My neighbor sucks at life

[Lex_Luthor]

They are all rescues. Some of you might remember Roxi - she is the one who ate the whole tennis ball and had to have it surgically removed. She barks a bit, as she's part Great Dane. The dogs are not left out to bark for hours at a time though. Brutus, the other pit, rarely barks. He was 2 years old before I even heard him bark the first time. The rat terrier and border terrier are the yappers. The rat terrier is the one that just needs to announce to the world that he's outside. It's not all 5 dogs barking at the same time. It's more like 1, with another one chiming in every now and again.

They receive correction as immediately as possible ALWAYS. This isn't something that happens chronically. Sure, the dogs will bark a bit, that's what they do. My dogs are very well behaved. Probably what happened was that we let them out, had to deal with the baby, or started dinner or I went to drop a deuce and let them in after 15 minutes instead of their usual 5-10. We are NOT on good terms with our neighbor. He's a cock. We have made every effort to be as respectful as possible, and still he's always a dick. No one in the culdesac likes him, no one. He has not even tried to ask me in a neighborly way to please keep the dogs volume down. This is the first I've heard anything about it.

We did not know about the city ordinance limit until just now. We had 4 dogs before we moved, and rescued Roxi from people involved in dog fighting. She probably doesn't have a very long life ahead of her either - her hips seem to be causing her some discomfort already and she's only 2 years old. The old one has no teeth and is on daily injections to keep him semi comfortable until its his time to pass.

I spoke with animal control and she was reasonable. She also suggested not renewing the old guy's license, because we don't really know how much longer he has. The only thing that bothers me, is if there are more complaints (which I wouldn't put it past him anymore to keep doing this shit) then Animal Control will start to put a case together (including referencing other neighbors - at least they are on our side) and then issue a summons ticket if it persists. She said that it would take at least 3 complaints within a year, as well as having to be from multiple neighbors. We have no prior history of any complaints.

ETA: Rabies vaccines are for 3 years, they are not out of date on their shots. The license lasts 1 year.

[Dave_L]

It bothers me when people leave their windows open and then complain about noise. Sure, it's nice to have the windows open but that may mean you hear more stuff. Deal with it. I judge my noise level off of if someone can hear it inside their house with windows closed. Same goes for people that work night shifts. I'll do what I can to minimize sound during the day if you work nights but dont expect me to be THAT quiet. You're the one on the off schedule.

[crashdown]

It bothers me when people leave their windows open and then complain about noise. Sure, it's nice to have the windows open but that may mean you hear more stuff. Deal with it. I judge my noise level off of if someone can hear it inside their house with windows closed. Same goes for people that work night shifts. I'll do what I can to minimize sound during the day if you work nights but dont expect me to be THAT quiet. You're the one on the off schedule.

I'll challenge that way of thinking.
If your neighbors are cooking meth and you can only smell it when your windows are open, are you cool with just keeping your windows closed and your mouth shut?
Not attacking you personally, but I have been the "neighbor" and I can tell you it is way more stressful to be the one to have to call law enforcement on a neighbor than it is the one getting the complaint.

[Graves]

It bothers me when people leave their windows open and then complain about noise. Sure, it's nice to have the windows open but that may mean you hear more stuff. Deal with it. I judge my noise level off of if someone can hear it inside their house with windows closed. Same goes for people that work night shifts. I'll do what I can to minimize sound during the day if you work nights but dont expect me to be THAT quiet. You're the one on the off schedule.

Keep your windows shut, and work the "on" schedule...got it.

[Irving]

I'll challenge that way of thinking.
If your neighbors are cooking meth and you can only smell it when your windows are open, are you cool with just keeping your windows closed and your mouth shut?
Not attacking you personally, but I have been the "neighbor" and I can tell you it is way more stressful to be the one to have to call law enforcement on a neighbor than it is the one getting the complaint.

I don't think meth is comparable. Noise is a tough topic and very subjective. I used to live under a guy where our first interaction was him coming to ask me if I can hear him walking across his floor. I said, "Sure why?" He said since he was big, he could only walk so quiet. He was like 6'5" and not really fat. The lady that used to live where we did would slam on her ceiling with a broom whenever he walked across his apartment. I told him that we live in an apartment, and hearing other people's regular noises is part of the deal. Further, it takes a special kind of asshole to complain about regular walking.

On the other hand, I once heard some kids' basket ball bouncing at the school over 100 yards away. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have even noticed at all, as it wasn't all that loud. The problem was that it was 2 am and that was ALL I could hear as I was trying to go to sleep. It got me pretty worked up.

We used to have an asshole neighbor behind us that would just leave their dog outside, and the dog would bark any time I was in my backyard, and all night long because it wanted to come in. Now when my dog barks, I have the same reaction as Brycom. Try to mitigate, but some barking is going to be normal. While I was gone a raccoon got into the yard and she went ape shit in the middle of the night. Sorry neighbors. [shrug]

[Dave_L]

Keep your windows shut, and work the "on" schedule...got it.

HAHA! Calm down. I'm not saying be an a**hole.

I certainly agree that being polite and cordial is the way to handle neighbor conflicts. But there is also an aspect of social norms. If you live in a regular suburban neighborhood, you have to expect dogs barking, lawns mowing on Saturday mornings, etc. If you want 100% quiet when you want your quiet, move to a 5 acre parcel. That's all I meant by my comment. Your right to have your window open doesn't trump my right to use my outdoor space however I want (within legality). Again, I always encourage being cordial and have never had ANY issues with my neighbors.

Crashdown, breaking the law is a whole different situation. Im referencing the person that sleeps during the day and gets mad about dogs or using a power saw.

[Irving]

So what's the deal with having dogs be licensed? I guess that's something I should look up.

[Robb]

Hey Alex,
Sorry to hear about your troubles. Unfortunately you can't just go kill the guy. :P
FWIW consider taking a little more time, calming down, try and understand not everyone is a dog lover. Go talk to the guy. Be cool about it, try and mend some fences. I know it's a PITA but even if the guy is an A-hole unfortunately you're stuck with him as a neighbor and you need to make this work. Try and smooth things over. Maybe he had a shitty night with the ol' lady or something...

[Graves]

It's a tag (or tags) to show your pet is up to date on vaccines/rabies shots.

[Lex_Luthor]

Jefferson County requires all dogs to have a license. I don't know if Adams does. We had ours licensed with Adams when we lived there. We're just going to renew one of our dogs license at either hers or my parents' house and "dogsit" for them each day.