My idiot neighbor

[Lynn LeFey]

I don't know if I've posted about this before, but our next-door neighbors are idiots. It's a mother and two kids, one of whom is a legal adult, and the other is or is near to that.

So, I should set the stage for my dislike. Our driveway is right near the property line, on the side with the idiot neighbor. Before we moved in, we came to work on the house a few times, painting and such. And on several occasions, our neighbor would be parked in our driveway. You know... on OUR property. I told her about this, to which she responded that the previous owner had been okay with her parking there.

We're... we're not the previous owner. GFT off out property. What I wanted to say. What I actually said. 'Don't park there on Saturday, we're moving in then.

Guess who was parked in our driveway on moving day?

After we moved in, she had a little yappy dog, that she never chained or kept in the fenced in back yard. She also didn't put her garbage bags in cans, just in a big f'ing pile on the curb the night before pickup. And little yappy dog would tear open her garbage, and string it all over. We found a half-eaten rotting chicken carcass in our yard, along with frequent piles of dog crap.

Her kids took some of our landscaping stones to prop up a basketball hoop. Not, like EXCESS stones. They just plucked them out of the ground on our property. When I told the neighbor, she said I was getting bent out of shape about a rock.

We can look up criminal records on-line, and see what people have been convicted of. Our next door neighbor lady had been convicted of DWI. About two or three years ago, on Memorial day, I was awakened by loud voices outside our house at three in the morning. A stream of teens was coming out of the back of their house, and walking across our lawn to stagger to their cars. Drunk. underage. Supplied by someone with an alcohol-based conviction. One of the teens stopped to pee on the side of our house.

The neighbor's little yappy dog disappeared at some point. Yay! I don't know if it ran off or died or what, but she replaced it with a golden retriever. A couple years ago, it ran out into traffic and got hit. Because it's not properly trained, or restrained, or kept in a fenced in yard. They HAVE a fenced in yard, they just didn't USE it. So, my husband had to rush the neighbor and dog to the vet. My husband is particularly offended by people who do not treat animals well and act as responsible owners. So now HE's as pissed as I am.

Then, one day, last year, I notice a bunch of red and blue blinky lights outside, and there's our neighbor, being cuffed and stuffed into a cruiser. Turns out she got drunk, wrecked into someone, and fled the scene. She lost her license and went to jail for a while.

Maybe 6 months back, she gets another dog, a pit bull. I have no preconceived notions of dog breeds, and generally love all dogs. This one was full grown when it showed up, and is vicious. Maybe a month ago, it pushed open the gate to their yard and charged me, tearing my pants. Now I'm carrying pepper spray. Dogs don't scare me even a little, but pepper spray is a better solution, IMO, than a big stick. It's not the dog's fault it's got an idiot owner that didn't train it.

So, two weeks ago, the dog charged us again, only this time my husband was with me. We called the cops, and idiot neighbor got a visit from Animal Control. I figured I'd start the process of documenting this with law enforcement.

So, today, I was sitting here at home, and hear this really loud banging on the neighbor's door. I look out our kitchen window, and lo and behold... police officers. I poke my head out to see what's up. Turns out she was in a collision, and fled the scene. She doesn't have a license anymore. They towed her vehicle. I am confused as to why they didn't drag her off to jail.

The thing that utterly SUCKS is that every other person on this street are nice, quiet folks. Why do I have to live right next to the one a-hole?

[derekmac]

I hate stupid scum like that!!  With any luck they'll move out, or their house will burn down.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[captain spaulding]

That really sucks you live next to people like this. After giving them the benefit of the doubt and then having problems with them I would of definitely told them that we are neighbors, not friends! I would treat every situation that you have described like kids peeing on your house or her kids stealing your rocks very strongly as it would just piss me off beyond belief. Its one thing if they want to break laws and do whatever they do on there own time and on there own property, but once they start messing with you or your property being civil goes out the window in my opinion. The whole dog issue is another thing. I don't blame dogs for being mean and definitely don't think that just because it is a certain breed means its a bad dog. All I know is no matter what kind of dog it is, if it charged me and was biting at me or my clothing i'm going to do anything to stop it including killing it if I felt that threatened. I have been charged by many, many dogs and have literally been attacked by at least 4 dogs in my life. I have only been scared by one dog in my life so the chances of me feeling that threatened are slim, but with a known aggressive dog living next door you have to keep that in the back of your mind. It just makes me think the mom is setting a terrible example for her kids. Sorry to hear your neighbors are jerks.

[Aloha]

This totally blows Lynn  . Sorry that some rotten neighbors always seem to be in every community and you have to have some.  I live in the hood in a large complex and unfortunately loud bass and mischief comes with the area.  I cannot really go out and talk to my neighbors without drama but thankfully it's kept to a minimum.  There are also many dog owners that raise certain breeds in my area for protection so I'm just careful when out walking.  I'm like Capt in this regard where I will kill a dog that is attacking me or my kids.  Last year in this area a couple was mauled by a neighbors dog and one of them died.

