Hello. My family and I just moved from the "city" into a small suburban town outside the city. We are a mixed couple (black and white) with 2 mixed children. I have seen very few black people in our town and non in the brand new subdivision we moved into 6 weeks ago. Our neighbor next door started complaining the night we moved in about our "vicious dogs". We have 2 pitbull puppies that are house dogs and would lick you to death before they would bite! He told us again on our 2nd day there that we had "changed the whole dynamic of the neighborhood in 48 hours" and that we had to get rid of our dogs. We politely told him he had no say in that and we would not be getting rid of our pets. He said if we kept them he would have to move and since he had been there 4 yrs and owns his house (we rent) that that wasn't fair. We assured him our dogs would be in the house or on a leash when out of the house and asked what the difference was between our pups and the pitbull across the street. He said the dog across the street was a mix and ours were purebred. He has called the police 2 times, both unfounded by the police. Once was 2 nights ago and he called them at 11pm saying our dogs were outside barking. When the police arrived, we were all in bed and the dogs were asleep and hadn't been outside for hours! He has now taken to posting false things about us on Facebook. He says we are fighting our dogs, that we beat them in the backyard with a PVC pipe, that we have a junky van in front of the house that we sell nikes out of. He posted pictures of the back of our house on his page. All of these are out and out lies! I found out about his page when my landlord emailed me after viewing these things asking me what was going on (they got tranferred out of state and are still friends with him)
The other neighbors have been very friendly. Our kids play with their kids and all their kids play in our yard with our "vicious" dogs. They have also told us that he has been around talking to all the neighbors about us. He calls us trash and we do nothing! We keep our house clean inside and out. We are quiet. We go to work everyday.. we are just like evryone else but he is really getting out of hand. What recourse do we have, especially now that he has brought our landlords into it?

Tell him you "may be moving and a biker gang may be moving in in your place. Hope you like listening to motorcycles being reved up at all hours of the night!"

Well, at least that is what I always feel like telling neighbors like that.

I hate how people automatically assume Pit bulls +blacks =trouble.
I am not black, but I do have two Pitbulls that I always tell people, ''These are my attack dogs they might lick you to death!"

Get a cam corder and film some of the things, like a typical day, at your house. Kids playing in back yard with your pits. Get copies of the police reports and note they were within 48 hrs and unfounded. Get letters from the neighbors stating this guy is trouble.
Document every claim of his with stuff that shows the contrary.

Thank you. But he is a cool guy with everyone else. He just does these things to us... and then when we say something he tells us how he thinks we are such nice people and kids so polite, etc. I would even chalk it up to really having a fear of the dogs if he hadn't posted such lies on Facebook about things not involving the dogs. In fact he said we had a "junky red van" parked in front of our home and we were selling "nike gear and shoes". In actually, Monday night some kirby salesmen came into the neighborhood and parked on the street going door to door offering vacuuming demos trying to sell kirby vacuums... and he took that posted about the van... crazy.

Well you need to document everything no matter how nice he may come off.
If you don't he could build up so many lies that and really try to go after you.
Protect yourself.

Yeah. I know he's not a nice guy. He's just one of those guys that does crappy things then when confronted wants to express how we are misunderstanding him. Ya know? Oh believe me I am documenting. When he called the police thus night, the officer told us they stood outside for 5 or 10 minutes first to see if they heard any barking... which they didn't. When they did knock and we let them in and told them the story, they told us to document everything. And to keep all the info I printed off his internet site... all while petting and getting licked by the vicious dogs!

Also if he persists in calling the police and they continue to say it is unfounded they can decide to fine him with being a nuisance. Yes he is harassing you.

You do need to research the laws in your area concerning harassment. You can contact Facebook and have them remove the page.

If you know an attorney, have them send this person a letter listing their harassment and citing the laws they may be breaking.

And in the end, I lived in a similar thing for 6 years, someone even came into my yard and shot my dog ( police would not even do a report)

After that they poisioned the cats

I found often there is little you can do

After reading everyone's comments and answers to your original post I might add please, please get homeowner's insurance that covers the pit bulls - I say this even though you think they are sweet and nice and will lick you to death, etc. etc. There will come a time when Mr. Nasty will try to provoke your dogs and will probably succeed in having them bite him. Dogs are protective animals and they may just bit Mr. Nasty if they are provoked enough. For the peace of mind of having some kind of insurance policy you just might save yourself a million dollar lawsuit as he kept harping on what vicious dogs you have harbored in your home. Sounds like a set up on his part to me. It does not matter if the pit bulls are purebred or not, they can and will bite if provoked enough. You are not home all day as you are at work and possibly he could end up breaking into your home and provoking the dogs to bite him. I've seen wackerier folks do something like this scenerio and win a bazillion dollars.

