Finally lost it with neighbours

[FinnalyCracked]

There’s four houses on the close - and none for miles (converted country barns - hence the being so close together and yet nothing for miles).

Neighbour A has three cats and all are outdoor cats. Me and Neighbour B have dogs. Neighbour C is irrelevant to this pet debacle.

Neighbours A’s cats, since they moved in, have constantly shit in everyone’s garden. Don’t come at me and tell me it’s not them as the closest village is six miles and no one else has sodding cats!! They sit on the garage and hiss at anyone who goes by and are, quite frankly, obnoxious.

I’ve bitten my tongue but neighbour Cs and B have not. Neighbour B has taken much delight in having their dogs chase the cats off. Neighbour C has invested in barbed wire and other such things to keep the cats out

Yesterday, neighbour A knocked on my door and asked me to call my dogs in as they were ‘destroying her enjoyment of her garden.’ I was very polite - but very firm - and told her to fuck off (not quite that frank, but you get the idea). I’d just finished work, so the dogs had been inside with me so they’d been out about five minutes when she appeared. She launched into a a bit of a diatribe about how B and I have been ruining her summers for years now with our dogs barking and running around.

I snapped. Said her cats constantly shit in my garden and I had to pick it up as I had small children and that her fucking hot tub was obnoxiously loud, so was their music and their shitheaps of cars (her partner always has a rotation of them that he tinkers with) all over the driveway lowered the tone and created exhaust fumes, and that if I ever saw her cats in my garden again I’d be taking a leaf out of neighbour Bs book and setting my dogs on them. Then I told her not to come onto my property again and slammed the door in her face.

It’s a first world problem, I know. But I am just so fucking sick of biting my tongue and being a good neighbour )including taking her fucking parcels) and she has the bloody gall to tell me my dogs can’t be in the garden, as their playing ‘ruins her enjoyment.’

WHAT ABOUT MY FUCKING ENJOYMENT, DEBBIE?!?!

That’s it. That’s all I wanted (just a place to rant)

The menfolk from your little hamlet should band together and urinate daily around the perimeters of each of your gardens.

Don't know if that will stop the cats from shitting or the dogs from barking, but it should stop the humans spending time outside, so you'll no longer notice the antisocial animals

Dogs will only bark for a couple of minutes when they are let out 😂
Not where I live. It's a constant cacophony of barks with the dogs marking their territory. Can't enjoy my garden because of them.

I feel like you all need to grow up.

Perhaps Debbie is the name of her neighbour. Or are you the neighbour with the shitting cats?

Hilarious! It’s hardly about being irresponsible. Do you think they should put nappies on their cats? Sweeping statement or what.

Cat poo is disgusting, dogs should not be constantly barking in the garden and people who say they hate animals are equally as disgusting and are not to be trusted.

When did Debbie become an insult? Are we going to start using all the names of "women of a certain age" as insults now?

You all sound like you'd prefer detached housing.

I live on a block of neighbours, one has two barky dogs, one has a roaming cat, one smokes weed in the garden, I'm the garden that all the kids play in, one likes loud music, two are inconsiderate parkers with car spaces etc.

I'm sure we ALL get annoyed with each other at times. Any time I feel irritated I remind myself we are all entitled to live there and are generally nice, polite neighbours who look out for each other.

I remind myself cats are allowed to roam (and keep on top of any rodent problems!), the dogs will put off burglars, I can ask politely if I can't quite fit in a parking space, the weed smoker is at least nice and mellow, the kids have a lovely little community and get lots of active outdoor play, etc.

I do think a bit of perspective can help, and often when I'm wound up it's actually about something else and that's just what my annoyance homes in on instead.

Perhaps just be mindful of not letting the dogs bark on and on, but other than that just try and let stuff go. I understand though that sometimes you've just reached your limit. It is hard to all be tolerant at times.

We live in the backarse end of nowhere with no neighbours but are planning to move to a town.

It's stuff like this that makes me want to manage here until we go into a care home.

Barking dogs would drive me crazy.

You have obviously never lived next door to a barky dog. They make your life HELL!!

Dogs barking incessantly IS maddening, however if this is not the case I am 1000% with you. She sounds like an absolute nightmare, I think people underestimate how loud hot tubs are, that plus shitting cats and loud music outside plus bloody bangers, she sounds AWFUL. Glad you told her to piss off, what a joker.

You all sound awful, so glad I don’t have any neighbours

Dogs barking is an absolute nuisance I complete agree.

Cat shitting is also a nuisance when it’s your garden they come and shit in. it can be a health hazard and dangerous if a child gets it in their eyes! It’s absolutely vile.

Obviously cats are free to roam but the attitude some owners have is awful “Oh dear has my tiddles shit in your garden, oh well”, a descent owner would say “Let me know when she does it and I’ll come and clean it”

This

Oh behave!

I often post a suggested response including a name, because that is how I would speak in real life. The names vary, depending on what names I've read most recently / heard on the news / TV programme I've watched / friend I've thought of.

Now wondering if your name is Debbie ...

Are you suggesting that the OP wees on her fence? It won't end well, especially if there's barbed wire on there.

This.

There are so many whinging threads on here from people who just can’t seem to handle the pitfalls of living in a community of any kind. The sheer entitlement that nobody else can live their life in a way that could possibly cause any noise, inconvenience or annoyance to them is just mind boggling. I often suggest that these people move to the quietest depths of the countryside where they can live a very solitary life if they genuinely can’t cope with the maturity and compromises it takes to live around other people.

However it sounds like the op has already done that and still managed to fall out with someone 😆

Totally team house C

You lost me at Obnoxious Cats! 😂

The pearl clutching about cat shit despite the fact that there are multiple dogs and their shit and the presumably abundant critter shit (birds/foxes/badgers etc.) that is likely in the garden too.

Anyone who says cats are pests is clearly lacking in critical thinking skills!

I'm taken aback by these responses, I thought the OP was really funny! Where did Op say her dogs bark all the time? I read it as the neighbour was unsettled by the sound of the dogs play fighting, I find even some dog people get really anxious around play fighting if there's a lot of noise and they dont know the dogs well.
Also I'd argue even if the dogs do bark, thats:

Dogs barking
Vs
Cat shit in garden (potentially toxic to dogs and children)
Noise from hot tub parties
Cats winding up dogs
Loud music
Exhaust fumes
Loads of cars making the area look untidy

I'm shocked that anyone thinks OP is the unreasonable one tbh!

I have a dog and a dog flap (was there when I moved in). Rehomed dog end of September.

There are lots of cats nearby and, in the summer, if I leave windows or the back door open, cats just wander in and set up camp on my bed. I have an extreme cat allergy and have been hospitalised several times after being exposed to cat hair.

Dog happily bounces around the garden via dog flap. Doesn't bark unless she sees a cat. Now I have no more cats in the garden!

So, I'm team dog. But I'd be pissed off if it was barking all the time it was outside.

You’re all as bad as each other! Threatening to harm someone’s pets is low OP, regardless of their owners actions.

Dogs don’t shit in folks garden though do they… owners have to pick it up.

Doesn’t make cat shit more pleasant because they’re free to roam….

I don’t think that you are in the wrong, sounds like a huge build up and you finally lost your shit.

Dog barking, cars, hot tubs and music are annoying but sadly part of having neighbours. This is why I couldn’t live near people!