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Warning: Long WWYD
Apparently our neighborhood is falling apart (if you're on FB, you've seen my ranting status messages about this.)
I live in a corner lot where two streets meet (essentially, it makes a giant square U shape; my duplex is in the corner of one of those Us.) Duplex next to us has had new tenants move in within the past month or two, and since then, all hell's broken loose with the kids in the neighborhood. The oldest girl that lives there, IMO, is the reason because she's about teen-age and pretty, so all the teen/preteen-age boys are now coming around and I'm pissed by now.
A week or two ago, I caught several younger kids playing in our yard. Now we actually have NO PROBLEM with that (and know we have a HUGE yard compared to everyone else)... but I caught several of them and said "Hey guys, if you're going to play in our yard, can you please just come and ask?" We want to be aware who's in our yard and they sometimes play hide & go seek (meaning there's kids hiding in our bushes or under our deck or on our front stoop). I obviously don't want to be walking out of the shower to face some kid under our deck while the window's open!
Since then, we've had A LOT of people cutting through our yard. FREQUENTLY. Now if it's people we know and who show us respect - we don't really care and they don't abuse the convenience of not having to walk out and around the U where we live to get to the other streets behind us.
Except now they're people we don't know. And some of them are walking entirely too close to our house. As in the other night, I was home alone around 7:30 (when it's starting to get dusky) and I saw someone - a male - walk outside our windows along the wall of our house. By the time I got to the front door, he was out in the street and he was probably 12-16 years old and I couldn't catch him to ask him WTF?!
During dinner last night, we watched a mom walk her two kids through our yard. I went outside and asked her "Excuse me, are you looking for someone?! Can I help you?!" She was a bit panicked. (I thought "Then don't walk through my f'ing yard nonchalantly!") Followed not 5-10 minutes later by drunken man (apparently mom's bf) who stood ON THE BORDER of our yard and just kind of looked around shadily for a few minutes, took a step forward and waited, then proceeded to walk through our yard. I went out and asked him the same thing. He hemmed and hawwed and finally mumbled "I'm looking for my daughter...oh... there she is." and walked off. Then last night we find out some of the kids in our neighborhood got into a fight earlier this week (so the drunk guy was actually "dad" looking for the parent of the house the fight took place at.)
And then last night Greg took Xena outside at 8:30 (pretty dark outside) and came in and said "You're not taking Xena outside in the dark anymore." (Which I don't like doing because I'm kind of afraid of the dark anyway.) He said some of those kids that have been hanging around the pretty teen-age neighbor girl were hanging around (still) and this time one of them had a golf club!!! I realize that's kind of a bit of a stretch but seriously - WTF!?! You're 12-15 years old and hanging out in our neighborhood (not yours) at 8:30 at night WITH A GOLF CLUB?! Guarantee you're not teeing off this time of night in this neighborhood.
WWYD? I'm seriously considering calling the Village and talking to them about this. They used to patrol all the time through our area (then the neighbors we suspected were drug dealers moved out and we haven't seen the cops since.) My other thought is to try and get together the parents in the neighborhood to talk about this (only problem with that is some of these kids don't LIVE IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.)
And Miss Xena was useless... she doesn't realize anyone's in our yard until she hears one of us go outside. She sleeps right through it all. Although she did growl ferociously at the kids with the golf club. I was only half kidding when I told Greg I might want to find a class we can put her in to learn commands to scare people!!
Re: Warning: Long WWYD
The first step I would take is to send a letter to all the property owners/tenants in the area - not just the offenders, but the ones that just LIVE there because, eventually, they will probably be offenders also. Plus, you may not be able to determine who the offenders are. I would also call the police and tell them you've had a problem with trespassers and groups of kids loitering in the neighborhood and ask for an additional patrol in the area.
I'm kind of a b*** sometimes so I'd probably post no trespassing signs too.
LOL - I'd thought about that, but it'd be kind of odd in the middle of the city in such a wide open space!
But Greg and I were/have been saying that yes, we're likely to come across as THOSE neighbors.. the bitchy couple with no kids. LOL
People wonder why I don't mind winter...
NO ONE is walking around outside! LOL
So Mandy, are you telling me my original idea of getting a bb gun IS OKAY?!
(Okay, so I'd also considered a water pistol. LOL)
This is not legal advice.
BB guns are fun.
That is all.
I told Greg you said that - that I should make an example of one of them and he just laughed!
How annoying. I think it's great that you actually went outside and confronted a couple of them, maybe that made them realize how rude they were being.
You obviously don't have an HOA, right? If not, I would think the next step would be to call the village hall and explain your problem...and honestly if they don't do anything I would start calling the cops on the kids. Just say that they are being too loud or something. They'll go over there and tell them to keep it down (without knowing it was you who called the cops) and maybe if it keeps happening the kids will get annoyed that they will start hanging out somewhere else.
I think the next person who walks through our yard is likely to get a "WTF are you doing in our yard?" LOL Poor person, but I'm that irritated by it. After seeing the kids with the golf club last night, MH said he's thinking of putting a baseball bat by the door! (At which point I thought something like "WhenTF did our neighborhood require protection?!?" LOL)
I'd never heard of an HOA before Nesties mentioned it. I know of no areas up here that have them because they all tend to be single family homes; the village might have regulations on what you can do, but no one governs it privately.
I would be scared of what if Xena bit someone walking through the yard an the potential of them taking her away from you guys. In addition to private property/no tresspassing signs, I would put Beware of Dog signs up too. Sometimes people are more influenced by that sign then the private property ones.
That sucks and I could never imagine walking through someone's backyard.
This made me do a little LOL. Xena is so freaking harmless. But I do get what you're saying, and hadn't thought of that. (I REFUSE to let her outside unattended. I yelled at MH last night when he left her out there unattended for all of 3 minutes to come in the house and get something, knowing there were about 8 kids running around the neighborhood.)
But seriously.. our neighbors have a Yorkie and that Yorkie a better guard dog than Xena. Xena's bark might SOUND more impressive, but she's less likely to harm anyone. (We've had kids tug on her, fall on her, etc. and she just gives us this pathetic "Mom,.. look what she's doing to me" look.)
Our dog is the same way but if she feels threatened in any way, she will react. Just look at the way Greg said she acted with the golf club. People are scared of dogs no matter how gentle they are and would use anything ( sticks, rocks, golf clubs) to protect themselves and Xena may not like that.
Broken windows and such can be replaced. Cities often times have very little pitty when a dog bites someone (especially when it comes to certain breads, and I'm sure her's would fall in that category)
Long story short I am obviously concerned about not just your safty/sanity but also your dog's.
I agree with this completely.