cos i am thinking of bumping off my neighbours! (only joking)

They are driving me mad now and i am really starting to lose my temper. We have never been the best of friends ever since we moved in and they saw Alfie (gsd), he was only 5 months at the time and absolutely gorgeous but their first comment to me was ''oh i don't like those dogs'', i just smiled politely but since that day there has been one thing after the other. When i rescued the 2nd shepherd Maisie they made a comment over the fence about ''why on earth would you want 2 of the bloody things''

We had an incident on bonfire night where they were letting their fireworks off and they were falling in my garden, so i asked if they woulkd mind re-positioning them as they were frightening my dogs and the husband replied ''i know where i would like to position them, up your dogs a*se

There have been lots of niggles like this but the latest one is that when i feed the dogs, they can smell the raw meat!!!!!. All 3 dogs are fed raw and they eat their carcasses in the garden, they are always fresh and definitely do not smell and to be honest they are not around long enough as the dogs eat them as soon as they touch the ground. I think this has come about since she was watching me out the window holding one end of a lamb rib whilst my pup chewed on the other end, i heard her say 'that's disgusting' and slam her window, but last night they put a note through the door saying that the meat smells and it could also attract rats and that they are going to make a complaint..............AAARRRGGGHHH

Why oh why can't people mind their own business. I go out of my way to make sure that my dogs are sociably acceptable, as soon as they poo i pick it up, i make sure they are reasonably quiet and do not cause a nuisance but it seems that the neighbours watch my every move so that they can find fault and it's driving me nuts!!  Rant over

When I lived in Wales in a previous life I had trouble with a neigbour who was a crown proseceuting solicitor and one day one of my male GSD's jumped over his fence to play with his boxer bitch, no harm done in fact she was pleased to have a bit of fun but he reported me as having a dangerous dog not under control and pushed it all the way to court.
I lived on a knife edge for four months untill the court day, it was held over fifty miles away so that in theory he did not know any of the court officials but he walked into court shouting to all his friends and my heart sank. But all was not to his plan and after hearing the police report, given accurately and well by the young constible who attended, the lady judge thrw the case out of court as "nothing to answer to" and awarded me damages and costs. The nasty neigbour had a nervouse breakdown shortly after and was stuck off. So keep your chin up sometimes they get thier just deserts!!

Hi Merlot

You poor, poor thing, i really can't imagine how awful you must have felt having to go through an ordeal like that. Thanks goodness common sense prevailed and the silly man got his comeupance

How horrible for you Mich.  Some people really take the biscuit.  Our neighbours didn't speak to us when we moved in (10 years ago) and now they always chat to us over the fence, I think it only took about six years to get to this stage.  We've invited them to several parties, but they've always made excuses.  They don't mind if the music's loud (which we try not to do) as they say it hasn't happened (which I don't believe) and that they'd know it was a one-off and wouldn't mind.

You'd hate for me to be your neighbour, cos I'd always be talking to you and wanting to pet your doggies!  :D

Joking aside, I hope they improve their attitude, because I can appreciate that it's very stressful for you.  I take it their not the sort of people you can talk to, cos they wouldn't see sense regardless of what you had to say?

Neighbours can be awful, can't they? :( When I moved into my home 6 years ago my next door neighbours ignored me, but spoke to another neighbour who was in my garden fixing something for me. I was in the garden at the same time but was ignored They complained about my dogs from the very beginning. I counter-complained. He was always using his pwer tools late at night (after midnight on occassion ) It came to a head one day when he complained about one of my puppies (then 11 weeks old and waiting for it's final jab before going to it's new home) The puppy had seen him in his garden doing a bit of weeding and growled. Once. I don't know how he heard it, it was quite quiet :) I immediately brought it in (telling it that it was a good puppy ;) - it came in at the first time of calling, unusual in itself :) ) and the next thing I knew I had a letter from the council and had to go in for a meeting. The outcome was that I took other neighbours in with me and they burst out laughing when I explained what was going on. The neighbour was made to look like a fool and hasn't spoken to me since. Mind you, I did threaten to get my brother involved if I was harrassed any more. Brother is a solicitor ;) :D

In your case I wouldn't worry. You obviously keep the garden as clean as you can. I'd take note of every time they moan, keeping a record to show exactly what was going on at the times they moan. That way you will have back up IF they ever take it any further. Photo's are a good help.

Hi Earl

Ooh i would love for you to be my neighbour!

No unfortunately they are not the sort of people you can speak to, i have tried on several occasions and have always been ultra polite but they seem to have nothing better to do with their lives than worry about what is going on in my garden!!, i really do think it is the breed of my dogs that is the problem here, they refer to them out loud as the 'devil dogs' but don't seem to have a problem with their other neighbours yorkie who yaps from morning til night and is never let in the house or given any real attention and certainly never gets walked. They once complained to me that when i walk my dogs in the morning(5.30) i wake them . I asked how i woke them when my dogs are not allowed to bark at that time in the morning and she said that i jangle the leads as i go out the door!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! surely they should be more concerned if i didn't take my dogs out at all and they barked all day out of boredom.

Oh well maybe the festive season will bring out a nicer side of them, i even put a xmas card through their door this morning.................from gsd rescue of course

Hi Mich,

some folks are just plain weird :rolleyes:  Sounds like you've been really unlucky - particularly re the fire works incident

I've been very fortunate in that all of my neighbours (despite only 2 having dogs themselves) are very pro dogs and never complained in any way shape or form.  We live on a very quiet street surrounded by open parkland so if anything our dogs' presence is welcomed in case there is anyone strange around - barking has always been enough to move on any loitering youngsters for example.   I think those of us with good neighbours probably don't appreciate how fortunate we are.

