Bad Neighbor! Bad!

I've never had a bad neighbor. Not in my childhood, not in college, not even in the few months I lived in North Minneapolis. Sure, I've had bad roommates, I've had bad landlords, I've had horrible housing, but the people surrounding me have always been decent. Even the trashy neighbors surrounding our last rental house weren't that bad. Okay...so maybe some of them were.

The woman who lives behind us, and one house up (to the North) is the only neighbor who has truly gotten my blood boiling.
For a quick synopsis: Since March, one of her four dogs has been jumping (at least) two fences to get into our yard. This dog is often free to roam the neighborhood (allowed to pick up any variety of diseases); this dog rarely has a collar, much less, tags; this dog has stolen at least two of Gandhi's chew toys; I have picked up this dog's poop. This dog is not welcome in our yard. Ever.

This summer, Jenne and I separately went to this neighbor's door--twice each--to try to talk to the owners. We knew nothing of them, other than they have numerous dogs, one who jumps fences. The dog had been in our yard no fewer than a dozen times before we each talked to (who we thought) was the "man of the house". He fumbled with his words and said he would try to figure something out. We believed him. Each of us believed him, on separate occasions. After a couple weeks, when nothing changed, we decided to call the White Bear Lake Animal Control every time the dog was in our yard. It was the last straw.
Now, if it was my dog, I think one call would suffice. It took more than five calls before the dog stopped jumping into our yard.

One Sunday morning in mid-July, as Jenne's parents were helping with yard work (because Jenne was eight months pregnant) and I was leaving for work, our neighbor decided to yell at Jenne from across two fences. Our neighbor yelled, condescendingly, how Jenne was such a great neighbor and "welcome to the neighborhood". Not only is this a childish way to solve problems, but also, very ironic.

Because I don't like random strangers yelling at my pregnant wife (and her parents), I went to peacefully discuss my displeasure with my neighbor's yelling. It took three attempts (not unlike the initial four attempts we made before we called animal control). The following is the five minute discussion we had (notice I never raised my voice or swore at her, like I wanted to).

Pretty classy, huh?


After that day, Aila was born, Gandhi adjusted to the baby in the house, and we didn't see any random dogs in our yard anymore.
Until Sunday...
And today.

Because my neighbor was so distraught at my "calling the cops" on her, I decided to be right-neighborly and let it slide the first time. After all, even puppies make mistakes.
The second time (today), I went to her house and banged on the door. Go figure, no answer.
Again, being the good neighbor that I am, I decided to leave her a note showing my displeasure toward her lack of animal control. Here's the note:


I can't wait for her response.