What are my legal rights?
• I rent a house, in Uinta County, Wyoming. My name as well as my husbands is on the lease.
• The people next door to me have 2 adult pit bulls and 1 puppy that are kept outside 24/7.
• The little puppy has made its way into my yard 10+ times.
• He gets in my yard via one of the 4+ holes that the larger dogs have dug.
• I have tried to fix my side of the fence as best I can. But to be honest I am scared to death that one of the large dogs will bite me.
• I too have a dog, a large Black Lab, Bruno.
• Bruno is not an outside dog.
• When Bruno is let outside, it is for short periods of time, because of the dogs next door.
• Bruno does not like the puppy.
• The larger dogs will stick their heads under the fence, in the holes that they have dug and growl and bark and snap at Bruno.
• I have told my neighbors about the holes many times and I have requested they do something about them. I keep getting an excuse that the ground is still frozen and they are waiting for it to thaw.
• I have told them that Bruno is not a fan of their puppy and that since they will not fix the holes that their dogs have dug that I will not and cannot be responsible if Bruno were to do anything to their puppy.
My question is; how much legal right do I really have, since I have told the people next door that I am not responsible if Bruno were to do something to their puppy. I am not saying that he would but just in case. They do seem like the type of people that would sue the hell out of you for something that is their fault. Please help me with this! I do not want to be in a neighbor war with these people. I do not want anything to happen to Bruno or to their dogs. By the way if it makes any difference, Bruno is a service dog.
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M$9 Answers
As for legal rights, according to ehow, You need to
- Learn your local tresspassing laws. Many jurisdictions have local ordinances that will subject pet owners to fines if their animal repeatedly trespasses on private property.
- Search your city's Web site for laws and statutes governing trespassing. Look for a tab directing you to a list of civil ordinances, and if you can't find one, call the city's general information phone number.
- Call police if you feel a trespassing pet poses a legitimate threat to you or your family.
- Learn more about trespassing laws through an advocacy group like Nolo.
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M$So, I went and talked to the Humane Society. According to the Humane Society in your area, "It is unlawful to allow any dog to be at large upon property other than the property owned or occupied by the owner of such dog." If you have talked to them about the fact that their dogs are digging up the fence and their dog is getting in your yard, then I would send a letter via certified mail to them informing them of the issue and the damage their dogs are doing.
I would also inform them that the next time the puppy is in your yard, you will call animal control. That will cost them $25 to get their dog back; $50 the second time; $100 the third time, etc.
I would also make sure they are aware that there is a $100 fine for any nuisance dogs.
If you are afraid to talk to them, your animal control officer may do it for you. I filed a complaint against my neighbor and they came out to talk to him. Amazingly, I have had no further problems with them. Once you make yourself aware of the laws--and they know that you know the laws--you'll be surprised at how the biggest bullies back down.
I am guessing that you have tried to be nice and talk to them. If not, do that first.
Here is the source for the information that I found.
http://www.uintacounty.com/DocumentView.asp?DID=263
I just noticed that you said your dog is a service dog. This changes some things as Wyoming laws specifically protect them. Make sure that they know that "(a) Any person who knowingly, willfully and without lawful cause or justification inflicts, or permits or directs any animal under his control or ownership to inflict, serious bodily harm, permanent disability or death upon any service dog as defined in W.S. 35-13-205(a)(i) is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than six (6) months, a fine of not more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), or both."
So the fact that they have three pitbulls endangering your dog could land them in jail. You will want to inform them of this fact and file a complaint with the police department. The source I have for this information is this:
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:Hye2y2DsPyAJ:www.animallaw.info/statutes/stuswyguidedoglaws.htm+Wyoming+dog+laws&hl=en&client=firefox-a&gl=us&strip=1
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M$
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M$
I agree that @megastar could fill the holes but it seems unfair that while the neighbor's dogs are doing the damage, she spends the money without getting it back. @megastar is still entitled to some kind of reimbursement, seeing as legally the neighbor is responsible for his/her dog's actions. It's pretty much standard that you respond for whatever damages an animal of your property causes.
