Battle of the neighbors---Help please...
 

So I have only been in my new house for a month now and I think I am going to be having issues with my neighbor across the street from me! GGGRRRRR!!!
They just moved in 2 weeks ago. Its a family of 4. Dad and kids are nice as can be. I haven't really had a chance to talk to her yet, but we had an encounter already. They have a lab who is a bit older. Well, I was outside with Luigi and Brasco, (they were on thier leashes as always!!!), and the lady across the street let her dog out and he was not on a leash. My dogs start barking insanely and here comes the lab!! :eek: He runs over to my dogs and I have them on the retractable leashes and it happened sooo fast that I could't pull them back and get them away from the lab. Brasco doesnt seem to like other dogs who come at them and he bit the lab. Which I do feel terrible about. So the lady came running over and grabbed the lab and spanked him soo hard. :( I guess cuz he ran off. She said he only wanted to play.So she looked over him and started to get angry with me cuz Brasco bit him, on my property which her dog came on to. She said I should have better control of my dogs and those retractable leashes are no good. (I like them cuz it gives them room to run and do thier thing.) I said that you should have your dog on a leash when its outside. She proceeded to tell me that if it werent for my dogs yapping so much, he would never have ran over here. She always lets her dog out w/o a leash and he never runs off. And she asked me in a very attitudeish way--I hope you have your rabies shots all up to date. Brasco didnt even draw blood when he bit him, I think he just nipped him. Now this all happened on my propery and she told me that if her dog gets sick or if anything is wrong with him, she is holding me responsible! :eek: What--me responsible????? For what, not having her dog on the leash?????

Help!! Can she do something to me legally or do you think she was just blowing off steam. I just called m hubby at work and he thinks she was just blowing off steam. What do you think???

You are so in the right it isn't funny. It reminds me of one of those unbelievable stories of a burglar breaking into a house by way of the skylight. He broke right through it and then blamed the owner for hurting himself.

If your dogs were on a leash, retractable or not, and on your property, then you are toally in the right. Your dog was defending himself from the large and threatening Lab. You totally said all the right things. Her dog should be on a leash, no matter what. And honestly, I'm sure she knows it.

There is a chance the she might contact animal control, but when they realize that her dog wasn't on a leash and came over on to your property and came over to your dogs that were tied down, they will probably turn the table on her.

She was blowing steam. She knows she was in the wrong, she was just being a bi*ch about it. You did everything right.

You may want to consider contacting AC yourself. Letting them know that a dog came on to your property and 'what you thought' tried to chase/attack your dog. At least it is on the record books. I know you both have to live next to each other. So, it's a hard call to make. Good luck.

But you were SO RIGHT!

Thanks Sarap!! Good idea about calling Animal control, just to be on the safe side!!! I think she was just blowing off steam too though. I am still shaking I am sooo mad.

She is just blowing!!! I can understand why you are upset as well.... Take a deep breath, now. :p :p She has no ground to stand on....

Been there...Done that!!!
 

I had a cat once. Big cat! He weighed 23 pounds. Well, one day he was outside and these two people came walking by with their Dobies. One on a leash, one not. The man had the one on the leash and the woman was "in control" (?) of the other one. I heard them both say "Look, so-and-so, there's a kitty! Go get the kitty"! Well, my cat had been raised around dogs and he wasn't going to take anything off a couple of Dobies!! The one started running up to T.G. (my cat), growling and barking. T.G. just stood there as if to say, "You have GOT to be kidding!" When the Dobie got close enough, T.G. reared back and whacked her!! Yes, it drew blood. Yes the Dobie yiped. And yes, the lady went balastic!! She threatened to do everything to me you can imagine. Ok, yea, the dog did have to have stitches, and emotionally, I'm sure she was traumatized!!! But she also was a full grown dog, probably about 90 pounds. The lady took me to court for damage to her dog and vet bills. She even tried to get me for HER having to take time off of work to go to court! She might have sued me for mental anguish for her dog if the judge hadn't been laughing so hard that he threw it out of court!!! My advise is, document everything! You never know when you might not be as lucky as I was with a good judge.
Keep us posted. I'm curious about the outcome of this. Some people think they can sue anyone for anything. Makes me mad as heck when they do it. Makes me even madder when I think about all of the court cases that are so frivilous (?), and the fact that people are acutally allowed to do it!
Suz :eek:

