The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad neighbors

 

ok maybe the title is a little exaggerated, but Alexander from the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day...will completely understand what I'm feeling!

We have been so excited and living on cloud 9 since moving into our new home...until last night! I ran a few errands and come home to a note in our door to call the Star police. I called Trent first to make sure he wasn't in an accident or anything and he was fine.

So I call the police who said that we had a complaint from our neighbors that our dog was barking non stop. They said that he barks all night and day and that they have repeatedly talked to us about it and we did nothing about it....

OK, lets see. We have had Bentley for 18 months and not one complaint. We moved in the same subdivision where we lived before and know all our neighbors around us and no one has EVER said anything to us before. We did have a new couple move in the same time we did and they are next to us...but there is a lot between us. WE do not have any direct neighbors as we have two fields on both sides.

So as I hear the complaint from the officer I say...My dog sleeps in my room at night...and he DOES NOT BARK all night long .  I am home all day and he is in with us... BUT he does bark when people walk by....I know that he barks at other people and dogs.

They said that they have repeatedly told us to do something about it (flat out lie) I have never even met them and did not even know who they were.

So YES, I'm sure Bentley barks when we are doing errands and I'm sure it is annoying, but 2 out of their 3 complaints were just not true at all, and now the cops are called on us....REALLY!

So I'm really upset that the officer said that it is a misdemeanor for disturbing the peace and that the man said he would make a formal complaint against us if we didn't fix the problem...so luckily Trent walks in and we decided that we should just go talk to the new neighbors and apologize and see what's going on...

We walk over and they answer the door and are not polite. Trent apologizes for our dog and says that we will make sure he doesn't bark...and they continue to rail us as how our dog is making their life miserable and they cant get anything done because of his barking. I said that he is with me most the time and he sleeps inside.

She then said that she was upset because I was outside with a friend earlier in the day, and her 2 kids were playing with my 2 and the dog was barking and I didn't do anything about it....And this really made me ticked! I was outside with my kids and friends and Bentley was running around barking and playing and she was mad that I let him do that...that I didn't tell him to behave. I said that I let him bark when he plays because he is a DOG! Her and her husband said that they will do what they have to do and had nothing to do with us.

I said that if it bothered her so much, why didn't she just come over and say something to me instead of calling the cops... And I know that the 4 kids were way louder than the dog that was chasing them.

Needless to say, they were not kind or friendly in any way. I walked away in tears after our neighbors just laid into us and said that they don't care about being good neighbors or friends, they just don't want any noise coming from our house. I now am paranoid that everything we do will be watched and that I cant even let Bentley out in my backyard anymore, let alone my kids who run around and scream.

I have never had any neighbor so cold and rude...especially when they just moved in 2 weeks ago. Trent went out this morning and bought a shock collar and hopefully  that will remedy the situation.
They did say that they have had this problem at their last place and had to take care of the situation also...so they just seem like the type who complains anyways....but why do they have to be my neighbors?

Any stories or suggestions????