I'm with you on this -- America is soo caught up in "rights"-talk and courtroom TV shows, that we think the way to solve our problems is by getting the legal system involved, or by getting "wiggy," formalistic and official-sounding. We're talking about a little puppy and a fence here!
Is this really a monumental problem? At the minimum: fix the darn fence.
Problem over.
Wyoming must be a wonderful problem-free area to live in, if this puppy "problem" weighs so heavily on Megastar's mind.
Plus, given that Wyoming is the most people-free state in the union --is it still only one Representative in the House of Representatives? -- it's ironic that Megastar is serving up a urban-density-style neighbor problem in a state where there must be rental property where the nearest neighbor is miles away, so that a neighboring puppy would have to do a 101-Dalmatians-over-hill-and-dale trek to get in Megastar's yard!
See: http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/101dalmatians/ for a wonderful animated page on this classic and beloved dog movie!
Send a NOTARIZED letter (just a good o'l fashioned letter Notarize just means its been witnessed to and this is usually a free service most banks provide) to your neighbor, make copies for the notary, yourself, and your attorney.
State in the letter basically everything you can thats going on.
TELL them (don't ask) TELL THEM to fix the issue within a reasonable amount of time.
Take pictures and even video footage of the damage, have someone appraise the damage and give you a estimate of how much it will cost to fix.
And if they don't do it all once more.
And if it still continues take them to small claims court.
You would have all the proof you need that their dog(s) are causing a nuisance and has caused damage, and you would have a appraisal of how much it would cost to fix the damage.
And you would have proof you asked them to fix the issue in a more than reasonable amount of time.
That's basically it., I don't get what some are saying about getting "wiggy", you are trying to protect your own. Not to mention your own sanity.
Good Luck
XDS
PS: I would ask of the moderator this be moved to the legal category.
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M$
@stacy90802
I think after 10+ times of the dog getting in megastar 's yard a multitude of exploring other options is being cautious and diligent.
I think megastar has gone far beyond diplomatic in this situation.
It's quite possible that holes in your yard mean very little to them, and it's quite possible that harm befalling their puppy means little as well. Even though you may be in the legal right in pursuing action based upon this, it's quite possible law enforcement will also be less than enthusiastic in pursuing a matter that doesn't, on face value, present a clear threat to you or your property's safety.
Have you told them, "I am afraid your dogs are going to harm my dog or me. I am afraid that I will have to harm your dogs while protecting my dog or myself." While this may not necessarily be true, presenting it from the perspective of how it impacts you (and not your dog or your property) might just get through to them. Some folks seem to have little problem accepting animals attacking animals (sadly I see it everyday with careless owners in dog parks), but once it's on the level of animals attacking humans, even those folks open their eyes and see how serious the problem has become.
If they don't seem to care, I'd recommend moving, as you are living next to people with very little regard for human life. In this situation, being "right" or legally justified isn't worth getting maimed or killed over.
And for the pit bull apologists out there: yes, I realize not all pit bulls are killers. Their owners make them that way, either through malice, stupidity or sheer carelessness and apathy. I've seen many wonderful pit bulls as family pets. And I've seen an equal number I wouldn't trust anywhere near my family.
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M$
You might try calling your insurance agent to see if there is something they can draw up, as it would affect your homeowner's insurance if something happened.
Also, it is WELL within your rights to call Animal Control on them every time their puppy is out. That gives you even more documentation and witnesses to call upon if it is needed. I had a co-worker that had similiar problems with her neighbor. They had a mastiff that kept let out by their kids. The owners had no desire to ensure that their children kept the dog contained. So, she called Animal Control the next time the dog was running loose around the neighborhood. (Eventually the dog started attacking neighborhood cats, so it got taken away)
Sorry you have to deal with this. Dog owners like that are what give pitbulls bad reputations.
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M$
Megastar!!!
"Time & time again," we're still taking about a puppy!
