Neighbour and dog moan

When we first moved here the house behind us was owned by a very nice German couple who kept the place immaculate. However they sold it to a British couple, well the husband is Welsh, the wife Liverpuddlian. Since that time it has been problem after problem. The wife was (no doubt still is) alcoholic, very rarely was she seen sober and she would come home anytime between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. banging and crashing, sitting on the step outside and shouting into her mobile phone the whole flipping night. The crashing of glass in doors being broken became commonplace. Anyway to cut a long story short, they ran out of money, the wife went off with some barman and the husband went back to Wales, the house just left. It was in a state of disrepair when they left, in the 6/7 years they were there not once did they tidy the garden or do any painting. They also left owing lots of money and still do owe the money. However the husband kept renting the house out to (presumably) his mates so yet again we had lots of shouting and drunken behaviour at all hours. Asking them politely to keep the noise down at 3 in the morning resulted in being told to "eff off". Urbanisation rules are no noise after midnight. Some of these holiday makers have been young teenagers and the noise and the language is unbelieveable, plus the rudeness.

So ever since the owners have left it's been a succession of weirdos, drunks, idiots etc renting this place. The president and committee here have actually last month taken the owners to court, but now they have permission to persue the owners in UK they have to find an address.

We've had around 5 months of peace since the last renters disappeared. Then 3 days ago two foreign men moved in. We have been told they are Romanian but don't really know. The problem for us is that they have a pitbull which comes up to the dividing fence and growls at me when I go out of my door here. This is the door I had put in to save me walking right round the house! We've had to put a temporary barrier at the front of the house to stop the dogs going up the garden because I am terrified this pitbull will somehow break through the fence and get them. If it can see them here in my room it stays at the fence whinging and trying to get through, you can see from the photo. My two of course then whinge and bark, they want to go have a look at this dog. I dare not open this new door now and have to keep it closed to prevent my two sneaking out.

I have already asked one of the men to keep the dog away from the hedge, but he says the dog is friendly, well I don't care what he says, it is a pitbull and I wouldn't trust it at all.
We shall now have to involve the police to see if this dog is registered with them, all dangerous breeds must be registered, kept under strict control and wear a muzzle when out. My dogs are now living like prisoners and I spend my time worrying they will somehow get to the back garden where they have always had freedom. Perhaps you can see why I am concerned !

This is what I see from my door, the actual distance


and this is zoomed in just a little

Re: Neighbour and dog moan

Looks like a Staffordshire Bull Terrier to me Loretta and mostly they are nice dogs and very friendly, it is just bad owners that turn them into something else. Might be worth you and your two dogs saying hello, first impressions aren't always right, and you might even get to like him.....

Re: Neighbour and dog moan

I tried the nice approach plantman when the dog first growled at me, obviously it didn't work. I'm not an expert on pitbulls and staffies but this dog is bigger than any staffie I have known, it's more labrador size. Our next door neighbour has just told us that when he went past the house yesterday the dog hurled itself at the gate as he went past. It doesn't appear very friendly to me. I'm not particularly concerned for myself, I'm concerned about my two small dogs who are obviously curious, one snap mine are dead !

Re: Neighbour and dog moan

Then I can understand your reticence Loretta, neighbours can really make or break the enjoyment of your place sometimes and I've often thought it's a damned shame we can't choose 'em....

Re: Neighbour and dog moan

O'h Loretta - I feel so much for you - you must persue the matter - sooner than later. I know what its like to be unhappy in your home surroundings.
Hugs from me x Pats

Re: Neighbour and dog moan

I would feel the same as you Clumsy, I would also be terrified if my Mini Schnauzer went out in the garden with that dog the other side watching it. I reckon the men have it as a guard dog to protect their property.

I also feel very sorry for you, I would hate to be put in that position and would make myself ill worrying about it if it was me.

Is there any way you can put up tough netting and a fence on your side of the garden? Trouble is you wont see if he does decide to break through. I just don't know what to suggest Clumsy, I'm beginning to feel distressed thinking about it myself. I know exactly how you're feeling.

