Selling House Soon - Problem Neighbor - What to do?

[Suncc49]

Are you losing much on the sale of your home??

[otterhere]

"When your house is on the market just board your dog in a kennel to minimize the neighbor's dogs acting out, I think it would be money well spent."

Seriously? That's almost as good as "just pelt the neighbor dogs with paintballs."

Calling the ASPCA...

[Chrisk327]

Originally Posted by like-2-hike

Hi All - quick update - I have padlocked all of the gates. Moved my patio furniture against the fence where most of the "action" happens - since I'm painting and weeding and doing other things, it doesn't look too strange but also keeps the dogs apart. I've also moved a bunch of plants against the fence further up the fence line. This looks like it will keep the dogs separated for the most part, and half of it looks normal (the plants) and I don't care about the chairs up the fence for now.

I spoke with my realtor today as well - he's of the mindset that we cross the bridge of confronting the neighbor only if it becomes necessary. He thinks that the neighbor is unlikely to confront potential buyers when they are there with their buyer's agent, and that if it does happen, the buyer's agent is likely to let us know so we can deal with it ASAP.

We visited a few homes today and I found my future home, assuming everything works out. I'll be focusing my efforts over the next several days on getting the last issues at my place resolved so we can list next week.

To those asking about my dog or myself - my dog is incredibly nice but perhaps not the smartest in the world. She never barks (she has barked literally once in 3+ years, and only when she saw a rattlesnake - kind of helpful), is fantastic around people, very well behaved overall, but (I think) is very lonely, so anytime a dog is near she wants to get as close as possible. When around dogs, she appears to want to be the alpha female (or even just alpha dog). But she did live in the same house with another dog for over a month with only two relatively small fights (first day and about three weeks into the stay). The first was probably a draw and the second she clearly lost. She was whimpering all night long and I thought something was seriously wrong - called the vet and they said to give it 24 hours. 24 hours later she was fine...

As for me - I walk her twice a day, usually about a mile each time. I have not previously confronted the neighbor or called animal control because I truly believe the neighbor will poison or otherwise harm my dog in retribution for anything I do. While you may disagree with me (and you may very well be correct), I've chosen what I believe to be the better possible path to protect my dog long-term. Believe me, if I felt I could call animal control and my dog wouldn't be at risk from an unstable, unemployed neighbor with an ax to grind, I'd do so in a heartbeat.

The realtor says if I price the home the way I plan to, it should be under contract in three days. I doubt it, but if so, this unfortunate episode may be over before Thanksgiving.

As for boarding the dog - I hate to do so. She is queen of the house here and has a 1500 sq. ft house and a 1/2 acre fenced yard to roam about freely. A 5'x10' cage is pretty lame by comparison. If the house goes under contract before I go out of town, I'll hire a house sitter so she can stay at home. If it hasn't gone under contract before I have to leave, I'll reluctantly board her to make showings easier.

Apparently I'm not able to write anything without it being verbose - sorry. It's been a long week already and I'm exhausted and cautiously optimistic (too excited, actually) after seeing what I hope will be my (and my dog's) new home.

Thanks to everyone for your responses - I appreciate you taking the time to reply!

Sounds like a plan.
I could be wrong, but I think you are over dramatizing this in the first post considering your circumstances.
1) neighbor is a pain, has nasty dogs that can access your dogs through the fence and likes to cut trees.
2) you're selling your house

Based upon what you are describing, the neighbor isn't all that bad (for your current house selling situation). He gets heated talking about controlling his dogs (which are behind a fence) and taking down trees. AVOID THOSE TOPICS.

1. keep your dog inside unless you can supervise him until the house is sold.
2. don't engage your neighbor in discussion on the dogs
3. punt on the tree discussion, keep saying you are keeping trees on your property. next owner can decide.
4. tell him your selling and hopefully he will get nice friendly neighbors that he likes, and say you'd like to bury the hatchet in hopes on ending this on a positive note for everyone

ideally if you were staying, you should get a privacy fence, come down harsher on the tree situation to put an end to it, and perhaps deal with animal control... but honestly, you should be in damage control mode.