She is just plain silly. You can have your dogs on your property on a retractable leash...which is very responsible.....and she lets hers run loose without a leash into your yard...very irresponsible!!!! I'm just glad her dog didn't bit yours! She could get in trouble for that I would think!

I'm sure she was just blowing off steam.
Not a very good way to meet the new neighbor.
But, she was way off base. It was her Lab who came
on your property. I would call AC to make a report,
this way there is some record of it. If her Lab is
out all the time without a leash, it might not be
just a nip next time. You have the right to protect your
babies. Your neighbor needs to learn the Leash Law.
Sometimes it takes AC to step in, so the person in the
wrong knows they are wrong. With some people, it takes
a visit from someone with a badge to set them straight.
Hang in there, YOU did everything right!

OMG!!! She took you to court when she told her dog to go get that cat???? You have got to be kidding me!!! What is wrong with people anymore????
Well! I will document everything!!!! Thanks!!

Actually, if you live in a city/state with a leash law, she has no ground to stand on.

I too would call AC and file a report. At least this way you will have everything documented, you never know what could happen later down the road. Better to protect youself now.

I think it was totally her fault. If you can't control your dog regardless of WHAT is outside, yapping or not, get a leash. If the dog had run out and been hit by a car because it ran in the street, would that have been your fault too.
Don't feel bad, I am having a tift with my neighbors too, so I can sympathize with you. Different scenario though. We live in a garden home...lots of houses close to each other. There are about 5 cats that the neighbors refer to as "outdoor cats:" meaning they are out ALL OF THE TIME, unattended, and usually in someone else's yard or worse, on someone else's car!! (Usually mine!) I don't have anything against cats, but if I wanted one pooping on my porch and sleeping on my car, I'd get my own. One of the owners had they nerve to laugh and joke and say the poop on our porch probably came from their cat. I asked how they would like it if I let our 70 lb Basset sit on their car or let her poop on their porch. I told them to remember, BIG DOGS=BIG POOP!

GRRR. Good luck having to live next to THAT. She can't do anything to you because she was the idiot for not having the leash on the dog and maybe SHE should have more control of her dog if he just runs across the street, which puts him in danger. A yorkie could not hurt a lab, that is ludricous. I just can not stand stupid people. I would definitely call AC on her though, because this sounds like it will be a repeated problem. Good luck!

Ha ha ha! :lol tears That sounds just like me. I am constantly saying that I have developed a very low tolerance for idiots!

I would be the first one to file a complaint against her for not having her dog on a leash....the dog could have hurt one of your babies...even if he is a good dog...just playing....and you definitely don't want a repeat performance like this again.....I know you don't want hard feelings against neighbors but you also don't want your babies getting hurt....good luck

this lady is full of crap! she legally can not do anything. so your dogs were barking, THAT'S WHAT DOGS DO. she is the one who should have had better control of her dog. a lab is 95lbs full grown, and yorkies max are 12. think her dog outweighs yours? uh yeah....

my point being, her whole statement about how "if your dogs weren't yapping!" and "you should have had better control, and those are no good!" is beyond pathetic. Yes I do have some problems with the retractables, but hey they're still a leash and I use one myself. my only real issue is that they get tangled aroud thing's easily.

let's get the facts straight:
1-your property
2- her dog was not on a leash
3-yours were
4-her dog ran onto your property
5-your dogs reacted
6-no blood was drawn.
7-lady was irrate


Now where does the lady get the right to even threaten you??? In my eyes she's responsible for any damages that may or may not have happened to her dog.

