Farmer Needs Help With A Bully Neighbor

[lhouston77]

I have a neighbor who has been verbally abusive, hostile and a bully to me. Conveniently, he chooses to do this when my husband is out of town. We live out in the country, and twice in the past three years my dog has gotten out and gone into his yard to play with his dog.

My neighobor recently threatened me that he would have my dog put to sleep if it got in his yard again. I already spoke with animal control, and I know he can't do this. And they cleared my dog as not vicious.

But he still continues to surprise me with his verbal attacks. He turns bright red, spits and is trembling. It's really scary to see. On top of all of this, he rides his horse on my land and sometimes cuts down trees and limbs so they don't hit him in the head when he is riding.

I am afraid of him. So I am not sure what to do. I take full responsibility for my dog running onto his property....but that's about all I can do. I have tried to make nice. I gave him a bottle of wine the first time it happened. We left the trees standing between our properties at his request even though they are ruining our driveway. We've done everything we can to be polite.

His wife sends me emails asking me to keep our dogs on leashes on our property in case they decide to run over and attack their grandchildren. I would like to point out that my dogs have never, ever bitten anyone. They're great with kids, and they are trained and socialized. Including stays at Doggie Day Care.

They have 100X the money we do. We're farmers. They bought their land as an estate for their horses, etc., and they don't want us to farm or log our land because it affects their views.

What can I do to stop the verbal abuse, the unreasonable demands, the threats and the trespassing without draining our finances in a legal battle?

Like I said...I want to be careful. I am afraid of what he will do next time my husband is out of town. Which is frequent.

Thank you for your help.

 

[seniorjudge]

First thing you do is keep your dog leashed or tied when he is outside.

 

[lhouston77]

Well, thank you for your reply, but that is really not very helpful information.

I know to keep my dog on my property, and I am doing my best. We are building a fence right now between the properties. In the past the dog is usually contained with an electric fence that he has recently decided he'll just run through and deal with the shock. That's how he got out last week.

What I am concerned about is how to stop the verbal abuse. Period. It doesn't matter if it's my dogs or something else...the guy is scary.

 

[lwpat]

Get a video camera and keep it handy. If you see him trespassing, take the picture and then have your attorney notify him to stop trespassing. The attorney can also advise him to not contact you in any way and to send any communications to him. If he does not comply, you can get a restraining order.

You seem to have started the problem by not properly containing your dogs.

It is your property and you can log or farm all you want.

 

[lhouston77]

Thank you lwpat!

That was great advice. I did as you said. And I also asked him to speak with an attorney from now on and that I was building a fence around my property to contain the dog.

He wrote back a great letter stating that my dog was vicious, and they all lived in fear of him, but if I did NOT build a fence, he would not turn my dog in. He wants to be able to ride his horse on my land.

Also, I am having my dog assessed by the animal control.

AND I AM PUTTING UP A BIG FENCE.

P.S. I also bought a camera. When he yelled at me last night when I was weeding, I stood up and took his picture. He went inside. Bully.