To the neighbor who complained about our dog barking when there are dogs on all sides of us & practically every house on the block who bark and are aggressive, I'd like to say the following:

Have some respect. How much would it have taken you to come over or call us and see if everything was okay, if you had the right house/dog, if there was some other way to work it out without getting Animal Control involved? Obviously too much for your busy self-absorbed life. All Animal Control could tell me is that it was one of our immediate neighbors. One has a dog outside all day and will charge the fence if you come near. The neighbor on the other side has two little yappy dogs that actually bit a dog we used to have. The trashy family behind us sounds like they beat their little dog & have kids over all the time making all sorts of noise. All of those dogs bark, charge the fence to get to our dog and wake our 1yr old son up from naps. We have never complained. Not once.

So, we get the letter because our dog goes outside a few times a day and his barking is usually provoked by one of the dogs above. I can only assume this is a mistake, or at the very worst, a personal vendetta against us. Which is too bad - what comes around goes around & you'll get yours.

I also have a bone to pick with this whole violation process. The way it was explained to me by AC is that anybody can complain w/ no proof. AC issues a violation letter. The party can complain again & AC will send someone out to investigate. If the party complains again, they're basically given carte blanche to issue a citizens arrest & you're only recourse is to go to court. So, now, we have to spend our time documenting every time our dog goes outside & when the other dogs bark.

What would you do in this situation??

Did you talk to your neighbors?

I did the public records act request and got a response today. I know which neighbor did it! I think I'm actually more pissed now that I know! We talked to the neighbor on the other side of us and they got a notice too!!