me is that he leaves his spot lights on all night and one is pointed right into my bedroom window. What did I do, I didn't complain to him since it's not his problem it's mine, I put up black out curtains in front of wooden blinds.

Our neighbor across the street has a gorgeous german shepard that barks I swear when a fly farts and he is LOUD but that's okay, once again he is a dog and that's what they do.

NO ONE around here complains about the noise. Now out of respect for our neighbors we don't have a rooster, we did but he kept waking me up at four frig-gin a.m. plus he was being overly aggressive to one of my hens so he had to go.


Just a related story on Neighbors from hell. My parents have a tree about three feet off the property line, not a big tree mind you. They had some people move in that put a tree swing up in the tree. First they ask them to remove it after explaining to them that the tree was on their property. They refused saying that their landlord told them the tree was on their land, so my parents had to show them the markers. After asking a couple more times for them to remove the swing my parents finally cut it down. Can you believe they called the police on my parents, the police told them that my parents had the right to cut it down since it was their tree.




any way good luck and don't back down to her. It sounds as if you need a big

 

[babylady4]

I live on a postage stamp for a yard with dogs all around; a bunch of Chiuhauhau's across the street that bark incessantly at anything that breathes next to their property and the next door neighbor dog who likes to bark at my dogs. My dogs bark like mad if anybody comes to the house.

Dogs will be dogs and they bark. A dog barking 3 or 4 times is nothing to get your dander up about ever, and a bark collar is not needed! Anybody suggesting that should try the bark collar on themselves first. Come meet my sisters Pom if you want to hear an annoying barking dog! He NEVER shuts up and is one dog I WOULD complain about.

OP, I would contact your police dept. about her harassing you. Our goofy little town has an ordinance against swearing in public that carries a $250 fine. Maybe yours does the same....

Good luck!

 

[WingingIt]

I'm reading it as the dogs are out barking at 11 pm and later some nights. If she's a light sleeper, then, yeah, I can see her being annoyed. She can try to ignore it, sure, but it's hot and if she's right next door it's certainly her right to have her windows open, too, and there's no ignoring dogs (don't know how many?) barking right next door. Work on that training and stop the barking then there's no issue for anyone. Then you can explain to her that if she hears barking someone or something that's not supposed to be there is in the area, so you'll all know to be careful. If you're often out doing things outside yourself late at night (you said you prefer to do things at night yourself) then I bet the dogs aren't the only thing that's annoying her. It's your right to be on your property whenever you want doing whatever you're allowed to do, but it's also everyone's responsibility to be courteous, too. If you know that she's sleeping at 4:00 am, it's probably not the best time to use your chain saw, you know?

Try to get the noisy stuff done as early as possible and get the dogs to quit barking, that way she doesn't loose sleep and she'll have to go find something else to bother someone else about. If she keeps it up, complain to her about everything she does that bothers you while you're trying to sleep during the day!

 

[WingingIt]

Quote:
I'd very carefully research your town's noise ordinance before you involve the police. If there are 'quiet hours' and your dogs are violating that, you'd be inviting the trouble literally to your door.

 

[babylady4]

Well of course. First rule of thumb is to CYA. Then when she complains you can back yourself up.

Nobody should be allowed to get away with swearing at somebody every time they take their dogs out. This whack job sounds like she is just sitting there waiting for those dogs to come out so she can start screaming.


Could you possibly videotape her or record her in some way? That might be helpful as well. Then post it on you tube!

 

[PineappleMama]

Pulling the dogs food and water by... what 8pm? Might help with making sure nature doesn't call until morning. We've had to do that with ours or else they'll go in the house while we're sleeping. No call of nature means no going out at all... of course Matt is tall enough to drink out of the toilet so be sure that's covered if you try this route.

Sounds like the woman is stressed out... you said her mom went to a home... is she still there? Passed on? Either could add a lot to a person's plate. Also, you said she moved there after mom was put up, could be she had no choice... with the obligation of visiting/being near... or financial stuff... never really can tell what all is going on in a person's head. But if she's stressing from a big ol' pile then ANYTHING could set her off... Walk softly but carry a big stick is a good motto around people like that.

 

[MustLoveHens]

Oh man Im sorry to hear you have a bad neighbor. I think she is a nut case and yes I can see her side of the issue with barking dogs at 11 pm, but honestly, if she was not a nutcase then she should be able to calmy and politely explain to you why this is an issue for her.
What you can do is kill her with kindness in a sly way. Take her a nice home baked cake as a peace offering, and see if you can get the details as to why it is so aggrivating to her about your dogs. She maybe under stress and once you acknowledge this, that maybe all she wants. Try to comply to the best of your abilities. However, start documenting everything. Make sure you write down dates and times and keep records of your conversations with her. Check with your ordinance office to see if you are in violation of any orinances in ANY way. From dogs to chickens and such. Fix any thing that is not incomplience. This way you are taking away her fuel to add to the fire.
IN the meantime, can you walk your dogs on another part of your property for their late night potty break? This was you can keep away from her.
Also, when you fence your yard, dont fence the whole acre. Make a dog yard/backyard well within your property. If you do fence the whole acre, then make a secondary fenced yard as a dog area. This way if she does become malicious, then you can prove she had to walk onto your property and she trespassed as opposed to just tossing poison meat over a fence. By then you will have documentation supporting her harrasment.

My neighbor from hell experience:
I had neighbor who was one of the nicest people (he resuced my cat out of ahis tree at 3 AM one morning) and most neighborly of neighbors..when he was sober and not on heroin. He was a contractor and decided to reroof his house-without permits. We used to let our dogs out during the day while were at work. We did this for months and we asked him on a twice a week basis if the dogs bothered him during the day to let us know and we'd leave them inside. He always said they never bothered him and that they were ok and only barked at the cyclests(sp). We also had chickens and some roos that never caused issues with him. Once day I can home from work and our BC Buddy was acting like the goat butted him. Long story short we endend up in two emergency rooms that night because Bud had been shot with a high powered pellet gun. It was a friday and we think he had some friends over to "help" him roof and one of those addicts shot him. We never saw him that weekend due to his bender and that monday we asked him what had happened. He said he didnt know and that he and his friends heard nothing and that dogs we quite all day. He was sorry that that had happened and he's ask around....never heard anything again. BTW, Bud is ok! He has the pellet from the shot lodged in the lining of his heart. The vets say it was too dangerous to remove and that he'll live a full and happy life.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Muzzles prevent a dog from biting a person or another animal; they do not prevent barking. Trust me on this, our dog has to wear a muzzle at the vet's and to get her nails trimmed.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

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Most noise laws that I have read lower allowable decibels (excluding construction) at 10 pm. Yes, some people go to bed early; some go to bed late. The dogs do not howl or bark unatttended for long periods of time every night; they bark a time or two, and not even daily. The OP's behavior is ordinanary and reasonable; NOT a nuisance.