Dogs are way better than people, and most of the time, are way better than anyone deserves, too.

Their final days are harder for us than them, I think, but those of us who adore our elderly pups can’t imagine not giving them everything they love on their last day here.

OP wanted to let their senior dog spend her last day outside, which she had always loved.

A couple months ago our lovely older pitbull was fighting cancer, and we had the painful decision made to have her put down. She was low on energy at this point, moving was difficult, and getting her to eat was getting near impossible.

With that, one of the only things we wanted to give her was one last day outside in the backyard.

So, the day before she was to be put to sleep, in the early morning I set out to setup a tent in our backyard, and filled it inside and outside with things our dog absolutely loved.

When she saw her neighbors were going to be using their firepit she asked if they would be long, because the dog had breathing issues and wouldn’t be able to be outside in the smoke.

I noticed as I was setting things up, the neighbor behind us was placing sticks and leaves in their fire pit. Which normally, I wouldn’t care at all, but the poor dog is having trouble breathing at this point. I figured it wouldn’t be an imposition to let them know my current situation and asked if they could postpone the burning just for today.

The wife said no, it wouldn’t be long, and appeared to sympathize.

The wife let me know that they are just going to be burning a few things to clear their yard and it wont last very long at all, and she gave me some level of understanding about the dog. With that she lit up the fire and the smoke billowed into my backyard.

For some context, the neighbor is directly behind my property, I have about a 100 ft x 100 ft backyard and theirs is about 50ft length x 100ft wide.

Just to add this, I don’t mind if people are burning things around me, I am not particularly fond of it, but if it makes them happy that makes me happy.

The husband, however, took the request as some kind of weird affront and ruined the day for the puppers (and OP).

… A few hours go by, I notice they are still outside adding more things to the fire. I approach and ask them kindly on an ETA, trying to be as patient and understanding as possible.

They say they are almost done.

… A few hours later there is a raging fire outside and I can visibly see the husband outside pointing at my home, yelling, and then adding actual campfire logs (no longer leaves and sticks).

At this moment, I’m not angry, I am just very sad. Poor dog isn’t going to have the last day we wanted to give her. We would take her somewhere else, but don’t want to stress her, so we spend the rest of the day inside.

Soon afterward, OP learned that it was illegal to have a fire within 50 feet of a structure, so they paid for an expensive fence.

Later that night, around 9pm as the sun is setting I go out for a walk and notice the damn fire is still roaring. Mind you, as it was most of the time, with no one there.

I am now livid and start looking into state laws, city laws and everything in between. From this I find that my city has an ordinance that states a fire pit cannot be within 50 ft of a structure.

I could if I wanted to contact the city and have it stopped simply because no matter where they place it in their backyard it will be within 50 ft of their home. But, that seems non permanent enough.

I was already considering getting a fence installed and already had multiple quotes. It was hard to swallow a bill for $15,000. But within 24 hours of this situation guess what I paid for?

Now, they can never use their firepit again.

The fence will be installed within the next couple weeks around the edge of my property, and their fire pit is no further away than 10 ft from my fence.

… Can’t take a single day away from your fire pit for a dying dog? Well, enjoy never using it ever again.

Tldr; One of my neighbors smoked me out of my dogs last day to be outside, so I am removing their ability to smoke out anything ever again.

Reddit is going to be on the dog’s side, I’m sure.

The top comment says there are more rules they can bust them on, too.

Some people are really terrible neighbors.

Turnabout is fair play.

The neighbors could have easily rescheduled.

No one is on the jerk neighbors side.

I can’t stand these people and I’ve never met them.

We always have to stan the dog.