Also, be sure to "police" your yard before letting the dogs out in the yard even on a leash. My dog was poisoned by a neighbor as she had obviously picked up something while I was not paying rapt attention late one night. She died a horrible death of arsenic poisoning. It was not pleasant. My German Shepard died in my arms some 11 years ago.

You must remember this neighbor is out to "get" you and he will stop at nothing. He's already gotten the necessary vicious documentation with the police. Please take the necessary precautions on the poison. It does not take much to kill a dog when stuffed into a meat tid bit either.

You need to contact the local Animal Control and find out about the local laws regarding pit bulls in your area. Just because there is a pitbull across the street means nothing. Find out for yourself. In Florida an animal can be removed after 4 vicious complaints are filed against the animal.

The fact you have 2 kids will leave you and your family wide open for Mr. Nasty to taunt you and play your family for all it's worth. If you or your spouse are not home when the kids are home and in the yard supervising literally all the time there could be a "bite" from one of the dogs on a child. Then a huge lawsuit could entail and the animal will also be destroyed. They may be puppies now, but they do grow up very quickly.

When I say puppies it is literal. One is 11 months and one is 7mos.
My children, when home alone, do not take them out. We are in the process of putting up a privacy fence so while myself and my fiancé can take them down in the yard... on a leash... we do not allow the kids to do it unless we are home... not because they are vicious or uncontrollable (they understand their rank in the pack) but because we don't want trying anything and realize we are being targeted and don't want to give the opportunity for unsupervised children to encounter problems he may envoke while adults are not here. And yes... pitbulls are legal here and we have them registered with the city as all dogs within city limits are required to be registered. We realize that we must be more responsible pet owners than those of other breeds just because of the breed and that's fine. We aaccepted that .

There are a couple of stories here where your beloved pets were murdered. Very heartbreaking and that would send me over the edge. Hands down. These things should have been reported. It doesn't bring them back but these people must pay or should have paid for what they did.

Be very leary of this man when he is "nice" to you. I am worried that he is being "nice" because he may very well be the sick type to do something later to hurt your animals. There are much stricter laws now with animal cruelty and murder but no one wants to or should have to even deal with such horror.

Harassment is putting it somewhat mildly. I agree with what everyone is telling you about documentation, pics, recordings, etc. Very good ideas. You have the right to your own enjoyment. Keep us posted and best wishes to you.


IF ANYONE HAS A PROBLEM WHERE SOMEONE HURT(S) AN ANIMAL, IT IS ENTIRELY UP TO YOU IF YOU WISH TO TELL ME WHERE EXACTLY YOU LIVE, THE TOWN WHERE THIS HAPPENED. (I AM GATHERING THAT THESE 2 INCIDENTS BY POSTERS HAPPENED A LONG TIME AGO? AND THAT THIS DID NOT OR COULD NOT GO TO COURT FOR SOME REASON?) THIS IS ONE AREA I WOULD BE ABLE TO HELP WITH. IT IS VERY UNACCEPTABLE. AGAIN, ANIMAL CRUELTY LAWS ARE MUCH HARSHER NOW THAN EVER BEFORE.

I'd make sure I had adequate homeowners insurance that covers me for damage caused by my dogs (and I also have sweet dogs but if you would attempt to put your hands on me, you would be attacked) and then I'd have an Attorney write a letter.

Sometimes these things get worse before they get better. I have investigated cases where dogs have been poisoned (anything can be thrown over just about any fence) and it's almost impossible to prove the cause of the poisoning.

If this is racially motivated then your Attorney has to address that issue once and firmly.

It is a good idea to check into insurance covering your pit bulls and hopefully you can get it but there are many posts here about insurance companies refusing to cover pit bullls and a list of other dogs.

We are in the process of putting up a privacy fence .

First, you said you rent. Do you have permission for the fence? You do realize that you are making improvements to the owner's property that will be come part of the property.

Second, I would strongly suspect this is racially motivated. Does he know that you rent? Has the landlord received anything negative about his renting to you? This guy may be using the dogs as an excuse, but is more concerned about lowered property values.

Yes. They gave us permission. They are putting the house on the market next year and our intent was to buy it.
My landlords are across the country and are friends with my neighbor and have seen his Facebook page where he posted all the fabrications and sent me an email questioning me about things. But seemed satisfied after talking to me that they were just that-fabrications. But it still is the fact that his harassment is now spilling over into my business affairs.

I have an animal neglect situation going on with one of my neighbors and would love your advice. I have photos, but another neighbor has been slapped with a harassment charge for reporting her. What can I do?