How others treat you is THEIR karma. How you respond is yours.~thanks josie!
This was oh so important to remember this weekend. Most of my close friends are aware of my on going neighbor problem and it escalated to an all new high this weekend.
Long story short for those who don't know. Neighbors dog got into our yard, and our dogs hurt him pretty badly. After them calling animal control on us with them finding nothing against us, me trying to talk to them in a very respectful, sympathetic manner and them saying they'd call me back to resolve the matter, and them continually alledging our dogs got into their yard and dragged their dog back to our yard, wegot a registered letter threatening legal action if we did not put up a different fence and pay vet bills AND they disseminated an ALERT flyer around the neighborhood telling neighbors to watch out for my pack of dogs roaming the neighborhood. Protect your kids and pets...oh and the elderly man with the seeing eye dog. DUH!!!!
So, after a lot of crying, yelling, and stress on my part, my mom helped me put a letter to the neighborhood together. It is not defensive at all, and says nothing about my neighbor's ridiculous behavior. It simply gives them our info, acknowledges the event, reassures them about our dogs being contained in a fence, and that if they have any questions about the incident or our dogs, that they can give us a call anytime or stop by the house. I was very happy with it. The neighbors who put out the ALERT were not. My guess is because we came off looking normal, and they are being crazy. All the neighbors we talked to we so nice and understanding. It made me feel so much better about the situation. I can handle dealing with these crazies, I just couldn't handle lies being told to the entire neighborhood. Anyway, they are now threatening to get the mayor and city council involved. I say go ahead. Animal control didn't cite us for anything. They gave us a warning for barking, but not even a warning for biting because it happened in OUR yard. I can't wait to see what else these people have up their sleeves. I just wish they'd stop being passive aggressive and just talk to us. Oh well. I tried. Now I can only continue to choose how to respond to their actions.
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Also, this makes it sound like I don't feel bad about their dog. I do. I cried when it happened. My first priority was finding out how the dog was because it killed me to know my dog was capable of hurting another dog. It is just getting hard to keep that in mind given their hostility and bending of truth regarding the situation. Ugh...such a tough situation to be in, but we'll get through it.
UGH! Bad neighbors are the absolute worst. We had some bad apples that finally just left after 4 years...but not before they robbed and beat some poor guy @ an ATM. Losers.
I think your approach is the best. Stay cool, calm, and honest. Lucky for you, most people will quickly see through the crazy antics of the neighbors, and realize they are the problem.
Hang in there!
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