You could sue the dog's owners in small claims court for damages, esp. with
proof of dog on video and following back into house. Even getting the
notice of suit filed would be a wake-up call. Don't need a lawyer to file,
either. From what I've heard, it's usually easy to file in s.c. court.
I've never sued anyone, btw (!), but my DH is a decent environmental one.

-- pelirojaroja

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
"Geoff Cashman" wrote in
message
...

Maybe after 30 years, you would have learned to place some form
of a barrier between yourself and your neighbor's dogs.

Zoning laws prevent placing a fence in the appropriate place, and the
arrangement of ancient trees on my property prevents relocating the
vegetable garden. Remember - I said all legal means had been exhausted.

But not to worry, the problem isn't yours.

I assume you mean "the blame for the situation". In that case, the problem
is not mine. The dog problems I refer to involve STRAYS - dogs roaming the
neighborhood off their leash and off their property. Here are the facts.
Suggest a solution.

1) The town has a "3 strikes" law. If your dog is picked up by animal
control while it's off its leash (and your property, obviously), you lose
your dog. It's taken to a place called (unbelievably) "Lollipop Farm",
where
it is put down if not adopted within a certain period of time. Getting an
animal control drone to actually show up requires an act of Congress.

2) The animal control drone only works from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, except in
cases where an animal is dangerous and must be picked up immediately, for
reasons of public safety. At least half the stray dogs in my neighborhood
are out earlier than 7:00 AM, probably because their owners want them to
wreak havoc before they need to leave for work.

3) In cases where the dog is doing actual damage to property, the animal
control drone claims he must witness the act. He has been presented with
videotape of two dogs actually digging in my flower beds. One one tape, I
followed the dog home and taped it entering its home. The drone did not
consider this to be a valid reason to act.

The only remaining legal hope here is a reinterpretation of laws
concerning
"civil trespass". This is defined as a situation where a neighbor causes
or
allows substances or objects to enter your property, thereby doing damage.
An example would be chemicals sprayed over the property line by a lawn
service (or homeowner). If the law included dogs, it would eliminate the
need to witness damage. The mere presence of the dog would make the owner
a
candidate for arrest.