Neighbor and Dog Problems!

[ThomCat]

:(

My upstairs neighbor has a dog that barks a lot and makes a lot of noise. I've never complained. Ever. I figure it's part of being a good neighbor that you ignore whatever you can ignore.

JennaLaw has been bringing her dogs to visit me on weekends recently. The dogs barked briefly in the middle of the day yesterday.

My upstairs neighbor has threatened to complain to management and get me evicted because the dogs made too much noise. Plus, she has to be up early in the morning and she's sure the dogs will prevent her from sleeping at night.

This complaining hypocrite is such a horrible neighbor. I've had to bang on her door to get her son to turn down the blaring volume on his video games because it was all anybody in this half of the building could hear. Yet she has the nerve to demand absolute silence from every other apartment at all times.

So now Jenna is not going to bring her dogs over on the weekend, which means she is only going to come over and hang out for one day instead of staying for the weekend. She has to go home to take care of the dogs.

This whole situation has me really steaming and pissed off right now, all because one hypocritical old lady complains too damned much.

[taterguy]

1. Snag some therapy dog vests off Ebay

When you're neighbor sees JennaLaw's dogs wearing them she'll be guilted into not saying anything to management.

[ThomCat]

2. That's a good idea.

But I doubt she would care. She has avoided every effort my nephew has made to talk to her for over a year. She's self-centered and mean. And I don't think lying is going to put me in a better position if this goes to the building management.

I think I'm going to have to stop being nice and start filing complaints of my own every time I get woken up by noise from her apartment. The best defense might be an offense.

[Locrian]

3. bitch loudly

Yes - the apt weenies will ALWAYS take the easy way out. That means siding with the most "credible" or "documented" evidence. Even when the one party is the obvious "bitch", they want complaints filed, documented, etc.

I used to live in a 4 apt building. The lady below me was the bitch of the world. I couldnt **WALK** w/o her complaining. But if she was yelling, loud TV,etc, banging doors in the middle of the night - no big deal,I just needed to cope. I finally started to have to file complaints only to find that she had a bunch on ME. And I know you dont know me but I am seriously as quite as a mouse. Apparently (this is what I learned) my "WALKING" was disturbing her...

Anyway - good ending. One of the guys I used to work with got some money from his family and bought the building. He also wound up living there (I moved out so he could move in to my space). And I KNEW she was going to complain just as much - hell even MORE because this guy was NOT quiet!! So I waited....

The story he tells is that she comes up to bitch to him (this after complaining to the mgmgt who doesnt even OWN the building anymore - where he calmly tells her that HE FUCKING OWNS the building!! karmas a bitch...

[susanna]

9. Funny apartment story.

Your WALKING reference brought it to mind. I'd nearly forgotten. Years ago, the lady that lived above me once (I'd never seen her) walked like an elephant, I kid you not. It was so amazingly loud I almost couldn't believe it. I thought maybe she was a larger lady from the sound of her gait. I dealt with it because I wasn't home a lot and it didn't really bother me all that much. (The young guys across the hall partied all night and day, so her walking just didn't really rank on things to hate about my apartment if you know what I mean.)

Fast forward about six months after I moved in; there's a knock on my door one Saturday night. It's upstairs lady with a six-pack of beer wondering if I'd like to hang out a while and get to know each other. She's not from the area and evidently got lonely, figured she'd meet her neighbor. I invited her in and we hit it off. The real point of the story was that she was elfin. I mean the teeniest thing ever; maybe 4'10" and all of 90 pounds. Halfway through the second beer I told her, "you know, for a little person you have a very...um...strong walk." She laughed and said she knew it, and that she could never be a burglar, spy or hunter because everyone within a five-mile radius would hear her coming. She confided to me that the reason she'd brought the beer over was that she knew I must be nice, because I never ever complained and that was a first for her in all her years of upstairs apartment living. I told her keep walking however she wanted, as long as she brought some beer over every so often. Truth be told, her walking became comfortable to me - just knowing someone was there. I guess I was lonely too.

We were good friends the entire time we lived there. She moved after a few years, and I'm quite a ways south from the old apartment. And, as often happened back then, we lost touch (it was the olden days before the Internet). Her name was Tina. I nicknamed her Teeny Tina the Baby Elephant Walker. She was cool with that, in case someone finds it mean; it was an inside joke with us, that's all. She nicknamed me Susie Stereo in retaliation, because I did like my music and she managed to turn a deaf ear to it. :-)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. The best defense might be an offense. In this incident, I think you

may be right. Two can play her game. ;) Good Luck :hug:

[blueraven95]

4. Hey ThomCat

Start complaining - and documenting every time she's noisy or her dogs bother you. I wouldn't do it for every bark (or for her walking either) but for everything else...

I bet she'll back off pretty quickly.


And if she's allowed to have a dog living in the building, then you are certainly allowed to have dogs visit you. JennaLaw should absolutely keep bringing her dogs over!

:hug:

[lizziegrace]

6. Keep a calendar or log

document date, time, type of noise and resolution (if any) and how long the noise went on. Lelapin has to do this since her downstairs neighbors like to bring the party home after the bars close at 2:30am. She's had the police out several times when the large parties are going on. No way is she going to confront a drunken party alone.

:hug:

I wish you could catch a break. I really do. x(

[skygazer]

7. It takes more than one person to make good neighbors

You need to make complaints when she disturbs you and document them. By not doing so, things will appear very lopsided to your building management who only know what they are told. Hopefully, some of your other neighbors have complained about her as well.

You have a right to the peaceful enjoyment of your home - that includes having guests over. Jenna should certainly be able to bring her dogs if they are not creating a disturbance.

[flvegan]

8. Here's what I'd do: nothing.

Jenna should continue to bring her dogs over. Let her complain to management (which she won't). If/when they call you about the noise, apologize and tell them that yes, a friend had a couple dogs over that one time, and it won't happen again. No harm, no foul. THEN you keep a log and you call and complain every time YOU take issue with her noise.

Let her fire the first shot, but you sink the battleship.

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