[otterhere]

"Keep your dog inside unless you can supervise him until the house is sold."

If the OP works, that's a lot of hours sitting alone inside a house for a dog who's used to being outdoors, which translates into torture. I'm not understanding why everyone thinks this very nice dog should be punished.

Put up a wooden fence on that side; it'll improve the view, secure and protect your dog, and increase your property value.

[misscross]

so when I boarded my dogs while we go on vacation, at a very nice and expensive kennel, somebody like you would want to call the ASPCA on me?! sheesh.......

[like-2-hike]

So just a quick update - I came home at lunch today and the front 5' of my yard was clear-cut. Only some debris remains of what were native trees, bushes, and native flowers. Happily the boulder that was there remains - I guess it was too much effort to remove. I called the county roads department and they confirmed they did it. I'm waiting on a call back from the supervisor to find out why they did it - the timing is a bit too coincidental. Pretty disappointing, but on the plus side I guess the neighbor can't use my yard as an excuse for not controlling his dogs any longer...

Originally Posted by Suncc49

Are you losing much on the sale of your home??

I sure hope not. Our market is pretty ridiculous and it's going to cost me double what I paid for it to find anything else, and those will need work. Three homes on my street similar to mine have sold in the past 60 days - averaging $221/sq.ft. I'm more than $30 per sq. ft. below that.

Originally Posted by Chrisk327

Sounds like a plan.
I could be wrong, but I think you are over dramatizing this in the first post considering your circumstances.
1) neighbor is a pain, has nasty dogs that can access your dogs through the fence and likes to cut trees.
2) you're selling your house

Based upon what you are describing, the neighbor isn't all that bad (for your current house selling situation). He gets heated talking about controlling his dogs (which are behind a fence) and taking down trees. AVOID THOSE TOPICS.

You may very well be correct, but his dogs are not behind a fence - I believe they're kept in the house all the time because they dig under the fence when left out. They typically just wait for one of his kids to open the front door of their house, then they run past. I spoke to another neighbor today who shares a mailbox post with the "bad" neighbor. She was picking up their trash because they never do so after the trash truck comes through. She mentioned that one of the neighbor's two dogs scares her and has come at her before. It's the same one that bites my dog. So I'm not the only one to have issues with the neighbor.

Originally Posted by otterhere

"Keep your dog inside unless you can supervise him until the house is sold."

If the OP works, that's a lot of hours sitting alone inside a house for a dog who's used to being outdoors, which translates into torture. I'm not understanding why everyone thinks this very nice dog should be punished.

Put up a wooden fence on that side; it'll improve the view, secure and protect your dog, and increase your property value.

I do work full time and that was one of the perks of this house - the dog door (never had one before and will never buy a place that I can't put one in going forward). Amazingly handy. If I stay here for many months, a partial privacy fence will be my next investment.

Originally Posted by misscross

so when I boarded my dogs while we go on vacation, at a very nice and expensive kennel, somebody like you would want to call the ASPCA on me?! sheesh.......

I don't like boarding my dog, but I will do so when absolutely necessary, and certainly won't begrudge anyone else who needs to do so. But when going on vacation, my first preference is always a house sitter. They're actually less expensive (at least where I live), and I arrange for them to stay overnight each night I'm gone. They just have to deal with my dog who thinks she's queen of the house and takes up half the bed each night. Generally a win-win - house sitter gets some cash, a "staycation", and the dog gets someone new to hang out with for at least several hours every day.

[otterhere]

A short vacation is one thing, although a pet-sitter is far preferable (or even bringing with, since many hotels now accommodate dogs); even then, check it out carefully. At least in my state, no one regulates kennels, and there have been tragic incidents. "Until your house sells" is ridiculous; it could be months or even years, heaven forbid. Hope some of these posters don't actually have pets!