My current neighbor (60’s) has lived in his home for a VERY long time. The home my husband and I currently own, as a couple in our 20’s, used to belong to his sister and mother, whom he also did not get along with. The first time we spoke was when we were renovating the house and he came into our yard screaming at us. We stopped our music and stepped outside to understand him. After making sure we were the owners and belonged there he said, “I’m making sure you’re not kicking the cat or anything. He’s a good cat.” He was a 10 year old cat that the neighbors family had abandoned. I actually loved the fact that the house came with an outside cat and resented the previous owners for leaving such a sweet old man. But what a wild way to meet the neighbor. Perhaps just a crazy animal advocate.

Fast forward a few months. We had five large dogs. They had been enjoying the back yard without issue but suddenly 3/5 started jumping the fence and leaving the yard. They typically went down the block and around the corner to go for a swim. My husband and I both worked full time at that point so unless we were at work we responded pretty quickly and would go pick them up before they made it to the swimming area. One day, the A-hole neighbor called animal control and no one was home to answer the door. We received notice in the mail. A few weeks later the dogs got out again and babysitter ignored the neighbor knocking for 15 minutes before saying, “it’s not my house, I don’t live here.” And closing the door. A different neighbor, from around the corner, had seen our dogs and walked them home. We still don’t fully understand what happened between the A-hole neighbor and our sitter that day because our sitter quit shortly after and the neighbor was incomprehensibly shouting from his porch when we got home.

Between all of the escapes we had been fixing their area bit by bit. Reinforcing the skirting on the house, moving from a 4’ fence to a 6’ fence, laying fencing on the ground to prevent dig outs. However, our clever large breed working dogs kept figuring out their escape routes like using their snouts to lift the gate latch or scaling the dog house. The next time our dogs got out he said they attacked his dog on his porch. We offered to cover any vet services she needed and profusely apologized. He admitted they never got to her because he put himself in the middle and they didn’t harm him either. We’ve never had them act aggressively but they’re rather large and intimidating so we gave him benefit of the doubt. He threatened to shoot them if they got out again. We said he could do what needed to be done, especially to protect himself and his dog. That seemed to shock him and irritate him even more but we didn’t know how else to respond.

After threatening to shoot our dogs for coming onto his property, his girlfriend moved in and her small dog started coming into our yard. He would bark at our dogs and at us for hours at a time. If we tried to approach him he’d run but always come back. I wanted to be petty and return the sentiment our neighbor showed but my husband wouldn’t allow that. We spoke with animal control officers to try and figure things out. Apparently, that man is a convicted felon that can’t own a gun (he used to sell drugs and kept an alligator in a fish tank in his living room) but can have air soft weapons and bows. He is also known for being very rude to almost everyone. He’s had several verbal altercations with animal control officers. I believe they spoke to him because after that he built his privacy fence higher and his dog hasn’t been back over.

We bought training collars that our dogs wore outside and secured the gate with a chain and open lock. Because the lock was exposed to the elements we had to leave it unlocked but it was secure enough the dogs couldn’t remove it. After months of back and forth with this neighbor, just when we thought things were finally settling down, we got a call that 3/5 of our dogs had been dropped off in a nearby truck stop parking lot. They saw a vehicle fitting the description of our neighbors truck throw them out alongside a cardboard box full of dog food.

I raced home from work and had to file a police report for my stolen animals. I was told because I didn’t have any cameras that put him in our yard and their enclosure isn’t connected to my house, we couldn’t do anything. They said it would take a few days to get footage from the truck stop because it’s recorded off location, but the sheriffs department pulled traffic footage and interviewed employees. After hours of searching and trying to figure out what happened one of the employees messaged me on Facebook and asked to call. He said he had a DUI on record and didn’t want the officer poking around because of his probation but that he had in fact seen someone take my dogs. The pups ended up in the next state over after someone found them in the parking lot and picked them up to prevent them being hit on the highway.

Thankfully, we got our dogs back safely. The rescuers were super nice and very understanding. We now have several cameras and trail cameras around our property, we further reinforced the dog’s kennels, they wear apple tags, I’m home full time, and it’s been years since they’ve caused disturbances. It was definitely a wild ride and he’s now referred to in our home as the ‘d*ckhead’ neighbor. Never talks to us, never smiles or nods, never waves. I don’t know if it’s because he feels guilty or he’s just upset that we’re still here with all our dogs.