I don't trust my neighbors. :(
 

I live in a fairly decent apt. complex with secured entrances, I'm on the 3rd floor. My neighbors directly across the hall (3 guys) have a habit of letting the kinda "self-closing" door slam shut. When they do it's very loud & rattles my door which rattles Princess. I have worked with her a lot to minimize her daytime barking with success.
At night, from about 11 to 1ish then 5a.m. to 6ish they come and go left & right & I get startled awake by Princess barking her intruder bark because it scares her in the dead silence of night. Yesterday I put a note on their door asking for some courtesy & the night was quiet.
This morning when I got back from my sisters (I get my nephew off to school everyday, same time), my neighbor was walking his pug in the hall opposite of where we go out at and turned around just in time to meet me at my door. I avoided him, he went in and he SLAMMED the door. He then slammed the door prob 10 X's in the next hour.
I just feel paranoid now that he may be tormenting Princess while I'm gone now or something. I think this more because when she was a pup we were outside & he & his dog were on their balcony. His dog was barking at her & he was saying "get her, get her"!:mad::mad:
Do my fears sound justified or am I just being paranoid? Should I take any other steps in this situation? I don't want to create any more problems but for all I know he could be getting Princess worked up, then his dog worked up in retaliation.
Thanks for any input & sorry this is so long.

Wow- what a ***hole! Sounds like he is slamming the door purposely to piss you off since you already left a note. I would be complaining to the leasing office.

any way you could set something up to record it all day... or do you know any other neighbors that could confirm or deny your suspicions? I was looking at apps that will tap into the house security to monitor Polo when we are away... I am sure there are cheap alternatives..but it would stink to buy something just to prove this is or is not happening.

Does Princess show signs of additional stress at all?

He sounds a bit psycho to me. I'd proceed carefully - your note should not have elicited that kind of response - just the opposite. Most people would have been a bit shamefaced that their thoughtlessness had caused a problem. This guy - opposite effect. To bait you by the repetitive slamming suggests a kind of unreasonable anger with you are being paid back for your note. If you do escalate, be prepared for a possibly equally irrational response. Take care around this guy.

WOW!!! He is childish JERK! I would ask a neighbor to keep a eye on him, and see if he is doing that when you are gone. IF you find out he is , I would have no problem telling the front office:) Good Luck!

she's still always happy when we get home. I had to move her bed to the hallway about 3 feet from the door because she would just sleep in the shoes otherwise. She was barking today when my daughter & I got home, we could hear her through the window. I don't know if she heard us or something else was going on . It was just waaay beyond odd the way he was in the hall this morn.
as for recording i don't think i have anything. my daughter has a laptop so maybe i could hook the webcam to that.:confused: it does suck that i even have to consider such measures.

Yeah, the whole "get her, get her!" thing is really sick to me. I would ask your fellow fur baby owning neighbors if they been experiencing anything similar. Then at least if you do need to take further measures and speak to the leasing office, you have back up.
Believe it or not, I had a neighbor like that when I had my Cairn that was crazy enough to leave out dog treats in our yard that had Decon (rat poison) in them to try to hurt my poor baby. Needless to say, we moved.
Not saying that that is your neighbor necessarily, but I'm definitely not liking the whole "get her, get her!" thing. Red flags.

I would report him to the front office for disturbances. What about leaving the tv or radio on when she's home alone?

I think you have to be careful in your dealings with neighbors- if you complain about them shutting their door too loudly, they very well may turn around and complain about your dog barking.

It is difficult living in an apartment sometimes- I hear people fighting, dogs barking, doors opening and shutting- it is just the way it is living in and apartment. I have tried very hard to de-sensitize my dogs to all the noises. I still get woken up sometimes to barking but it has gotten better over time.

I respectfully disagree with this. I think leaving a note on a door, rather than politely talking face to face, is likely to elicit that type of reaction.

I would be very careful around this guy, he seems like a whacko. You never know nowadays. He might be trying to cause trouble for you by making her bark since you left a note on his door. Good Luck with your situation and hope things get better. This is one reason I am so glad I don't have neighbors.

I am sorry you have to go through the noisy neighbor thing but I do believe that you may have made him angry with you.

You said you left a note and that it was quiet that evening. Then the next day you saw him and avoided him. I think you should have acknowledged him and said thank you for the quiet evening and you appreciated his courtesy. The best way to get people to do the right thing is to talk face to face.

I think the best thing to do now is to talk to him. Keep your cool, don't act on the defensive or put him on the defensive. Just be honest and kind. Trust me, it is the way to go, if you wait too long you will make it worse. Tell him you weren't sure what to say after you left the note and you didn't mean to ignore him and are sorry you didn't say thank you for him being quiet and you have the feeling he is angry because of the way he is slamming the door now and can you both try again.

If things go well, I would even drop off some cookies with a thank you in front of his door.

I would say if that doesn't do it and it continues, you can say you did the best you could and call management.

