Being harassed because of my dogs

[hntr4life]

I'm being harassed by a new neighbor. Don't I have any rights as a home owner? I live in an area that the county has zoned for mountain home. I have 12 acres and about a year and a half ago a lawyer moved in across the road from me. Apparently he's not too fond of dogs. He's had the sheriff out here twice and they both agreed my dogs are just doing what they are supposed to do. This guy won't give up! He's been threatening to sue me and have my dogs taken away. I never denied that my dogs bark...they're dogs, but there are barking dogs all over and everytime he hears one in the middle of the night it's automaticlly mine. The sheriff suggested bark collars and I did that. He left a message on my machine yesterday while I was at work and said, this is my final warning! What can I do? He told the sheriff I am an inconsiderate nieghbor! I didn't move in next to him with a bunch of dogs, he moved in next to me! Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, Dan

[norcalkemmer]

Tell him "see ya in court"

[hntr4life]

I would, but everytime I talk to him, I just want to reach thruogh the phone and choke him!! He won't talk to me in person. I've gone to his house to talk to him and he won't answer the door.

[Conejos]

Sorry buddy just keep fighting! Lawyers are the lowest form of human life.

[Patrick]

He is a lawyer and doing what they do best, talking to get people all worked up and create problems (because problems are where money is made). Sounds like it is working on you so far.
Try killing hm with kindness. Tell him his wife doesn't seem to mind the dogs at all when she is over visiting. Offer to teach him how to skin varmints. Teach you children how to use the varmint caller, and then invite him over to join you calliing coyotes in the backyard at night. Get a big spot light for the kids to look for coons in the trees of the backyard at night, don't forget to invite him over to help out. When your friends are all over trying to weld the toyota back together or welding up that new dogbox at 12am, invite him over for a beer.
When the sheriff shows up, remember to know several new lawyer jokes each time.

[bob baldwin jr]

"INCONSIDERATE NEIGHBOR " Any laws against that Are all the hounds BARKING

I am not trying to be a smartass ,but I would never keep a hound that was a constant barker . over the years I had 2 of those ,tried everything to get them to stop . Finally gave them back to their original owners .I don't have a problem if they bark when I go out to the kennel or if game comes in the back yard or a strange vehicle pulls into the yard . But I will NOT put up with it the rest of the time .

[big saint]

So you are zoned for moountain home? Does that mean you are out of city limits? In my state, if you are out of city limits they can't do a damn thing about your dogs. I think that guy is just bein a JACKASS!!! How the hell could he sue you for your dogs barking??? I think he is full of SH*T!!!!!!!!

[Gobk]

Had the same problem sheriff came and sat at the end of my driveway for 2 hours. Dog did'nt bark. We have a nusaunce dog ordinince and i guess you can be fined. I dont live anywhere close to town. A solution given to me was to get one of those obnoxious remote predator calls, hide it as close to his propertyline as posssible , wait until your neighbor is asleep turn it on when the light comes on turn it off. Do this afew times when you see him ask if he has been hearing the spooky sounds that you have heard. gobk

[Liz ODell]

Well if you are serious about this you might want to find a lawyer yourself...but me being the ornerey person I am, if I had enough room to set up my own personal shooting range (I assume with 12 acres and your zoning you should be able to comply with firearms discharge laws) thats what I'd do.
Its been nice and warm lately so you would probably need to start your lead fest by at least 7 am so you can get out of the heat and sun by around 9, be sure to invite your friends as you should have the cleanest, safest range around.
You are probably also zoned to allow you to raise poultry, build tons of little houses and go find some mexicans with cull roosters...they still crow like hell. Pretty hard to hear dogs over the top of 50 screaming roosters...they'll fill in the silence between gun shots quite nicely.
While all of this is going on I would be making a very hard effort to retrain my dogs to only bark at immediate threats (people). Most dogs are smart enough to learn that the kennel is not associated with hunting and barking in the kennel is off limits.

[BEAR HUNTER]

If hes a lawyer he is going to get you into court eventually its going to happen. Do yourself a favor and start preparing for it now. First document everything you have done and are doing to keep your dogs quiet, I.E. bark collars etc. Like has been mentioned adjust your feeding times and include that in your documentation. Next and I know this is going to sound stupid but get yourself a tape recorder or better yet a video camera if you have one. Turn it on at nite at a certain time every nite and just record. Due this for a month. What this does is shows a record of what your dogs are doing. If other dogs in the neighborhood are barking it will pick it up and show that other dogs are not barking. Start building your case now. I learned this from my Leutenant. He had a neighbor that had a barking dog. He starting building his case and turning a recorder on every nite. Built a case. Judge made the neighbor get rid of the dog and then imposed a restraining order barring the guy from keeping another dog on the place for 7 yrs. This example is CA and was in the city but it shows what can happen.

[Steve White]

I have had the same problem for the last 4yrs. A former farm girl turned city yuppie. Moved to the northwoods for quiet. Does not want to hear a squirrel fart!!! Been nothing but a problem. Dogs barking all around me at all times of day and night. She hears them I see the sheriff. Mine are extremely quiet, especially for hounds. Bark collars, e collars, and even a baby monitor on the kennel. They have learned to be quiet. Rarely will they even bark when somebody pulls in the yard. The sheriff knows all this and now realizes SHE is the problem!!! Has done all sorts of stuff to get the dogs to bark just to complain. Dumped a big pile of fish guts on the property line to attract critters, hitting golf balls into the woods, and more. It was not working so then the noise complaint came for loud music. Old country at 4pm while I was raking leaves. Got a big lecture about loud and unnecessary noise violations!! So I had to stoop to their level. Every single noise I heard got a complaint. Eventually the problem stopped as the point was made. At least for now!!

[hntr4life]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I agree, I would NOT tolerate a constant barker. My dogs will bark when someone pulls in the driveway, but I don't mind that because my wife works nights at the hospital and it alerts her when someone is outside while she is sleeping all day. All of my dogs are contained and not allowed to run free or at least not outside the property. I'm 8 miles from anything that could even be considered a town and 50 miles from any town with a population over 1,700. Further down the paved road there is a hound rescue that sounds like 20-30 dogs and hounds that really only start up once or twice a day, but when they do, I can hear them in my house over the TV. With all that, he is still calling my house all night complaining that it's my dogs, but when I go outside, my dogs are all sleeping. So, I've got a few game cameras down by the creek that I'm going to bring up and put along my fenceline for evidence. It will also show that this guy is only here once or twice through the week and on weekends. Oh, did I forget to mention that this is his weekend home!?

[Arkansas Frog]

Buy five gallons gas

[hntr4life]

Hey Frog, It's crossed my mind. I'm going to use that gas in another way though. I have a Harley that's a little on the loud side. It stayed parked all last summer to avoid anymore problems with this guy. I could save a pile of money riding it to and from work all summer with a 106 mile round trip commute. The kicker is, I leave for work at 2:30 am every day during the summer. I work a 13hr shift for 7 days and then I'm off for 7 days. My shift is 4am to 5pm from March 1 through October 31 and then back to 8 hr shift M-F. Maybe then he'll see how considerate I really was!

[radar]

Hey Patrick your player man keep up the good post...