I am so livid right now!
 

I could just scream!!! My neighbor that just moved in last October called and reported us to the zoning officer! I never knew (we have lived here over 2.5 years) that you have to have 4 acres to have a horse. I totally blame my realtor, as we told him that we have to be able to have horses where we move. Well, we have under 4 acres, and the neighbor called and reported us because they are old, crabby, and retired with nothing better to do!!!! The zoning guy said that he has no problem with us having horses, even with us having under 4 acres, but since the neighbor complained, he has to make us get rid of them :mad::( These jerks have bothered us since they moved in. The old guy complained one day that we "left our dog out for 2 hours to bark at him". My dogs are NEVER out for more than 15 minutes in my fenced in backyard, PLUS we have a couple of acres between us. AND he is deaf, and wears hearing aides. So now, he turns on his car alarm when he comes outside if my dogs are in the backyard so I make them come in. They dont have any animals, and I dont think they like pets.
I am just so devastated because I had horses growing up, and my kids have their 3 4-H goats that they are supposed to show the first week of august that we have to get rid of now too. I cannot afford to board my animals either.
When the officer got to my door, my dogs ran out and surrounded him.....in love. He looks down and says "well...THESE are NICE dogs". As if the neighbor had reported that they were vicious pit bulls or something. They are all under 12 lbs each (2 are under 4 lbs). :rolleyes: Plus they were so nice to him. He did comment about there being 5, but said "getting a kennel license is a breeze", so I dont have to worry about that.
My animals are my babies. I cannot believe these mean bitter people are going to make me get rid of them. They are all very healthy and well taken care of, there is no smell or anything. My other neighbors all love them. These new people move in and just try to run the whole block. One of our horses (we have 3) was inherited by my mom because the man she was best friends with died unexpectedly and that was his horse that she would ride when they would go out on the trails. She cannot part with him and has no where else he can go aside from boarding him, which she cannot afford either. Its so expensive here to board.
I am just so mad I could cry. I want to go confront them, but I know I wouldnt be nice and it wouldnt fix any of this. We are just a nice family that are trying to raise our 6 kids and not cause problems with anyone, and all these people do is complain about everything!! :thumbdown:thumbdown

ooooh sweetie, im so sorry this is happening to you. im going to say
some prayers for you that it works out.

I feel for you. Bad neighbors can make your life miserable. Sounds like they are just looking for something. Do you think trying to talk to them might help? Might just make it worse. I guess it just depends on what type people you are dealing with. Good luck.

Thats the thing, I have talked to them, just a couple of weeks ago. I went over there to check on them because I hadnt seen their car around for sometime, and turns out they had just gotten back from vacation. I told them I was worried that something bad had happened because I hadnt seen them in so long. I chatted for awhile, got to know more about their family, and I really thought that would make things better with us. They had even joked about how my pony got out once and pooped in their backyard. They were laughing and she said that "that was ok, because she loved having the free fertilizer for her garden". Then the car alarm went off for the first time, last week, and I thought he didnt know because of him being deaf. Turned out, thats just his signal for him coming outside and to make sure the dogs arent outside :rolleyes: :mad:.

Id go say something! You have nothing left to lose with these A$$es! So speak your mind! Im sorry you are going through this though. Ive been written up a few times on false accusations that I leave my boys out on my deck for HOURS to bark unattended.... NEVER *GASP* would I do that! I live in a townhouse though and need to respect that people are attached to me. BUt you have a HOUSE. You should be able to have your animals. I wonder why think they have the right to do that. :( Im so sorry!

Try talking to an attorney. They give free first appointments and they may be able to sue those people for harrassment. Take some video of what is going on.. it may help. There should be something you can do. You didn't know about this 4 acre law, or you would not have bought the place. Talk to the person who sold you the property. If you have been there for 2.5 years with nothing being said... can they make you move them? You may have some options... it would be worth checking it out.

Good Luck Sweetie.

I'm sorry to hear about your lousy neighbors. It seems everyone has one. I hope things will get better for you and you won't have to lose any of your animals. I will say a prayer for you.

I agree with this and definitely keep your head up - good luck!

How much under four acres are you? You could try to go before the Zoning Board to request a variance. If you can get the rest of your neighbors to sign a petition for you, they might grant it.

It's worth a try.

I thought about that too, but when I called the township, and asked about getting a variance, they said that because it's not an unpreventable hardship, that I would get turned down.
I will call an attorney though, since I have lived here 2 1/2 years (and I am wondering how long this ordinance has been in place), and I was under the belief that it would be ok because of my realtor, maybe. :confused:

Since I am getting my kennel license now anyways, and I have been wanting another dog, or 2, anyway....and my neighbors LOVE dogs so much, I think that I see a couple more babies in my future. :D

Oh I am so sorry you have gotten you some nasty ones. I don't know why if your neighbor keeps thing clean and are not bothering you why some people choose to be nosey and nasty. Sending you a hug and a shot of whiskey because as mad as you are I know you need it.