Also if that dog threw itself at your naighbour when they went past the gate and growled at you, well that's not a good sign either. Have you any idea what you will do? It's such a shame. Take care x

Re: Neighbour and dog moan

Thanks for the sympathies everyone. The netting on our side is a strong one and it's attached to metal poles, but my worry is that this dog is also a very strong one and I'm convinced it could break through if it was determined. I'm hoping that our president and the urb lawyer are now looking into this, as they have promised. I do know that a court order has been granted to attempt to persue the owners of the house who owe a lot of money in urbanisation fees and goodness knows what else, also the house is not registered for renting out and so of course tax evasion also comes into the picture. It's somewhat of a complicated affair. The two men who have now moved in are quite young, they don't appear to work, they rarely leave the house, but they have a car parked on the road, which is the road behind us, an English reg car with no tax and no ITV sticker (Spanish MOT). Yesterday early evening both these men ran out from the house and a few seconds later they were driving like maniacs down our road, less than half an hour later they were back. The dog had been left, we could see it sitting on a chair in the porch, which has no doors since the owners smashed them off in a drunken rage before they skipped the country. There is also no water supply to the house because in November we had a new water supplier and we all had to sign new contracts and pay for new water meters. Anyone who didn't sign the new contract and pay for the new meter would get their water supply cut off. We know for a fact that no new contract was signed for that house and the old meter from the old company is still there but disconnected. It's a very odd carry on indeed but something is definitely very odd about these latest occupants, who it is believed are Romanian, but one of the definitely speaks English because he was the one who answered me when I asked him to get his dog away from the fence when it growled at me. My two can't understand why they can't go all round the garden any more but I dare not risk it. They are fascinated when they see this big dog through the door in here and it starts whinging and whining at them, they want to run up and examine it. Amazing isn't it, madam ChoCho absolutely terrified of a 12 week old puppy but desperate to go and get up close and personal with a pitbull !

I ought to add here that my mind is going into overdrive, but mine isn't the only one. I'm afraid I'm thinking drugs, prostitution racket and heaven knows what else. I'm hoping they will be gone very soon.

Re: Neighbour and dog moan

Loretta what a worry for you. Is there any possibility of putting woven fencing panels to screen off the property.

Re: Neighbour and dog moan

It would cost a lot of money Meg and right now we couldn't afford to do it, we've spent a fortune recently refurbishing the house and doing a fair amount outside too. I'm not sure it would help either really, I'd still know that dog was there behind the fence and I think I would rather see where it was than not see it, if you understand what I mean. The strong net fence was put up at our expense, previously there was just the low wall and the hedge, which is now so neglected it's mostly dying off. I'm just going to have to be extremely cautious for the time being and hope that some action is taken by our administrator, who is German and usually extremely efficient and helpful. There is a German man who lives on the same road and who also has pitbulls, a very unpleasant man who caused his neighbours many problems with his dogs. Eventually the dogs were removed by the police and the man was told he would only get them back once he had taken the psychological test, which is law here for anyone owning a dog that comes under the dangerous breeds, and when he made proper provision for keeping the dogs under proper control on his property. Evidently he did comply and suddenly a very large cage structure appeared in his garden and the dogs have to be in this caged enclosure when they are outside. He now has the dogs back, 5 of them, I dread to think what would happen if they ever escaped. I honestly do not understand why anybody would want to have such dogs as pets. I can understand them being used for police work and guarding premises when under the control of a competent handler, but for pets, no I do not understand. There was a case here about five years ago when a man was killed by his pitbull. He had the dog from a puppy with seemingly no trouble. After he had the dog for 7 years he bent down to put the dog's dinner down and for no reason it just turned on him. His adult son tried to get the dog off his father but couldn't, his wife phoned the police, who came very quickly but they were too late, the dog had killed the man, the police had to shoot the dog before they could get to the man. An autopsy was done on the dog, but there was absolutely no explanation of why the dog turned so suddenly. It was a family pet, never ill treated and never any trouble until that day. I know any dog can turn at any time but with most dogs at least you stand some kind of chance, with pitbull type dogs you stand no chance.

Re: Neighbour and dog moan

Just keep feeding the dog nice tidbits of meat with a paracetamol tablet inside. Untrained dogs are not fussy eaters. That'll shut it up.

There will be screams of outrage from the dog lovers but remember its you that have to live with the animal and while poisoning the neighbours might be the preferred option the penalties (and chances of being caught) are more severe.