TBH, unless this is THE house and THE location of your dreams, I'd seriously consider moving.  May sound drastic I know but IMO our homes should be our personal retreats, a place of peace, tranquillity and sanctuary and that includes the garden plus surrounding neighbourhood too!   If you're living on edge wondering what this pond life is going to dream up next you'll make yourself ill - simply not worth it.

whoops, me ranting now :D

Hi Teri

No, this isn't the house of my dreams but unfortunately this is the house that we could afford and i can't see that changing anytime soon . I must admit that the thought of moving has crossed my mind but the worry would be that there is always some anti-dog idiot somewhere. The other neighbours in the street are all lovely and like you we are surrounded by open parkland and some of the neighbours have said to me before that they like having the dogs around as they know that they would alert them if anything untoward was going on and they are of course a good burglar deterrant.

The bit that gets me the most is that i go out of my way to make sure my dogs are never a nuisance and are as well behaved as can be inside and outside the home...............oh dear i can feel another rant coming so i will leave it there.:rolleyes:

Hi again Mich,

as you've got support from other neighbours, that's a great start :)  How about writing down a list of all the responsible things you do regarding your dogs and a list of all the things the pond life next door do which ruins your enjoyment of your home?  (NB - Don't actually GIVE them the list :D :D :D )

When you've had time to mull over the two, arrange to have a word with the neighbours from hell in a calm, confident and non confrontational manner.  If you let them meet yourself (and, if appropriate, your dogs) in a manner which says you'd like to be amicable, then maybe you'll make some progress towards being reasonably good neighbours - they don't sound like the sort you'd want as friends :rolleyes:

Personally I'd take the view that they are socially challenged and unenlightened - but then I don't suffer fools gladly :D :D :D

Good luck, Teri

Oh dear :rolleyes:

Firstly you are doing nothing wrong so if anybody comes round to see you like Environmental Health they will have a nice chat see that you are doing nothing wrong and go away and tell your neighbours to wind their necks in :D

One thing I always do is clean the area I feed my two is disinfect the area and do not leave un-chewed bones about :)

I would also suggest keep a diary of all incidents incase you are in the situation you make a complaint about them to the police for threatening behaviour ;)

We had two nasty neighbours and through my perseverence I got rid of them and they moved away :D

Can you preempt them and call the environmental health yourself, getting them to come round and confirm that there isn't a problem with the raw feeding?  Then when your neighbours complain again you can tell them by all means call the eh so they can confirm that there isn't a problem!  Will make the neighbours look pretty daft!

I think it might come to that louise, i am not at all worried about them coming round as i know that i am not doing anything wrong. I could understand them being concerned about the raw feeding if i left rotting meat around the garden for days but that is not the case, i have kids who play in the garden so it is always well disinfected and pleasant smelling!!

Hi Lucy

That's the thing that's annoying me the most, i am doing nothing wrong, if i were it would be a different story. With regards to the raw feeding, all 3 eat their carcasses/necks/wings etc in the garden. They start off in the bowl but usually one of them drags it out of the bowl and onto the paving but there is never ever any left over. The same for tea, they have their meat or fish etc in a bowl in the garden and there are again no leftovers. Every evening i wash down and sweep the garden as it is all paved and then sloosh odor-kill all over it so it smells nice so what is their problem???

I think i will start keeping a diary just in case and i am not worried about EH paying me a visit as i know i am in the right here and i am certainly not going to start letting my dogs eat their raw meat in the house just to please my neighbours:rolleyes:

The most important thing to remember in all this is that you are doing nothing wrong....you are perfectly entitled to have your GSD's and to feed them in anyway you want ... they may have a problem with this but that's just what it is - THEIR problem .... don't make it yours. Let them complain to Environmental Health/Dog Warden/RSPCA/Uncle Tom Cobley and all .. they will simply get the same answer - that you are doing NOTHING wrong.

They may not like your choice of dog but then you don't like their lack of manners and interference in your life. They are obviously enjoying the distress they are causing you - pay them back by being utterly indifferent to their comments and give them the old classic " am i bothered .... do i look bothered.....? " (with thaks to Catherine Tate :D )

Yvonne

Oh dear, I had a little giggle at your post I'm afraid, I'd love you to do the same as they are being silly and ridiculous.  Luckily you are not having a barking problem which so many poor dog owners get caught up in, you simply have one set of neighbours who are probably quite scared of your lovely big fluff balls. :-D so are trying their very hardest to find a reason to scorn, they are failing miserably and to be honest if you can just roll your eyes and tut tut at their silly behaviour you will do your stress levels a whole lot of good, as they have nothing to report to anyone about.

Honestly they have no case against you whatsoever, I feed raw and there is no smell that could possible drift next door:rolleyes:, do they complain about people cooking their evening meals as surely that would waft a stronger smell from neighbour to neighbour, more so than raw meat eaten in a few minutes and for much longer, gosh what happens if someone cooks a curry do they send them a letter too. Does everyone else have to stop cooking and eating in case these neighbours should smell others food? No, of course not, they are only choosing to try and complain of your feeding as they have a problem with your dogs, that is how silly they are being. The next time they complain I would try really hard to laugh at them and tell them if they don't have anything nice to say would they kindly not say anything at all. Get out there in the garden continue feeding your dogs and living a normal life, you need to try and pity them and laugh about it if you possibly can.

Prehaps they could be vegetairians and thats why they protest about the raw feeding If thats the case then maybe let them know what times you feed your dogs so they can avoid watching them. But you are not doing anything wrong so dont worry about it and remember they will get their commupance and you will enjoy every moment of it just have patience.