Neighbor issues. Not sure if I am crazy or what.

you absolutely should not feel guilty. personally, i wouldn't let my kids play on someone elses lawn if it was causing any sort of damage at all. it is your property. they are completely out of bounds (so to speak) and are being poor neighbors.

after making it clear that:

1. I want to be a good neighbor and don't want any conflict
2. Don't want others playing on our propery as it causes wear/tear/damage that I have to fix

I'd probably do exactly as you're doing and would probably just call the cops every time they did so.

Best of luck -

 

yet another reason... what if someone gets hurt while they're playing in your yard... guess who's going to get sued???

 

my step dad was a deputy sheriff growing up. a dog kept coming into our yard and attacking our dog. the next time it happened, he walked out with his gun and shot it. dog ran back home (under the adjoining fence). dad walked around to the guys house, knocked on his door. guy opened the door about 4 inches. my dad said i shot your dog. guy nervous nodded and went 'uh-huh' and started to shut the door. my dad said wait, don't you want to know why? guy shakes his head and mumbles 'uh-uh'. my dad found out later he was a drug dealer... don't think he was interested in having any extended conversations with my dad....

 

That is the main problem with most parents today. Parents just want to be their kids best friend instead of actually being a parent. I work at a landscape supply company and we have a small pond/rock display in front of our main office. A lady came in with her kid(5-7ish) and her boy liked to throw our display rocks into the pond. I kindly asked her to ask her son not to do that because then i'll have to dig them all back out. She told him "now, you really shouldn't being doing that son....." in the softest, nicest, i'm you're friend, i'll never be mean, voice. "NO! I like doing it, IT'S FUN!". She went inside ordered her mulch or whatever and came back out. By this time, half the pile of rocks were gone and she was trying to get him to leave with her. At this point, i'm laughing because this lady has no control over over her kid. "Come on, we have to go now, mommy's all done." "NO! I'm not done yet!" "Ok, well i'm just gonna leave without you then. look, here i go, i'm leaving now." "NO! We have to stay!". After about 20 mins of this back and forth she finally says "We can get some ice cream if we leave right now." The kid fires back "Only if its Kilwins!" They finally left after that................WOW!!!!!

 

I would go with barbed wire.

 

Both of 'em need a good swift smack upside their head

 

That's pathetic. When I witness this crap I am usually the azzhole who makes a comment but loud enough for them to over hear me and feel like a douche.

 

Get a decent video camera. Take a video of the dog as you walk by showing how violent it is. Get signed affidavits from the neighbors that are afraid of the dog and their experiences. Document all the calls you and your neighbors have made to the authorities. Record all the hospital and vet visits.

Then wait until the local TV news has a bit about how someone was killed/seriously hurt by a pit bull or another dog. Go down immediately and show them the video, affidavits, and how you've tried to get the authorities to solve the problem. Mention how there are kids in the neighborhood and how you and your neighbors are afraid someone's son/daughter could be next with horrendous consequences.

Heck, take all the info down to the head of the local police department and animal control. Let them watch the video and then mention that there are kids in this neighborhood. Infer that it needs to be fixed now or maybe the local TV news might be interested.

Unless the police chief/animal control manager are stupid they definitely don't want to have that dog hurt someone and then have one of the neighbors on the local news at 6 showing how they were warned beforehand and did zero.

Killing the dog is a fail. Doing all the work and having the system fix it is a win.

 

X2 good for you then

 

Quick update for everyone.
The fence/bushes are working so far. the kids still play football, but NOT on my yard! Apparently the parents are pissed though, cause i was out one day and the dad pulled out of his driveway. I gave him a friendly wave, and he completely ignored me. LOL. What a bitch. I can't believe they are actually mad about us doing something to OUR PROPERTY! It was actually quite funny the day they were installed. They were all out looking at it. I was in my backyard which is privacy fenced. I think I heard the dad say something like "don't worry about it, they aren't going to say anything anyway" He's right though, cause the wife and I decided that after this, if we still have problems, we wont be talking to them, we'll just be calling the cops. My opinion is that they are pissed because they know they were in the wrong, and got away with it for so long. Now someone is putting a stop to it. Oh well.
But so far so good.

 

another quickie update. LOL. Still no football in our yard. I think the kids may have started going to the park or a friends house to play football now, cause I haven't seen them playing anything but basketball in their driveway for a while now.
Tonight was funny though. The parents walked by a couple of times while the wife and I were handing out candy to trick or treaters and completely ignored us. Hell, the dad is such a pussy, he didn't even look in our direction. He just keeps his head down, staring at the ground. Whatever, I don't care. We kept the kids out of our yard, and basically won the battle. Again, I just think it's hilarious how immature they are that they won't even acknowledge us anymore. Oh well, like I said, I'm not going to be their friends, so that's fine with me!

 

Good to hear it's working and it's funny that you are experiencing that from the parents. I recently had to have the talk again to my across the street neighbor. Needless to say he and his wife are pulling the whole ignoring me game too. Kind of comical to say the least and hell now it's two less people I need to wave or talk to but good news is his POS kids won't play near my house anymore.

 

glad! haha seems like your neighbors got some real issues.

 

Awesome that the outcome is in your favor, its good that they ignore you, thats one less asshole you have to say hi too!

 

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I have 2 crazy neighbors and noooo-one would ever believe the things that they have done.

So, I installed some hidden outside mini-cams and caught them with audio & video. Now, I just have to take the legal action ... which will be soon. Plus, I take zillions of still pics, even hid a "wildlife camera" in the bushes and caught one poisoning my mini-Japanese Maples.

And believe it or not ... BOTH are local professionals ... and I was astonished that they would do this stuff ...

Moral of the "crazy neighbor syndrome" is they can be anybody and I mean ANYBODY from ANY profession too ...

EDIT .... One thing that I learned in the military is ... nightly securing my perimeter ...
.

 

starts shaking and that I don't get nutty neighbors when the houses on both sides of me sell.... the one side is being forclosed on and the other the owner is selling - he's being sent to Europe. Scared I'll get two lousy neighbors moving in

OP you SHOULD wave and say "HI" to your neighbor.

 

I did. The day after the bushes and fence were put up, I was out there watering them and putting mulch around them. He was pulling out of his driveway, so I waved hi. He completely ignored me. I couldn't say anything cause his windows were rolled up.

 

Well, the neighbors and their kids got their final warning tonight. The wife took the dog for a walk, and when she was coming back, she was a block or two away and saw the oldest boy hiding his football on our side of the fence, inbetween a couple of the bushes. When she got nearer, the boy started walking back around to our side of the fence, and my wife asks "Why are you hiding your football on our side of the fence, in between our bushes?" He responded "We were playing a game". My wife, (who was alot nice then I would have been if I had caught them) said to him, "Well, we would appreciate it if you didn't play in our yard." He didn't look at her, but said ok.

Them staying out of our yard lasted longer then I thought, but I'm done. Next time we catch them, we just call the cops, and let them start taking care of it. If I have to, I will get a surveillance system over there for proof, but not gonna do that just yet. If the cop doesn't believe us when we put bushes and a fence inbetween our yards, then he's crazy.

 

Wow them damn neighbors are still acting up? grow a THORN bush in there too and fuck them up!

 

Yeah, no problems until tonight. Like I said, I'm done. I tried talking to the parents, both nicely and forcefully. We've tried asking the kids themselves not to. They just don't seem to get it. From now on, the cops can handle it.