Deerwood Realty and Friends Podcast
We started this podcast almost 8 months ago with the mystery of neighbors living in peace in suburbia. Is that fact or fiction? What can go wrong? How to best live in a neighborhood, etc. I haven’t been disappointed with any of the stories I’ve been able to bring you. Today’s story is an odd one to me and we will go through it.
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So, I think the headline of the story, if I were to write it would be Man shoots neighbor’s dog in Man’s yard. No charges filed. That would be too simple though. Let’s review what I understand to be the story…I could be wrong.
a. Man and wife have a house. They spend time in their yard.
b. Next door neighbor has two dogs…large dogs…says they are harmless.
c. Man is in his own yard when the neighbor dog bites him. He files a police report in June. Scared he will get bitten again, he keeps a gun with him whenever he goes to work in his own yard
d. In August, a “family friend” was watching the neighbor dog. Dog comes at man aggressively and he shoots the dog, killing it.
e. Family friend story changes over and over
f. Neighborhood is angry with man for killing neighbor dog…that bit him once already.
g. Prosecutor declines to charge man for killing dog, in doing so explains that
1. the witness ”family friend” story changed
2. Neighbors own security camera footage indicates that dog was in man’s yard.
h. Man who shot dog holds some political position in the town. Citizens demand “justice” for killed dog…Charging of man in this case.
Thoughts/questions:
1. How messed up is it when you have to carry a gun into your backyard whenever you are out there because you are worried you might get attacked by a neighbor dog? Think about this, you’ve already been bitten by the dog, and you are worried something worse might happen. Living in a neighborhood, is it reasonable for you to have to be concerned with a dog attacking you…from your neighbor?
2. Did the design of the houses or subdivision rules contribute to the eventual death of the dog? What I mean is, could the man have put up a fence on his own property to keep the dogs out? Or is there some requirement that forbids fencing altogether?
3. IF you are being attacked by a neighbor dog and you are in fear for your life, what should you do? Google it? The man filed a police report when he got bit. It seemed like that was the right thing to do.
4. If you are the man who is in fear, what should you do? You’re living in a neighborhood. Shouldn’t there be some sort of leash laws or something to prevent this from happening? Is the man who is in fear supposed to build a fortress around his home because a neighbor refuses to keep his dog on a leash?
5. Is it possible that you can be sad that the dog was killed and yet feel concern for the neighbor who has had to live in fear of the dog who bit him? Is your value system such that animals are more important than humans? This was not a case where the man had abused the dog in any way…he got bit by the dog in the past…I can understand where one could be upset if the man had a history of abusing animals..but in this case, it appears as though he was just trying to enjoy his yard.
6. We know that the neighbors believed their dogs were the sweetest dogs on the planet and would never hurt anyone. I love dogs…but I know that they act differently with their owners than they do around strangers.
How does the conversation go between neighbors?
Man…hey, can you possibly do something about your dog…it bit me the other day and I had to call the police. I’m constantly in fear for my life…could you maybe put a leash on your dogs when they are outside or maybe put up a fence so I don’t get mauled?
Neighbor…It’s your fault that you got bit because my dogs are so gentle, they wouldn’t hurt anyone
Neighbor…you know, I am really sorry that my dog bit you. I should be a better dog owner and take care of my dogs…Since I know you’ve been bitten, I will definitely keep my dogs on a leash when they are outside and I’ll definitely look into getting a fence estimate.
Neighbor….WTF is wrong with you? You know, you aren’t the best neighbor either, your car is on the driveway when the rules say it should be in the garage.
Neighbor has three real options there and probably didn’t choose the 2nd one. Why? He would have had to accept responsibility for the dogs actions…and in this story, it would appear that the neighbor is incapable of doing so.
7. Neighbors matter. Good neighbors are a treasure. Bad neighbors can let their dogs bite you, and when you take action, vilify you within the community for protecting yourself.
8. I’m trying to think of what I would have done in this situation. I am not a fan of guns…especially out in public…but I also don’t like the idea that I can’t go outside without getting attacked by the neighbor dog. In this space, if I take a big stick or some other weapon other than a gun, I still don’t think I’m in good shape because there seems to be no instance in which it will look ok for me to injure the dog to protect myself. Kind of strange, isn’t it?
9. Here’s the trouble with living in neighborhoods…look at this situation…if you are the man, you spend every day worrying that a dog is going to attack you on your own property. When you end up responding, you are living NEXT DOOR to someone that you’ve killed their dog! If you are the neighbor, you are all happy with your dogs and the man, who is your neigbor, KILLED your dog. And you have to live next to that.
10. Does this get solved? Are these neighbors ever going to be able to put this incident behind them? I have no idea. I think that if I were confronted with this situation, I would move. We do have a dog in the neighborhood that has attacked people. But I’ve never thought to get a gun and shoot the dog, and I’ve never even talked to the owner of the dog about it. It seems like they have enough trouble just living….
11. I’m curious…what would you do or what would you have done in this situation. I don’t think there is a right answer here. I’m not trying to take the side of the man who killed the dog, but I certainly understand where he is coming from. You should have a right to enjoy your property in peace and free from fear of dog attacks. Am I wrong?
Sources: Me
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