Neighbour Issue - Any Opinions

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jaybird said:
And my kids never poo on the pavement.
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Woman on our road in Lucan used to let her kids do their number 1 & 2 on the path and in peoples gardens.

One of the other neighbours told me they saw it and I could hardly believe it when I saw her unloading her shopping from the car and one of the kids(about 3 or 4) doing their business on the road!
 
Dog is a cocker spaniel- smallish type dog who is very friendly -if I had a Euro for everyone who tried to pet him I would be on askaboutmoney for a different reason!

I agree about dog poo - I alway pick it up - no problems. I don't believe that the dog did his poo as he literally ran in the side of the house and came straight out when he was called - he normally does a routine amount of sniffing and seeking the perfect spot before he goes and he rarely does it after the walk unless he is sick. I have no doubt that if I had walked on her garden I would have got the same response. The last time my smallie walked in the direction of her driveway I scooped the poor wee lass up so quick to avoid any possible confrontation.

Again, the reason I mentioned the res money is that she had been actively encouraging others not to pay. She is agrieved that she set up comittee and thinks that - well I'm not sure what. But basically she called a meeting over a roadway that was going to link our estate and the neighbours which is a council estate. We did not get anywhere - I dropped out as I did not like her approach and I didn't really care if I had to share a roadway with our neighbours in the council estate. 1.5 yrs later no meetings or work done and I was talking to a neighbour and we agreed we need a res assoc to rally the folks into some action to clean the place up as the estate was beginning to look shody since the builder left. We sent invitations and explanations to all households and held elections on the night (this was not done before - it was a case of hands up who wants to do (job) etc.
X did not attend the meeting it was well attended and there was a lot of good will and energy. X has told a neighbour that we somehow sidestepped her that it was her comittee that we hijacked - I would lov if X was doing all the work that I have done over the last 1.5 yrs - I don't have the time but I find it as I enjoy looking at the improvements in the area. Anyways - I was annoyed by some of the inuendo about finances that were made by X to some of the res. My lawnmower is broken in the shed and my back yard has been turned into a nursery and my bin has become the bin for all the litter in the street. We recently planted a beautiful hedge beside Xs house as she lives beside one of the communal greens - it was a rocky wastleland and is now a very attrctive green area with green grass and trees and hedge - During the renovations we never got any help or encouragement from X but those involved were made feel a little uncomfortable by her 'monitoring' from her windows.....

Had a chat with the Dog Warden and explained my side of the story. He mentioned that this 'women is prepared to go to court over this' that he would have to get back to her. He was reasonable enough and just advised me to try to keep the dog on the lead.


My main question is what case would X have in a court? If a dog ran into her house is this an issue that a judge or court service would be concerned with? I have no experience with courts to me it sounds a bit OTT....... I did have an barney with her when she called to the house but it was more on the level of assertiveness there were no hurley sticks or slash hooks. I think that I told her to cop herself on and that if she wanted good neighbours she needed to start acting like a good neighbour...........

Any legal eagles or anyone with similar experiences?

Again - thanks for all the input so far.. will keep you posted.. D
 
jaybird said:
I fully agree with you on the kids in the road bit, I would never let my 4 year old out in the road alone, not in a million years. I have to disagree though, that a dog jumping on you is the same as a child running up and annoying you. I don't recall any headlines like "toddler mauls middle aged man, 60 stitches needed" or similar. While children can be irritating, they are unlikely to be dangerous. Your dogs, as much as you may love them, could be dangerous for all I know, if they jump on me, they might bite me or my child.

And my kids never poo on the pavement.
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I know what you are saying but my dogs are no more a threat then a majority of children. They are very good natured, if they werent I would never have them off the lead. While I am not the perfect Dog owner, I have the respect for others by constantly considering how my dogs react to people and how they may frighten people. That is far more then the people that let their children run around beaches or roads on front of cars or people who let their children play and torment neighbours.

Im not saying that physically dogs jumping on people is the same as children, more the lack of discipline or control on the part of the owners or parents is similar.

I have seen older people worried about my dogs "enthusiasm" to which I have responded as best I can (they always see my dogs are just hyper friendly!). Remember some people are as afraid of children as there are people afraid of Dogs.

My dogs never "poo" on the pavement either (as I said they are only out of my garden when I am there!). You are making an assumption or comment based on your opinion on the average dog owner.

I dont see ANY differance between responsibility of Dogs or children. Are pets and children not the responsibility of their owners or parents?

And children may not poo on pavements, but my point is that they are well capable of littering.

Children can get in far far more trouble then animals. Incidentally the case that I mentioned, nobody was bitten or mauled but a child ran on front of a car and the driver was and still is traumatised (they moved out of the estate because of it). Didnt read much in the local news about why the incident happened (ie lack of supervision or poor neighbours parking). Perhaps there is little "accountability" when it comes to childrens accidents and its easier to take pop shots at animals who are easier to blame then focusing on then real issues (people being responsible for their "loved ones").