And hundreds of dollars?? Aren't there handymen who can run some chickenwire or even barbed wire for next to nothing? Around here (Long Beach, CA,) there are tons of entrepreneurial people, including recent immigrants who charge Financial-Crisis-i.e.-very-affordable rates for all kinds of handy-man repairs!!!
I see you're standing on "the principle of the thing." To me there are hard ways to solve problems and easy ways to solve problems. I can see that you like to go the hard way at times.
I don't understand your inflexibility on this. The world isn't all black & white, with everyone looking through law books to see who has what rights. It's very mushy, with shades of grey that arise out of the squishy biological basis of human life.
Which may explain your stance here, ... maybe you have a greater reason to get into a big fight with your neighbor, a hidden agenda, an overarching deep-seated-yet-unexplored psychological need to demonstrate (to who?) that *you* will not be trifled with, and that you *refuse* to stand down when a vicious puppy tests your moxie and womanhood!
I don't get why this problem is so huge to you. Help me understand!
I wish I was your neighbor on this. We'd have some tea and biscuits, and talk about how great Michelle Obama looks in her sleeveless dresses, and other topics of the day of importance to any chic, fashionable, poised, and graceful pair of women. Then, I'd be so charmed by your wittiness at tea-time, that I would go to the nearest pet store and put the puppy on a leash.
The only thing I'm against in this answer is the waiver. People attribute a lot of weight to them but then you get to law school and realize that most of them mean squat. They're effective only because people believe they are. But usually they either don't hold or are read in a very limited manner. Just because you sign a waiver doesn't mean you can't take someone to court.
stacy90802 - The problem isn't the age of the dog, yes it is a puppy, but you failed to read the other part about the 2 adult pit bulls that have dug the hole large enough to not only allow the puppy to get through but to the extent that the adult dogs fit their heads through to growl and bark and snap, and almost bite my dog.
These people or their puppy do not threaten my womanhood as you said. This is not a pissing contest. This is about respect and accountability for ones property, for their animals.
The fence is a vinyl fence, I am not going to put chicken wire, or barbed wire on it, there isn't a way to. I am not the inflexible one. The ones being inflexible are the owners who have proven to be lazy to the extent that they really don’t care what happens to their puppy since it has happened over and over again. And I have spoken to them over and over again about the problem.
Would you rather me just open my gate, let the puppy wander the streets and hope it doesn’t get hit by a car? I am nice enough to actually care about the well being of their animal, more so then they have shown. I could not care and I could just let whatever happens to the puppy happen. But I am not that type of person. Would I want someone to do that to my puppy or my dog? No I wouldn’t. If my dog were to dig holes under the fence and be aggressive towards another person or that person’s dog I would rectify the situation before it became a bigger problem.
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M$I like to apply reasonable man tests, to decide how to act.
1. Is it reasonable to keep two fighting breeds apart? Yes, dogs can inflict hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars of damage. A steel link fence is required to prevent the dogs from fighting
2. Is it reasonable that both parties share in the cost of the fence? Yes, this can be done by providing a price quote and request the neighbor share in the cost of the fence or provide an alternative solution. These are the best methods for a meeting of the minds.
3. Does it matter, whose dog is encroaching on the property? Check your local city ordinances. You may discover that the neigbhors dog encroachments are in violation with city ordinance. A complaint can be filed with the city. The city authority deal with violations. Remember, fees and fines provide employment. The law protects those governed by law.
4. Don't provoke problems because of anger or insisting your rights have been violated. Instead, work to control the environment by fences. Remember, puppies become big dogs. It is your job and responsiblity too protect your animals from possible injury by thinking ahead and anticipating problems.
My neighbor has a dog as big as a horse, a great dane. The dog is alpha. I've had to reinforce the fence because he likes to lean on it and growl or bark. He is a very aggressive dog. Excellent security but very annoying.
My strategy is to build a solid fence between the property. I have about 90 feet of fencing to put into place. It will cost me a few thousand dollars, but I'll have my privacy.