Document, document, document and hopefully either the police or their landlords (if they are renters) will intervene.  If you have an homeowners association maybe you can complain to them and account for their violations with photos.         

[ducttapetech]

That sucks Lynn. Man I love living in the country.

that's us mobile

[dmanuel]

Wow, this makes me remember why I have it so good living on a dead end road, outside of town, with only close family members as my neighbors. Sometimes it's annoying and I complain but it sure beats all this nonsense!

[CanadianLMfan]

Good luck with your bad neighbor!

[RamoN]

One of the most annoying things is to have crappy next door or above neighbours. I have two that i have struggled on and on until i managed to keep them somewhat in line, one of them had to even get to the police......

Im in somewhat your same situation, i have a good relation with all the people in the neighbourhood i know and the two living around me are ugly people i would like to set on fire if i had the chance.

The bad news is even if you solve your main problems with them is always a pain to go out your front door and cross a person you hate.

Good luck and hope you can manage to keep them at a distance.

[jerseydevil]

That sucks Lynn.    We also have a set of idiot neighbors who have a tendency to get arrested.  There's a constant stream of people parking in front of the house, running in, and running out and taking off at all hours.  Gee, wonder what they're up to.....    They've been raided several times.  Their garbage gets strewn across the front of their property, constant loud music, loud parties, etc.  And of course when you tell them to shut the smurf up, they forget how to speak English all of a sudden.....  "Cops", however, comes across nicely to them.  We have a local officer who lives at one end of the street (it's a long cul-de-sac), with a State Trooper a few doors down.  Doesn't seem to faze them sadly.  The people who live on the property behind mine have a pit bull which is aggressive and has gotten loose on a number of occasions.  They've been told that the dog will be shot if it takes another run at someone in the neighborhood like it did last summer, and that message got across loud and clear. 

[Lynn LeFey]

Thanks all. Just needed to vent a little.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm being an old crone, shouting 'get off my lawn!' or if I'm justified in my rage. I think I'm justified.

[captain spaulding]

Thanks all. Just needed to vent a little.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm being an old crone, shouting 'get off my lawn!' or if I'm justified in my rage. I think I'm justified.

I think your well justified. 

[mr626]

I feel for you. Neighbours are one of those 'unknowns' when choosing somewhere to live- you often don't find out what they are really like until you have been living there for a while (although it sounds like you've had issues from day dot unfortunately!).

It sounds like you are happy with everything else about where you live though? In that case, I'd probably try to live with it (as best as possible). Better the devil you know...

ON the other hand, if you weren't that attached to your current place and there were other issues etc, maybe a move might be in order?

[Aloha]

Thanks all. Just needed to vent a little.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm being an old crone, shouting 'get off my lawn!' or if I'm justified in my rage. I think I'm justified.

I think your well justified. 

^^^
This

Get off Lynns lawn your SMURFS 

[Lynn LeFey]

Yeah!

 

[Whoey]

I have heard many stories of such neighbours, sad you have to put up with that.

[RT1969]

I see no overreaction on your part, Lynn. And while it seems the mom can't be helped, I hope the best for her two kids.

One thing I wonder: Can't you build a fence on the border of your lawn? So no raging pitbull nur drunken teenager can crass up to your house?

[pfrsantos]

It's a good thing I'm not in your shoes. A neighbour like that in a country where I'm allowed to buy an AK-47... I'd be the one in jail by now!

 

[PTRSAK]

Thanks all. Just needed to vent a little.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm being an old crone, shouting 'get off my lawn!' or if I'm justified in my rage. I think I'm justified.

Totally justified,  but your comment made me think of something like this... 

[Whoey]

I was thinking more like



 

[greenbear]

Sprinkling black pepper about is a really helpful dog deterrent in these sort of situations. Doggie sniff the ground before leaving their little presents and black pepper sends them off sneezing.

As for your neighbours being "what they are" sadly there is no such simple solution - good luck with it, I hope it is all resolved for you soon.

[derekmac]

I'd go for an electric fence with barbed wire on top myself. 

[Freaver]

It's a good thing I'm not in your shoes. A neighbour like that in a country where I'm allowed to buy an AK-47... I'd be the one in jail by now!

 

^^This!
However... The idea of fencing the yard, whether it be a regular fence or a stonewall doesn't seem fair in my opinion - Lynn is not the one who should be "fenced in" - it's the neighbours dog and visitors that should be fenced in. I do however like the idea of an electric fence; perhaps just a single strand, a foot above the ground, all the way around the property. Those who live there and come to visit will of course know where to take a high step, everybody else will quickly learn to stay away from that property. Including the mailman with the electricity-bill. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

That is a bad situation, and I am guessing, probably why that house was for sale in the first place.

Thankfully I bought in a neighborhood that was going through a major change for the better, but I bought before many of the changes happened and I had to deal with some things like that, including three little gang bangers that tried to mug me while I was out playing frisbee with a 100+ pound dog.  Not the brightest lights, but they had the sense to walk away and not try to push their luck. 

