Published on 12, July, 2020
You may feel the same way about animals as I do - I care deeply about animals and insects.
I didn't know that nextdoor was dog sitting, I just heard a dog barking and whining in distress. I went next do to see if there was a dog there, and yes there was.
My nextdoor neighbour had seen me on his doorbell camera, and he called me to ask if everything was OK - I said yes, and I was just concerned about the dog. He appeared OK with this, and said that he'd come home to check on the dog.
He came home and rang my doorbell. I answered the door only for my nextdoor neighbour to start screaming in.my face calling me a liar and a bull sh*ter, and why was I going to call the police and RSPCA when the dog is fine? I didn't even say anything about calling the police or RSPCA, I just heard the dog and wanted to know if it was OK. He then continued screaming at me for being in his garden - it's private property, and looking at his house. He then went, but started sending me nasty text messages.
It's been a few days since the incident, but I feel absolutely heartbroken, and I keep crying. I can't avoid him, as we live in terraced houses - I can even hear him walking up and down the stairs. He's scared me, I'm so upset and frightened. What can I do?
I live in a semi-detached house and have a really horrible neighbour through the wall who behaves very anti-socially and has been at my front door screaming at me a couple of times.
The really unpleasant behaviour was only resolved by two things that happened more or less at the same time: he came to my door and I had a fairly nuclear meltdown that sent him scurrying away. During that I made it very clear that if he came back to my door or onto my property I would phone the police and report a breach of the peace and trespass.
I also logged a complaint with the police and showed them the evidence from my Ring doorbell.
So, this person has been verbally aggressive to you on your own doorstep and sent harassing messages to you. I would log that with your local police station. They made offer to send a community policeman to speak to them. If the dog continues to be in distress, I'd report that too.
Amerantin (former member) said: I would log that with your local police station. They made offer to send a community policeman to speak to them. If the dog continues to be in distress, I'd report that too.
I'm in agreement with Amerantin - attack is the best form of defence here. By that I mean using all reasonable means to establish that you are being threatened and by them knowing you will go to the police it will make them think twice about doing it again.
If you can afford it, get yourself a doorbell camera to catch any interaction in the future and any further intimidation should allow you to get a restraining order on them and put them at risk of prosecution if they persist.
It probably feels really scary but with this in place you have as much security as practical at this point plus you can see if it is them at the door and ignore them.
If there is a risk of running into them outside the front door then keep your phone recording until you are in the street just in case - delete the video if there is nothing on it later.
We shouldn't have to live with fear but we cannot control others so it does sometimes affect us. Standing up to it is sometimes the only way to conquer it.