Big dogs
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M$1. Hire a fence contractor, and have the holes fenced/screened off professionally. Ask the landlord for reimbursement, and/or deduct the cost from your rent. Failing that, use your recent tax refund, and Thank God you can do something to fix the problem. Money is just a number on a page or computer screen. Use it to fix this problem. You discover you're above bickering with your landlord over who pays for the fence repair. Your life goes on, ... to address other pressing problems, like the Global Economic Crisis and Global Climate Change.
2. Diplomacy: invite your neighbors for a light lunch. Discover your common love for dogs. Work something out that will make everyone happy.
3. Move. Renting means you have mobility, you're not tied down. Let your landlord know why you're moving, --- maybe the landlord will fix the fence for you to keep you as the excellent tenant you are. -- Failing that, move.
4. Tell your neighbor, you'll call Animal Control the next time their puppy is in your yard. That may motivate them to take control of the puppy so that the puppy no longer escapes. -- If not, when the puppy is in your yard, actually call Animal Control.
5. Find out if Bruno decides to not eat the puppy. If not, maybe Bruno needs some dog company in the yard, and the two dogs become fast friends. Bruno thanks you (in his own way) for providing him with a 4-legged backyard buddy.
6. Bruno is an inside dog. Leave Bruno inside.
7. The legal system, generally, is expensive, deliberately time consuming and like using a nuclear weapon to hammer a nail. ---(overkill)
8. And the police? let them worry about bigger fish (to fry, or otherwise), unless you want to invite a trigger-happy young & inexperienced officer into your backyard to take a nervous self-defensive pot-shot at the puppy (or Bruno <-- depends on how good a shot he or she is).
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M$
That video was very interesting, and cute dogs all around! If the video showed the whole hole, then my advice is simpler: 1. Find a river rock, ... for sale in most nursury gardens, or found in rivers, or use Craigslist.com, where everything that can be bought and sold is bought and sold. 2. Place the rock in the hole. 3. Cover rock with dirt. 4. Repeat steps 1 through 4 as needed. 5. Thank appropriate Diety that problem with fence is so easy to solve, and also thank Diety that complicated alternatives using cameras, courts, police, animal control, any and all units of local government can be completely avoided. 6. Meditate on centuries-old wisdom that it is sometimes best that a molehill not be made into a mountain.
God Bless You, Megastar! At the least, you now have a full spectrum of options before you. If you ever want to hear about real problems, invite me to tea!!
Small Claims (1000 to 4000 dollars)
@stacy90802
I think after 10+ times of the dog getting in megastar 's yard a multitude of exploring other options is being cautious and diligent.
I think megastar has gone far beyond diplomatic in this situation.
PS: BTW small claims court is solely for purposes of this situation, so the people involved don't need to SPEND millions of dollars to get their case resolved.
final note: Megastar is clearly a good person who cares about doing the right thing; even to not going to Walmart for Lent. I personally think that there is a special place in Hell for people who go out of their way to mess with a good person like Megastar. Of course, if I lived next to Megastar, I would get rid of those dogs (and why three dogs? are there dogsled races in Wyoming? with Pit Bulls?) in favor of my favorite pet, my tabby cat, Samantha. If my dog dug a hole under a fence, I would fix it and apologize to Megastar profusely. I personally hate insensitive people who don't mind if someone is suffering through a problem on their account. But I've had my fill of awful courts, lying lawyers, corrupt judges, and officious and obfuscating officialdom. If I never see another courtroom in my life, *that* would be too soon! That's why I always look for the simple solutions. Notarizing letters? Involving banks, attorneys? Please, NO! There *has* to be a simple way to solve a simple problem with a difficult neighbor who won't be kind enough to fill a hole under a fence.
@stacy90802 This answer is unhelpful and patronizing. I also think that you're being very disagreeable by marking obviously helpful answers as unhelpful just because you don't like them.
Whatever made you think you had the right to be so rude?