It sounds to me like you may be able to get her for trespassing. but I'm not quite sure. what does everyone else think? trespassing or not?

just a little tid bit for you to mention to HER if she says anything else about your yorkie being up to date on his rabies....

tell her that if HER dog is up to date, she has nothing to worry about! maybe her dog is not up to date and that was the first thing that popped into her head!

i would also not put up with her not obiding by the leash law. you are doing what you're supposed to and it's not your dogs running onto her property in the first place.

i do agree that your baby shouldn't of bitten her dog BUT, her dog shouldn't have even been on your property in the first place, OR off his leash. She legally can do nothing to you, because you did not give her permission to have her dog be on your property, or come into conatct with your dogs on your property. You should check into the leash laws where you live to see if he was legally even allowed to be off his leash in public. I wouldn't worry about the lab, i would worry about your neighbor, she's just being a baby. Her lab probally was more injured from her smacking his toush then from your toy dog nipping his leg.

I wanted to go take out my dogs, but the lab is outside still, and I am not sure if he is on a leash or not? He has been out there all morning so far. I really dont want to take tham out when he is out there. I would take them out back, but we dont have grass yet, and its sooooo muddy in the back! Yuck. I think he has been out there since this all happened. Oh boy!

Thanks everyone for your responses and your great advise!!!

Bwasco!!! You bit him??? I fink dat is hiwawious!!!!! Wuv, Wexy :p

Just take Brasco to court with you... That Judge will have a great laugh as well! She is in the wrong and she isn't going to take you to court. If she says anything else, I'd say "Well I know Brasco is very big and vicious, so maybe you should keep your teeny tiny Lab in his own yard!" And then have a good laugh!

The new neighbor sounds like a b*tch. :)

Maybe you should walk across and tell her that it is time for your blood-thirsy yapper to come out, could she kindly restrain her 90-pound horse for a few minutes.

:eyetearss oh my gosh that's hilarious. I wonder what her reply would be? something like " Missey I don't appreciate your smart mouth! it's your fault your dog bit my lab and that's that!" or do you think it would be something like "You'd better watch your smart mouth it's going to get you in lots of trouble, yes my dog may be big, but he wouldn't hurt a fly. you should keep a better eye on your dogs."

I'm sorry but this lady seems a little out of her mind, if she thinks she can honeslty hold you responsible. you couldn't help it your baby felt threatened dogs bite when nervous or threatened. or when protecting their property. maybe you should remind that girl of this. (I'm sorry but I don't think she even deserves the title of lady, or woman. she's been acting like a child.) it's your property if she didn't want her dog to get hurt she should have kept him on a leash.

So I just took the boys out on theur regular leashes--just in case! And he was still out but he just stayed where he was. No leash though. And Brasco went crazy barking again and the lab just stayed there. Bytheway--she does seem a little weird, but I really dont like to judge people before I get to know them! We hear her yelling at her hubby all the time!

You crack me up!!!! Too funny!!!!!!

OK--So I just talked to a friend of mine who is a lawyer, and she is completely in the wrong, and legally there is nothing she can do. So thanks to all of you for your opinions!!!!

There is nothing this lady can do to you. It was her fault. There is a leash law . She would be the one getting into trouble and fined for her dog not being on a leash. If turned in they may come ask you if it was on your property and if your dogs was on a leash and if they are up to date on their shots. But You all ready said all this so she is the only one that would get fined.

DITTO!!

Ughhh....nice neighbors, huh? I am sorry that you have to live across the street from such an unpleasant lady. She cannot do anything to you. It was pretty much all her fault. Your dog was probably trying to protect YOU from this big dog that is charging towards you. So, your little ones didnt do anything wrong! Just protecting their territory ;)

Ugh! How dare she? I have a set of neighbors like that as well, I finally called the apt managers on them and turns out they weren't even supposed to have a dog and it was a Pit Bull that was always off leash!

Good to know you are safe and Luigi and Brasco are ok!