Good Luck :thumbup:

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

i agree i could have had a face to face with him, but i've tried to talk to him several times just out of politeness & he just hurries faster. plus i just think it's better for me not to have a face to face as i get heated, esp. when it comes to princess or my child. i could've just reported him to begin with but i wanted to give him a chance.
i've lived in an apt. since i moved out at 17 & have reasonable expectations. i don't expect quiet days and do expect occasional more than average noise at some time or another. it's just rude to let the door slam mainly between 11p.m. & 1a.m. & again from about 5-6a.m. i think my 13 y.o. has enough courtesy not to do that.
what i should've done was reported him about his comments last spring, but i didn't want to stir the pot as i just moved in.
if it's quiet tonight i will try to make it a point to thank him sometime soon.
as for when i leave i always leave the t.v. on the "soundscapes" channel, but she does sleep right by the door, only, & you can hear very well what's going on outside the door.
i also did not want to risk a heated confrontation since 3 guys (2 are security guards) live there & it's only me and jazz here.

How about locking her in another room away from the door. I have mine contained in the back area of my apartment- which is the master bedroom, hallway and bathroom. I do this because I know they will hear more noises in the front of the apartment and don't want them to bark and bother other people.

yeah, i might end up trying that. esp. if they are trying to provoke then turn around & complain about her.

I would speak with the office management at your complex and let them know what has happened up until this point. The previous noise, the note you left, then the subsequent slamming. Dude sounds like he's a bit out there. Let them know that you will be following up with them if the harassment continues. Hopefully he will stop, but if not a letter FROM the management of the complex may help.

Letting management know about their behavior may help protect you in regards to her barking if they complain since management will now know it's the dude's fault she barks.

What about talking to the other 2 that are security guards. Maybe befriend them and they will turn him around.

I wish you the best.

I own my home but it's directly behind a 'low rent' apt complex and I've had issues with many renters over the years (including a guy last year who told his dog to 'get her' directed at my dog barking at him. Luckily, most move out after their lease is up and right now there are 2 cops so all's well.:thumbup::p

I'm so sorry you have to deal with this. Ugh! Can you move to a different building within the same complex if the other ideas don't work?

Hang in there friend!

thanks, everyone for the support, comments & suggestions. i'm going to talk to the property manager tomorrow and tell her i want everything in my file. that way if anything happens or things don't change hopefully i'll have the lead.
as for moving, that would be extremely difficult. i've lived here just a year 2-28 & just got it to be "perfect" here. plus i'd have to pay someone to help me move, it'd be a big hassle.
if things don't change i will "force" princess to sleep in my room all night, to reduce the night time barking. during the day when i walk past other apt.s to get the mail, etc. i hear dogs barking at almost every door so i know there is no way they could try to enforce that on me.
hopefully tomorrow will give me some reassurance!:)

No, I do not think that his childish, mean-spirited reaction is a likely response to a note. Sounds like this guy was being vengeful - no note should elicit that over-reaction. Maybe he hates women or small dogs or something and that's the real root of his prob. But if you do approach him face-to-face, take along a male witness.

Perhaps other neighbors could join or substantiate your concerns or have encountered similar events. Sounds like he has a warped and false sense of his importance. Check w/neighbors and see if anyone has similar experiences. Sounds like a male that feels inadequate and loves to compensate tries to control situations with intimidation - feel bad for his puppy - he probably treats it the same. Office might be a good place to start depending on the management staff. Best of luck and hope Princess will not be tormented in the future.

thanks, i contacted a couple that own a puppy at the end of our hall but haven't heard back, there are only 6 apts in this hall & i don't ever see anyone else. i did talk to the guy of the couple maybe a month ago and he agreed he does act & seem very strange. i hate to think it, but my daughter let's herself out in the morning to go to the bus, and if anything ever happened to her:mad: of course i would not write my response here! it has been quiet so far tonight so maybe i will try to smooth things over in a day or two with a treat or something.

There is always some jerk to upset your peaceful living. This guy is really immature and I think you should record the noise and bring it to the apartment management. Where I used to live people like that caused the management to change the rule about having dogs so we ended up buying a home and now we are really happy.

Incase a real problem arises you need to inform management of the situation. The "get her" thing is a threat to you and your baby. If there is a report that can be put in a file in the office you need to do that. You need to document each time this happens and see if there is a neighbor that can confirm what is going on.
If it were me I would be looking into moving. When we lived in apartments my attitude was,if I dont like the location or the neighbors,I can move.

I know that some day I may have to move from my home into some type of apartment setting and worry about neighbors like this creepy guy. I worry about you, Princess10, and am praying this man will just settle down and leave it be or move himself. No woman, her little daughter and a small little Yorkie should have to live with this kind of nutcase behavior targeting them. Hugs, prayers and good wishes coming your way from Tibbe and me. :love:

thanks.:)

i talked to the property manager a little while ago and she wants me to come in this afternoon & write up a complaint. i told her that a big concern is him trying to bait my dog into trouble. she doesn't want to just put it in my file, she wants to address it.
i got an e-mail back from the neighbors down the hall & they said they will def. be keeping an eye out down here and i do trust that.
at least now when it gets addressed he will hopefully think before he acts like an as-prin again!

Good, hopefully it will not be an issue... Is that why Princess is hiding in your profile pic? Hopefully the landlord will be tactful and not enrage further issues

Good. You are on the record with this first, hopefully. Glad you have someone watching your back, so to speak. Hang in there and let us all know what happens. I would hate to have to send my big son all the way up to Kalamazoo to have to talk to this guy!

Good for you Princess10. You and your girls should ALL be treated like PRINCESSes. This guys does NOT sound like a prince but hopefully, if you see him, he'll be in good spirits and be kind to you.:p