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Old 07-13-2015, 12:41 AM
 
Location: So. Cal
1 posts, read 1,295 times
Reputation: 10

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We just moved to a rental house less than 1 month ago. Our next door neighbor, a woman in her 60s, was driving home and saw my husband taking our pug for a walk. Before he even had a chance to introduce himself, she stopped her car, rolled down the window, and chastised him about walking our dog on her lawn and allowing it to leave waste on her grass. There was a pile of waste on her lawn, but it wasn't from our dog. Since we've moved here, my husband and daughter have both walked the dog only a handful of times around the neighborhood. The dog is always on a leash, and has never gone to the bathroom on any of the lawns because we've always taken her at a time when she has already gone to the bathroom in the back yard. The houses in this tract are extremely close together and the front and back yards are basically strips of grass.

This happened 4 days ago. Today I received a text from our LL with a picture of a "friendly warning" she received in the mail from the HOA saying to "please refrain from allowing your dog to use your neighbors' lawns as a restroom." There was no fine, it was just a warning. The neighbor wasted no time in reporting us to the HOA. I immediately called my LL to explain that the pile of waste on the neighbor's lawn wasn't from our dog. Our LL believed us and all is good with her, but I told her that I hope this isn't going to be an ongoing problem with this neighbor erroneously blaming us for other neighborhood dogs who may be defecating on her lawn. I asked my LL if she or her other tenants had problems in the past with the neighbor. My LL said they got along well enough, but the neighbor was "very particular about her property."

What would you do in this situation? I want to go over to introduce myself to the neighbor and nicely explain that it wasn't our dog who defecated on her lawn, try to patch over the situation and foster some good neighbor relations. However, I don't know that she'll believe it wasn't our dog who left the pile on her lawn, considering since she immediately assumed it was us and reported it to the HOA. My husband was a bit taken aback by her immediate hostility, especially since we hadn't officially met her yet. Wouldn't you try to smooth things over in the name of being good neighbors, or would you let it go and just steer clear of her altogether?

I feel like we can't even walk our dog on the sidewalk because we may get accused of letting her defecate on the neighbor's lawn, especially if the other dog who left a pile comes back to her lawn and does it again.
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Old 07-13-2015, 12:45 AM
 
Location: Kailua Kona, HI
3,199 posts, read 13,343,290 times
Reputation: 3420
Welcome to HOA life. In my experience as a property manager, I have seen so many times where tenants were harassed and owner occupants could do as they please. Forget making friends with her, it's not worth your time. Hopefully you're not in a long lease.
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Old 07-13-2015, 05:20 AM
 
10,746 posts, read 25,864,417 times
Reputation: 16022
What can you do? Nothing.

You're a tenant living in an HOA, you have no rights. If an owner complains about to the HOA, the HOA in turn complains to the landlord which may or may include a fine and he in turn complains to you and hands over any fines. Too many fines and you will be evicted or your lease won't get renewed. Here in Fl HOAs have a lot of power.

Don't walk past her house with your dog is a good starting point. Sure, you can introduce yourself to her, but don't count on it meaning much.
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Old 07-13-2015, 05:24 AM
 
12,016 posts, read 12,626,869 times
Reputation: 13420
Do not engage this neighbor, she is an unreasonable person, seems nasty and is a liar if what you are saying is correct about the poop not being your dog's. If she states saying hello then you can answer her back. It's best to be friendly with neighbors, but if they are nasty people just ignore them.
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Old 07-13-2015, 07:55 AM
 
Location: Morrisville, NC
9,122 posts, read 14,664,501 times
Reputation: 8973
Whether your dog has gone to the bathroom already or not, make sure you always have waste bags visibly on you whenever you walk her. Like the little fire hydrant things with rolls in them you can clip to the leash. Make sure the dog is never in this woman's yard. You can't stop her complaining, but if you do those things you will appear to be the responsible dog owners you are to other random people and she will never have any concrete evidence that your dog could have pooped in her lawn. If she continues blaming you, at least you can point to those things and ask that evidence that it was you to be included with future warnings. Of which she will have none.
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Old 07-13-2015, 08:44 AM
 
16,376 posts, read 22,358,289 times
Reputation: 14391
That nitpicky neighbor isn't going to change and talking to her will simply make you more upset. As above poster already said, make sure to carry plastic dog waste bags with you even if they are empty. She doesn't see the bag in your hand and she wrongly assumes you dog went to the bathroom somewhere and you didn't pick it up. If she sees the bag, then she knows you are prepared to pick up the dog waste when it occurs. Just make the bag visible when walking near her home, even if it's an empty bag in your hand.

I had such a neighbor confront me once in a non-HOA area. And my dog wasn't even going to the bathroom and it was smelling a county owned empty lot when the neighbor confronted me. I pulled out my empty plastic bag(was in my pocket) and showed him that I use it when the dog goes. The crabby neighbor huffed and walked away. My dog never stepped foot on his property, ever.

So you just live with people like this - knowing they are obsessed with watching every dog that goes by, ever hour of every day. HOA or not, renting or owning, it doesn't matter. These people are everywhere. Thank goodness they are pretty rare.
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Old 07-13-2015, 08:51 AM
 
Location: Southwestern, USA, now.
21,020 posts, read 19,195,765 times
Reputation: 23648
I ALWAYS have a plastic bag visible.

Buy a tee shirt, so easy to make, copy shops even print them....saying ....
"I pick up my dog's POO!"
Wear it each walk.

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Old 07-13-2015, 09:59 AM
 
7,672 posts, read 12,721,543 times
Reputation: 8030
I agree with others, just bring a plastic bag (tie it to the leash handle). And walk away from her house and ignore her.
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Old 07-13-2015, 10:10 AM
 
Location: Sunny Florida
7,136 posts, read 12,626,332 times
Reputation: 9547
I think it'd be a nice gesture to try to befriend/mollify/inform this neighbor, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work. Sometimes people are so set in their ways and ideas that they cannot fathom their erroneous assumptions are incorrect.

Definitely from now on always carry a plastic poop bag with you when you walk your dog and make sure it's visible to all. Neighbors like to see that you intend to pick up your dog poop and the visible plastic bag gives them this confirmation. I wish you well and am sorry this was your introduction into this community. That's very unfortunate.
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Old 07-13-2015, 01:35 PM
 
741 posts, read 586,572 times
Reputation: 3471
Thank you all for the good advice. I will tie a bag to the leash so it's visible. If I could avoid walking past her house, I would. It's a community of 3-4 bedroom houses that are very close together. The distance between me and my neighbor is literally the width of our two backyard gates. Only her house & our rental are on this street. The left side of our house is blocked off by a fence to create a small cul-de-sac, and the right side of the house is next to this neighbor. There are no houses in front of us, just the narrow street access to each of our driveways and then a fence before the next couple of houses one street over. So I have to walk past her house in order to get out of our cul-de-sac. She is my closest and only next door neighbor, so you can see why I'd like to be on good terms with her. The best I can do is walk in the street and not touch the sidewalk in front of her house.

I'm going to introduce myself today and try to smooth things over. Maybe she'll be receptive, maybe not, but at least I will have made the effort to be nice. I'll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck.
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