I would try this too!:)

I would definately fight this in any way possible since you have been living there with them for years. What a bunch of grouches that live next door to you:mad:...I would be the biggest pain in their butts... they could imagine.

Is there anywhere near you where you can board the horses if you do have to get rid of them?

There are many places near me, but they are all a minimum of $200 per horse, per month. I cannot afford an additional $600 a month right now.

Geez...so much for that thought! I wouldn't be able to afford an extra $600 either!:eek: (But the option of making them miserable is still there.;))

That is so infuriating. There is nothing like the stress of having them right there too. It's like it's YOUR home, and you want to be comfortable and have what you want , and just be able to relax. The world is stressful enough, and home is where you are supposed to be able to go to get away from it all! I hope you can work something out. I'm sorry you are going through this.

Thank you all for your kind words. It is very stressful. I do not think the government should be allowed to come in and tell you that you cannot have your pets when the animals are healthy and are not hurting anyone else. I feel that is just wrong. These people just hate dogs, and they are trying to get me to get rid of them. Boy are they in for a shock.
I am putting up a privacy fence on my property line in the next couple of weeks on that side of my house. All they do is sit and stare at my house all the time. They are so nosey. I dont want them even looking this way anymore.

That is so sad!! I'm so sorry. I think you should do everything you can to keep them on your property!

I hate your neighbors and I've never met them!!

That's aweful. Maybe you can round up your other neighbors and have them sign a petition or something? Maybe each of your neighbors can confront the troublemakers and let them know they are not appreciated...

It sure stinks when you have a neighbor who's mission in life seems to be making a nuisance of themselves......I don't know if it would do any good at this point since the zoning people already know your property is under the 4 acre limit but....I would kiss some major rear, I would go to the neighbors dripping with so much sweetness that bees would swarm.....I would ask them if there was ANYTHING you could do to make the situation better for them and explain how much the horses mean to your family....tell them you would be willing to put up a fence so they wouldn't be bothered so much ( even though you where going to do the fence anyway ;) ).....apologize for any thing you may have done to upset them....If it meant keeping my pets I would do it....at this point you have nothing to lose.....Good luck in what ever you decide to do....

oh sweetie Im sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo SORRY!!! what JERKS!!! how can people be soooooooooooooooooooooooooo rude??? they KNEW when they moved there that you guys had animals....??? so if they didnt want to move next to some one who had those animals why buy the house next to someone who did??? IDIOTS!!!! I hope you can find some way to keep them... <<<<HUGS>>>>

I'm SOSOSOSOSOSOSO sorry you are having to put up with these jerks! I have some jerky neighbors like that - but if they ever tried to pull something like that...URGH! I soo wish I could think of something for you to do. Do you have any friends or anything that you could keep your horses with and maybe you could work out a deal with payments?

Put up a huge privacy fence and put a gigantic, motion sensored light on the top of it and point it towards their house. Jerks.

I'm so so sorry. Big hugs to you.

Have you ever thought of asking the people on the other side of you if they would sell you a piece of property that would make you have the 4 acres you are needing.. how short are you.. and if it is not much I would do what I could to do that.. then let them see what they can do...
also make sure you do all your homework on your kennel.. hope you get it going and hope that the dogs drive them away.. but more so I would laugh if you could add that 1/8 of a piece of property you need.. something worth trying.. anne

A little sugar
 

go to your neighbors and inform them of since you having to get rid of your horses then you are now thinking of increasing your dogs and making a go of a bigger kennel. BE super sweet and tell them how you never knew how the animals interfered with their lives and you would have attending to it.

I bet her comment on the free fertilizer was totally sarcasim. Have they ever been able to have children. I bet forgive me for this but she probably just needs to get l_ _ D! Since she has to be so anal with her own life she has to find reasons to make others miserable.
These kinds of people are sickly sweet to your faces.
I HATE PEOPLE THAT ARE PHONY!!!!!

I feel so bad for you.........we just went through something similar to that last year withour horses, just when we were getting ready to close on our house I found out that there wasn't enough property for horses. I had 3 at the time and the ordinace was 5 acres for the first horse and an acre a horse after that. and the house had 5 so we ended up not getting the house. But now we are building our own house on 15 acres in the middle of BFE so it all works out in the end...........................................Hope fully it works out for you too!

Oh my goodness, this post makes me want to go and visit each of my neighbors and tell them how happy I am to have them as such. I live at the end of a small cul-de-sac on 4 acres of land and there are only 8 homes on our street, but everyone has a dog ... or more. Noone seems to care if there is a dog barking and everyone is mindful if their dog gets out of control for a short time, but noone would ever complain and would probably just mention the incident in passing if it did occur.
My suggestion is to go over your neighbors and tell them that since they complained and it is now pushing you to take action ( Kennel license) that you are now free to get more dogs. Give them the choice .... More dogs, or the horses? Sometimes if you give people a choice they are apt to be more reasonable. Good luck !