I still think Megastar is making too much out of the non-repairability of the fence and the size of the threat. The big pit bulls are barking with their heads under the fence. They are *not* in Megastar's yard, and Bruno simply has to stay one foot away from the fence, and the big pit bulls can't reach him.
A Vinyl fence doesn't sound like it's made out of something that wouldn't support some kind of extension into the ground (chickenwire, barbed wire, or more vinyl, attached with the use of screws, fasteners, and other inexpensive hardware).
The crux of this problem is the puppy getting into Megastar's yard, that is all. The puppy is not a threat to Bruno, but the puppy needs to stay on the puppy's owners' side of the fence.
Solution: Put an inexpensive barrier to the puppy getting under the fence in place, and the problem is solved!
Here's a link to people in Evanston, Wyoming who repair fences:
http://tinyurl.com/d9jvbe
And Megastar, I can empathize with your frustration at neighbors who have an "eff-you" attitude, but lets not magnify this into a problem that needs videos, affidavits, small claims court (what money damages?).
Get some estimates. One of the Evanston businesses listed is Home Depot, where any do-it-yourselfer could fix your problem on the cheap.
And by all means, talk to your landlord about the problem and enlist his help. Or does he have an "eff-you" attitude too? Perhaps you *should* move, if you have such a horrible neighbor and horrible landlord that no one wants to help you out of this "crisis." (Or maybe the problem is you?).
Im sorry if this hurts your feelings. I'm not trying to say that you're the cause of your problem, but you *are* making way too much out of this. The point I'm trying (and failing?) to effectively make is that having legal rights (which Megastar has), and laying out what she could do legally would be too abstract and unhelpful. We in the US of A place way too much faith in the "legal system" and litigation, thinking that you'll be vindicated by Judge Judy and live happily ever after.
All too often, I've seen results in court that are not just nor fair, and that Justice is not only not blind, but She is completely absent from some courtrooms and courthouses.
A puppy is crawling under a fence. We all want this heinous trespassing to stop. The easy, simple and pemanent solution: add to the fence to make it impossible for a puppy or any puppy-sized animal from getting under it.
If done with the advice of a Home Depot person, Megastar could even use the occasion of the fence patching to make a social occasion of it, like a barn raising in Amish America. Don't we all know some handy guys who would jump at the opportunity to show the "ladies" how handy they are?
The problem isn't just the puppy getting in my yard. The problem is that it has happened time & time again. The owners of the dog are not taking responsibility for their animals or for the destruction of the property that their animals have done.
I am NOT willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a problem that MY very well behaved dog did not do. I am not willing to stimulate the economy for someone else’s lack of respect and responsibility.
@stacy90802 - Evanston is 12,000 people, there is no Home Depot. We have Ace Hardware, which is open M-F 9am to 4pm, or Wal*Mart. I gave up shopping at Wal*Mart for lent, and forever. I work 45 minutes away in an even smaller town, and leave at 7am and get back at 6pm.
If this dog or any other dog bites my dog I will KILL it, if it bites me, or my husband, or any other person I will KILL it.
Its BS that you think that these people do not need to take responsibility for their aggressive dogs, or their puppy running at large.
Brilliant answer. I want to add: document document document.
By the way... just because you say that you are not responsible doesn't absolve you of responsibility. You are responsible for your own dog... period.
Great answer!
Small Claims Court is a good last resort. According to my property law professor it's quite possibly one of the best places to resolve neighbor disputes.
Also, find out if pitbulls are even legal in your state or county. If your neighbor has illegal dogs, you can report them to animal control or use your ability to report the illegal dogs as leverage.
http://research.lawyers.com/Wyoming/Wyoming-Small-Claims.html
http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/objectId/505DE806-5CE6-44CD-BFD28C978E26E761/catID/D80CF756-DBF6-432D-B625E7D1A29183D0/104/308/273/ART/
Well said!
Megastar, you may also want to contact your city's Animal Control and see if they have any advice for you.
Good luck - I know that can be scary and neighbor wars are really hard. I sincerely hope that this gets worked out.