"Dog Maulings" are a rare thing and generally a result of aggresive or poor owners. Pets generally mirror their owners and are as irresponsible as their owners. Animals are expendible as far as most people are concerned and we all know what the saying is about how society should be judged on how they treat their weakest members, nobodys weaker then the animals. . . .

To get back to the point. I ended up moving house because my very very ignorant noisy neighbours allowed their children (6 & 8) play basketball among other things in a second floor townhouse (ie they were living above me).

We all have our lapses in concentration whether it be children or pets, I am just trying to clarify that we are still all responsible for our pets and our children.

If you get a pet its part of your family . . . The way I see it, people who cant look after pets or children responsibly (odd mishap aside) shouldnt be allowed have them . . .
 
u can either intimidate threaten and use the garda to your advantage,this is their game,or you can ignore them,keep a diary of times and events,take pics on your property only and build up a dossier of their anti social behaviour then get a solicitor to approach the garda,the second option is the best.
 
It doesnt matter how friendly you think your dog is, how many people want to pet your dog, what a nice good natured pet you have etc...

If your neighbour wants to make an issue out of your dog being on her property off leash she is entitled to do so. Perhaps she is afraid of all and any dogs, perhaps she is just being a painful old bint - but the bottom line is that you are responsible for your dog, if its on her property she has a right to complain. You may know it wasnt your dogs poo - if she sees your dog in her garden then finds a poo she is going to assume its your dogs poo and without DNA testing you have to accept it 'could' be also.

As far as the dog warden goes I wouldnt worry too much if I were you, its hard enough to get him to do anything when a dog actually is making a menace of himself, chances are if she did bring you to court you'd only be told to keep control of your dog - no one was bitten, no medical report etc, itll be fairly clear that its just some painful old neighbour making noise.

Im not sure she'd make it to court, with 'a dog was in my garden' - seriously!!

Northdrum - I totally agree that dogs and children are both the responsibility of the 'owners' - but I dont think you can compare the kind of primal fear someone may feel about being approached by a strange dog with that they would feel being approached by a strange child. All humans in modern society are familiar with other humans body language - we can 'read' each other, this is not the case for people afraid of dogs - they have stayed away from them, and cannot read them. Im not personally afraid of dogs, I can read their body language to a degree because Im familiar with them, but I do have friends who would be terrified if approached by what Id consider a friendly dog. For some people a walk is ruined for them by being approached by a dog off leash - even if the dog is wagging his tail and being friendly - because the fear at even seeing an unleashed dog ruins it for them.

All of the above is a moot point anyway, because by law you should keep your dog on a leash in a public place, so even if YOU think you have the most perfect friendly dogs ever, they are not supposed to be off leash in public.
 
This sounds like it's nothing to do with the dog and your neighbour is upset with you over something else? The dog thing is just an excuse and she reacted when the dog entered her garden. Take my advice and be friendly, just smile and say sorry. Do not let this incident get out of hand, ask them in for a drink and try and put an end to the bad feeling that exists. It works better this way!
 
This post will be deleted if not edited immediately, sounds like you're having an awful time really! Maybe you should follow the "keep your friends close and your enemies even closer" approach. Maybe swallow your pride and go over there with a bunch of flowers or something and apologise for whatever she says the dog has done (even if it didn't do it) and disarmour her with friendlyness. She's obviously bitter about something, and the sooner it is smoothed out the better for all concerned.
 
In my opinion this series of events have nothing to do with dogs and poo-pooh .
You have unhappy neighbours who have a grudge against society and are taking it out on their neighbours .
Keep away from these people . They probably need to see a phsycologist .........
Always take notes , take photographs and if posssible some video footage .......

You will probably find out in the future , that there was an underlying cause to this and it had nothing to do with you or your dog
 
It's amazing what the Guards will come out for!

One of my neighbour's called to another neighbour's house at 1am as their dogs had been barking non-stop since 10pm and he had to get up for work at 6am and couldn't sleep.

He rang their intercom at the gate and asked them to please do something about the two dogs barking as he couldn't sleep.

Next day two Guards turned up at 1st neighbour's house to charge him with harassment for ringing the neighbours intercom at 1am! It's a mad world!
 
Not on lead for about 5 seconds :confused:........ A neighbour told me he (dog warden) had been patrolling up and down the street the morning he called to my house.... He must not have too much to do..

X had reported another neighbour about a roof he was putting on his garage - An engineer from the council came out and measured the height and was forced to take 1 brick off (@ 4"). X gleefully boasted that she had friends in high places and that this man was not going to have his fancy roof. The guy did a great job on the garage and matched it exactly with the house.... I just hope that 'the friends in high places were not also behind an enforcement by the warden.... The Control of Dogs Act was never intended to penalise the man on the street whose dog runs free for a few seconds..


