Tag Archives: neighbor

Your Neighbor’s Dog

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SheltieBoy

Realtor.com quoted me in Salma Hayek’s Dog Shot by Neighbor: Was He Right? It reads, in part,

Actress Salma Hayek is mourning the death of her dog Mozart—a dog she nurtured from birth, according to her Instagram post. The 9-year-old pooch, a Belgian Malinois, was found dead on her Washington state ranch on Friday with a visible wound close to his heart. And this sad story only got worse once police discovered the culprit: Hayek’s neighbor.

According to TMZ, the neighbor was sick of Hayek’s dogs, several of whom regularly trespassed on his territory and attacked his dogs. So on that fateful Friday, this neighbor responded to a dogfight in his garage by shooting an air rifle just to scare off the one attacking his dog, the Associated Press reports. Mozart, who was hit, ran off and died from internal bleeding. In fact, the shooter’s wife Kim Lund told the AP, “We didn’t even know we killed a dog. I’m in shock.”

Claiming a pellet gun would normally not be deadly, the police ruled the shooting justified, but plan to send the case to prosecutors for additional review.

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According to “When Killing a Dog Is Legally Justified” on Nolo.com, most state laws do not allow homeowners to shoot dogs that are merely running loose on their property. And even if they’re attacking your own dog or cat, you’re not off the hook.

“Someone who does injure a dog that’s chasing another dog … may be liable for damages to the dog’s owner,” writes . “And the killer may also be guilty of cruelty to animals.”

In other words, Hayek’s neighbor could pay for pulling the trigger. Plus there’s the bigger picture, points out David Reiss, research director at the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship at Brooklyn Law School: “How’s it going to be to continue living next door to your neighbors after you shot their dog?”

Imagine how awkward it will be for this guy to run into Hayek from now until the end of his days there. Maybe he could have tried to fix the problem earlier with something other than rubber bullets.

“There certainly are steps you could take before shooting the dog,” Reiss says. “You could call animal control or law enforcement. In some places, if a dog owner has received a warning about his or her pet, he or she could face liability for allowing it to roam free.” 

Bottom line: Talk first, shoot only as a last resort. 

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

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David Wilson

Realtor.com quoted me in Are Neighborhood Watch Signs Killing Home Sales? I reads, in part,

Neighborhood watch programs proclaim that a community’s members have one another’s backs, a collective way of saying, “Hey, we got you covered.” So home shoppers who see neighborhood watch signs plastered on telephone poles and in parks should feel confident about settling down in that community, right?

Not necessarily.

A debate is brewing, most recently in Longboat Key, FL, over whether neighborhood watch signs are good or bad for property values. While some think these safety-first signs raise home prices, former Mayor George Spoll is arguing the opposite: that they make an area look crime-ridden, sinking home prices and scaring off potential buyers in the process.

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“It would be hard to say that a watch sign on its own is a good or bad thing, but in particular contexts it could make a difference,” says David Reiss, research director at the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship at Brooklyn Law School. After all, he points out, “If home buyers have heard that crime is an issue there, neighborhood watch signs may give comfort that the neighborhood is doing something about it. On the other hand, if it’s a neighborhood that is not facing major crime issues, signs may be a confusing signal.” 

Bottom line: If you’re a home buyer and see these signs, do your homework and research crime in the area. Go ahead and ask your seller and Realtor about crime in the area; call local law enforcement or search online on sites such as Crimemapping.com or Neighborhoodscout.com.