The dog issue you are having is a bad one- if the dog is aggressive then it will probably eventually be put down.  If someone here has too many complaints against them they are no longer allowed to have a dog.  Perhaps you should contact the ASPCA about that.  Chances are the dog will be destroyed, which I am not a fan of, but like anyone else, I'll do what I have to to protect my family.

To that end, I would seriously consider making peace with the dog- start feeding it through the fence, and sooner or later it will start to recognize your scent as a good thing.  Not only will it stop charging you, but you can consider yourself under it's protection, and it's always good to be on the good side of a dog like that.

As for the neighbors themselves, well hang in there.  Sooner or later the woman will either go to jail or lose her job and have to leave anyway, at which point someone else will come along, get a good deal on a trashed house and fix it up either to live in or flip for a lot more money- either way you'll get better neighbors and increase your property value at the same time. 

Def

[pfrsantos]

(...)
As for the neighbors themselves, well hang in there.  Sooner or later the woman will either go to jail or lose her job and have to leave anyway, at which point someone else will come along, get a good deal on a trashed house and fix it up either to live in or flip for a lot more money- either way you'll get better neighbors and increase your property value at the same time. 

Def

 

[kirk13]

Gotta admit,I'd really wondered why you were so keen on a concealed carry permit....makes perfect sense now!

[Lynn LeFey]

To that end, I would seriously consider making peace with the dog- start feeding it through the fence, and sooner or later it will start to recognize your scent as a good thing.  Not only will it stop charging you, but you can consider yourself under it's protection, and it's always good to be on the good side of a dog like that.

I tried that, long past. It won't approach without snapping. It won't get close enough to take treats, and I've tried repeatedly. When it does get close, it charges to bite. I spent five or ten minutes with my hand out, not flinching or being hostile, to let it come smell me, but when it did approach it was a quick lunge to bite. i'd pull my hand back, give it a sharp 'hey!' and present my hand again. That's how I got my pants ripped by it. It didn't break my skin with its teeth, but it DID leave a red scratch. Very close.

And only after long failed attempts did I finally have to hit it with pepper spray. I would have vastly preferred making friends. I like dogs. In fact, I LOVE dogs, and in my whole life, I might have only come across two or three that would never warm up to me. Mostly, I think they were made mean by their circumstances, but once that happens, there's really no fixing it.

As a general response to the fence situation, both of our yards are fenced in back. Both have a gate leading into the open front yards. I'd rather not run a fence from the back all the way along the property line to the curb, because it'd be a pain for the mail man to have to go around, from our mail box on our porch to the neighbor's mail box in their porch. I'm not even sure if it's legal to run a fence along the front. I should check that.

Part of the problem is that the gate on the neighbor's fence is a bit out of whack, and the dog can just push it open. Even barring that, there's a section of their fence (not shared with our property) that's just wood boards... one of which is loose. All it takes is for the dog to scratch at it, and it falls off. It would LITERALLY take pounding in two nails and bending them to fix the problem, and they don't. So, the dog can paw at it, board falls off, dog escapes back yard.

F'ing morons. I have strongly considered sneaking onto their property while they're gone and fixing the damn thing myself, but I figure they'd just complain about trespassing.

On CCW... yeah... this is part of it.

[Syph007]

Geez.  Sounds like you need a nice high fence... made of concrete.  Like a freeway barrier to block any sound and people.

Good or bad neighbours can sure make a difference to how you feel about your home too.  Of the 3 that border my yard, only one is annoying, but Im planning a nice big fence project that should block out the screaming at each other arguments I dont care to hear. 

A regular solid wood fence should drop sound by about 10 decibels and since that's logarithmic scales I think that's half as loud... I think...

[Sweety-Sama]

Such people are the source of some dog breeds being called fighting dog! Of course it's the pit bull that is made aggressive! I hope they don't let her keep the dogs! This is horrible! The poor doggies


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^_^

[RT1969]

Geez.  Sounds like you need a nice high fence... made of concrete.  Like a freeway barrier to block any sound and people.

Good or bad neighbours can sure make a difference to how you feel about your home too.  Of the 3 that border my yard, only one is annoying, but Im planning a nice big fence project that should block out the screaming at each other arguments I dont care to hear. 

A regular solid wood fence should drop sound by about 10 decibels and since that's logarithmic scales I think that's half as loud... I think...

I don't know how much the fence will reflect and absorb, but 10dB equals half as loud, that's right!

[Syph007]

Geez.  Sounds like you need a nice high fence... made of concrete.  Like a freeway barrier to block any sound and people.

Good or bad neighbours can sure make a difference to how you feel about your home too.  Of the 3 that border my yard, only one is annoying, but Im planning a nice big fence project that should block out the screaming at each other arguments I dont care to hear. 

A regular solid wood fence should drop sound by about 10 decibels and since that's logarithmic scales I think that's half as loud... I think...

I don't know how much the fence will reflect and absorb, but 10dB equals half as loud, that's right!

Good for my memory then.    When i was researching fence types one was said to be a 10 dB reduction.  I cant say if thats for certain though and also probably only certain wavelengths.

Maybe a dual layer wood fence with foam in the middle... hmmm