X nxt door neighbours came back from their hols to find an 8ft fence running down between the 2 houses and were unhapy that they were not consulted - the guy putting up the fence told me that X had said not so nice things about her neighbours lack of cleaning and compared the house with the town dump - I've been in the house and it's like any other house with young children.

IMO X is an agressive bully and this is why I engaged in a more forthright manner when I was confronted by her...

I too have lost some confidence in the Gardai by the way one of the two officers behaved when they called over this incident. There are bad apples in every basket hopefully not too many......
 
I agree with Yorrick, what she must have said to gardai to get them out over a dog poo, I can't imagine. what a waste in resources, shame, shame shame on that wasteful person, steer clear of her, you won't win because she is obviously determined to make the small things relevant and you would probably be above it anyway.
 
DAC said:
Not on lead for about 5 seconds .... He must not have too much to do..
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That's exactly what he's supposed to do. :rolleyes:

DAC said:
The Control of Dogs Act was never intended to penalise the man on the street whose dog runs free for a few seconds..
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I sympathise with you regarding your neighbour, however it appears from your post that your dog was unleashed in a public place at least twice - the inital time and when the dog warden called to the area. In a public place, you MUST have a dog under control. The high court has decided that "under control in a public place" means being on a leash.

IMHO, if you allow the dog to run around unleashed even "for a few seconds", your neighbour will keep on complaining - and you'll keep on getting fines. This is one you're not going to win.
 
Welcome to estate living. What started out as a complaint about someone bullying you about a dog has now extended into allegations about other neighbours being hassled, committees being thwarted, fences built etc.

You just don't get on with this person. Face it, and find a way to deal with it.
 
"I sympathise with you regarding your neighbour, however it appears from your post that your dog was unleashed in a public place at least twice - the inital time and when the dog warden called to the area. In a public place, you MUST have a dog under control. The high court has decided that "under control in a public place" means being on a leash." Quote

Dog was in a secure back garden when Dog Warden called....

"You just don't get on with this person. Face it, and find a way to deal with it." Quote -

Yes I don't like this individual and I have steered well clear of her until she behaved in a threatening way towards my wife and came shouting at my front door.
 
DAC said:
however I could have said much more.....
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Completely unnecessary. You've already said too much. The more you say, the more it looks like X is not necessarily the only crank on the street.
 
Suburbia what a wonderful place! :rolleyes:

I think at this stage what is niggleing you most is what did she say to get the Garda out so fast and all Hill Street Blues. Well as already said after speaking to you and your other half they went on their way. However, I would studiously ignore this woman, avoid any issues concerning your dog, keep dog on lead, scoop any poops.

Suburbia is such a minefield what with parking, kids, dogs, noise, drunks, you get the whole deal on a daily basis around our way too and its meant to be a nice place to live.

Jeez is that another shotgun blast I hear, bang goes the neighbourhood.
 
truthseeker said:
Northdrum - I totally agree that dogs and children are both the responsibility of the 'owners' - but I dont think you can compare the kind of primal fear someone may feel about being approached by a strange dog with that they would feel being approached by a strange child. All humans in modern society are familiar with other humans body language - we can 'read' each other, this is not the case for people afraid of dogs - they have stayed away from them, and cannot read them. Im not personally afraid of dogs, I can read their body language to a degree because Im familiar with them, but I do have friends who would be terrified if approached by what Id consider a friendly dog. For some people a walk is ruined for them by being approached by a dog off leash - even if the dog is wagging his tail and being friendly - because the fear at even seeing an unleashed dog ruins it for them.

All of the above is a moot point anyway, because by law you should keep your dog on a leash in a public place, so even if YOU think you have the most perfect friendly dogs ever, they are not supposed to be off leash in public.
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Perhaps you have stumbled onto something there. At what stage should people be responsible for the actions of their children (a differant debate but one which clarifies my point).

By law I have to have my dog leashed but can let my child run free around the estate to do as they please. I wont get a fine (as far as I know) if my child pees in my neighbours garden!

Once again the term Accountability comes to mind. Whether or not people have "primal fear" of dogs isnt really the issue. Its the fact that its ok for people to let their children pretty much have the keys to the estate with no ramifications, whereas if my dog happens to be running in a field off the lead, but monitored, its an offence.

So in essence its ok for Children to upset the locals or loiter. I would argue that older people (particular those living on their own) would be far more afraid of local kids playing outside their houses then certain dogs running around their local field.

Perhaps a moot point, but none the less it does beg the question of where accountabiliy and responsibility start or where something being law justifys an action. As far as children are concerned law assumes they are properly supervised even if in the field on their own, but once a dog isnt on a leash its assumed their owners are irresponsible.

Truthseeker, I would bet my life that I give more consideration to random strangers near my dog, then most people with children do. That is my point which is the crux of most neighbour issues. Not whats legal, but whats fair and considerate to your neighbour.
 
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