Mrs. Kravetz here

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

Since 1978 I have not lived anywhere with a neighbor up against me, sometimes it feels a bit isolated since I grew up a city girl but I honestly like the openness of it and not having to worry about every little thing that might get on a neighbors nerves.  A few years ago we built a small house for my step mother to live by us so we could take care of her, we had two acres but knew we needed to have her house fairly close so we put it about 150 feet from ours.  She no longer needs that home and we sold it last fall. 

The new neighbor came with two dogs, we met over helping catch one of his dogs that took off right away...our road has a rock quarry about 4 miles up and we have large trucks racing up and down the road.  My girls have a huge fenced in yard to keep them safe and are seldom out for more than a few minutes without us and we were scared for his dog.  He commented that he takes them to work with him every day and that same dog wanders off, usually a neighbor brings it back. What?  Why don't you keep a better eye on it...just sayin.

So now the aggravation, he now has three dogs and they all run loose.  He lets them out each morning and they promptly poop on our side of the yard, he NEVER picks up, EVER!  The section of his yard that they do use on occasion is the same part that he walks through to get to the outside room he built for grilling.  How does he not see what he is walking through and who wants that near the eating area???

The newest dog is much younger and if my girls are out it comes running and has hackles up (although I think she is just wanting to play, his other dogs are older), runs the fence of my girls yard, they keep running with her and everyone barks, this dog is running right through the new landscaping my husband put in to add shade to my girls yard.

After 37 years of no neighbor this close I am a bit aggravated.  I don't think I am a confrontational person and just can't seem to figure out how to get through to him in a nice way (his personality around town is to occasionally gig someone if he knows he can get to them).  I wait until I see him out and deliberately use that time to pick up after my girls, hello...hint, hint.  He doesn't get it.  I want my husband to handle it, he just shakes his head when he sees it.

I must practice not looking out windows like Mrs. Kravets.

[Amy and Annabelle]

I live out in the country on a few acres of land. I am in a little enclave that has about a mile of residential homes that are 100-150 feet apart. I can certainly identify with the neighbor dogs using my yard as their own personal toilet. For 5 years I put up with this "crap". They have 2 big dogs and feed Purina so there is some very big nasty poop there. I am the out there picking it all up. They have an electric fence but the dogs learned a long time ago that they could cross into our yard pretty easy. Now for the good news. The wife moved out recently and took the dogs. This is at least the 3rd separation they have gone through, hopefully they are gone for good. The guy has had a lot of work done on the house since she left which is a good sign the dogs aren't coming back. I learned a long time ago not be confrontational with the neighbors because it never turned out well. So I have just kept my mouth shut and dealt with it.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

BIG FENCE around your property so there is no access for him!!!!!  And throw the poop back onto his property.  I have no patience for his behavior.

[Rhoda and Asta]

I so agree.  I think it was Judge Judy who said fences make good neighbors.

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

I have always liked the saying, "No one can take advantage of you without your permission." Dog poop can spread disease and you have a right to protect your family. Don't let his personality intimidate you- just kindly state what you need him to do. And, don't ask him if he can do it- tell him what you need. "Mr. X, I really need you to pick up your dog poop from our yard." People with big personalities either ignore or get irritated with wishy washy passive aggressive behavior. He will likely respect you a lot more for just coming right out and kindly telling him. 

Good luck!

[Amy and Annabelle]

True, you can't let them walk all over you. You should be able to stand your ground and not have to put up with that. In my case though, sometimes I would get to a boiling point and then explode and then give the offending neighbor an earful. Which usually ended any neighborliness between us. A couple of times it got ugly. In all instances nothing changed except for the neighbor relationship and in some cases got worse. This is the first time it has ever been over dogs. I know my husband has said something to the guy, but it just went in one ear and out the other because the dogs still came over here and they didn't seem to be making any effort to stop them. Of course he might have thought it was his wife's problem not his since they are both her dogs. The wife is a mail order bride(at least that is what he told my husband) so there is a language barrier for us, not entirely sure they even understand each other. One morning when I had Annabelle outside, the wife was looking out her back door watching her dog poop in my yard. I looked right at her and pointed to her dog and she turned and walked away. I think for me if the dogs come back I will be shoveling it back in their own yard when the dogs are in the house.They are incessant barkers too. So I have my fingers crossed they are gone for good. I hope you have better luck than we did. My husband did ask me to play nice in this neighborhood because they all most likely have shotguns.

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Oh, yes, I've been to that boiling point. Not with neighbors, but with my husband. :-(  It never gets me anywhere. Shotguns? Yikes! Play nice, Amy, play nice.....Annabelle needs you! 

[Amy and Annabelle]

We are out in the country surrounded by woods. Big hunting territory. We are not hunters but are surrounded by them.