AITA spray-painting my neighbours dog?

A Reddit user (F24) has been dealing with her neighbor’s (F60) untrained groodle dog, which frequently enters her backyard and leaves a mess. After multiple complaints to her neighbor with no improvement, she warned that she would spray-paint the dog if it returned.

After discovering the dog in her yard again, she and her roommates followed through on the threat by applying a pink pet-safe spray dye to the dog’s back. The neighbor confronted her, claiming that this act was cruel and unfair due to her age. Is she in the wrong for her actions? Read the original story below for more details.

‘ AITA spray-painting my neighbours dog?’

I (24f) live with my two roommates (23f, 24m) in a small three-bedroom townhouse. All the houses on my street share walls, forming a row of connected homes. My next-door neighbor (60f) recently got a groodle dog, and it’s clear she has no interest in training or disciplining it properly.

About two months ago, my roommate found dog poop and a chewed-up toy in our backyard. I was baffled as to how the dog got in but informed my neighbor. She apologized half-heartedly, and I thought that would be the end of it. The very next day, more dog poop appeared.

For a month, I consistently told my neighbor she needed to keep her dog on her side of the fence because it was almost daily I found dog poop, or some kind of torn up paper, toy, etcetera. I spent hours trying to find where the dog was getting in, to no success. Finally, I sent one last warning to my neighbor, stating that if I saw her dog in my backyard again, I would spray paint it.

It’s now obvious this isn’t an accident. Every time I’ve brought it up, my neighbor dismissively claims she’s “working on it,” but I’ve never once seen her walk the dog or even leave her house. While I understand she’s elderly, adopting a dog you can’t properly care for is simply irresponsible and cruel, and I shouldn’t have to deal with it.

The other day, I found poop in my yard for the third time that week. My roommates and I decided to follow through on our warning. We bought some pink ***pet-safe!!*** spray dye. Yesterday, I finally caught the dog in my lawn. As I distracted it with treats, my roommate sprayed a pink line down its back.

This morning, my doorbell rang incessantly. I answered to find my neighbor, red-faced and irate, with her now pink-streaked dog. She accused me of being cruel and claimed this was animal cruelty. She then had the audacity to say it was unfair because she’s old and “can’t stop” the dog from running into my yard.

Now I’m torn. Am I the a**hole for following through on my warning after months of this neighbor’s n**lect and disregard for my property?.

Here’s the input from the Reddit crowd:

Active-Anteater1884 −  What a grown up does is take pictures of the dog, then call animal control or the cops. What a child does is spray paint a dog.. ESH.

1962Michael −  ESH. Obviously the neighbor is an AH for not picking up after her dog, and for lying about it. You’re AH for involving the innocent dog with your retribution. (I guess technically it got treats and probably doesn’t care about the pink dye, but still.)

For future reference, there are “Please don’t curb your dog here” and similar signs that you could post on your lawn, along with “No trespassing” signs. Yes it’s better to talk to your neighbors, but the signage goes a long way to eliminate any “He said/she said” if this ends up in front of the police or a judge.

Canadian_01 −  ESH – leave the dog out of your revenge plot. Put the poop in a pile on her front doorstep, like what NORMAL angry neighbours do 🙂

Wiregeek −  NTA. Pet safe animal dye is a hell of a lot better than a humane trap and a trip to the pound.

nuggets256 −  ESH obviously your neighbor is an a**hole for not controlling her dog, but why the f**k are you punishing the dog for the n**lect of its owner? If a parent lets their baby throw cheerios on the ground so you spray paint the baby? Grow up and don’t use spray paint on animals to make your point man.

[Reddit User] −  Did you consider any courses of action other than spray painting the dog?

[Reddit User] −  Rescue worker here, I think this is hilarious as long as the dog didn’t show signs of fear while the spraying was being done. Anyway, NTA, but also not the smartest move since she now has the grounds for legal action.

Aushii −  ESH. Pet safe or not, that probably scared the poop out of the dog. It’s not okay to punish the dog for the neighbor’s behavior. It’s a dog who has had no training and has no idea what they are doing is wrong. Would I be livid in your situation? 100% yes, but what you did was definitely AH behavior.

Overall_Attempt9973 −  NTA. You got pet safe dye, dog wasn’t hurt and was literally given treats through the alleged “trauma” it experienced. Hilarious way to get the owner to keep their dog out.

DonnaTheSecondTwin −  Put up an outdoor camera. Then fling any s**t you find in your yard onto her porch. If she’s too old to take care of her dog, she shouldn’t HAVE a dog.