Imagine being a kid playing in your yard, and you live next to a neighbor who won’t give you back your ball if it goes over the fence.

Would you accept it and get another ball, or would you do whatever it took to get your ball back?

In this story, one family is in this situation, and when the dog’s favorite ball goes over the fence, they are determined to get the ball back no matter what.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

Steal my dog’s favourite ball? I’ll give you hundreds.

This happened about 6 years ago, when I was 12, and my brother was 10.

We lived next to an older lady, lets call her Jane, who we never really interacted with.

We used to play with tennis balls and cricket balls in our back yard, and occasionally, they would go over the fence.

When they did, however, Jane would keep the balls and not give them back.

She would always say “Any ball that comes into my yard is mine, and I’m keeping it”

That poor dog!

One time we were playing with my dog and her favourite ball went over the fence.

I sucked it up and went to talk to “meany Jane” as we called her, only because it was my dogs favourite ball, but obviously she didn’t give it back.

He was so sad and kept looking for the ball everywhere, and wouldn’t play with any other ball.

That was the final straw.

Their dad helped with the plan.

I found a shop online where you can bulk buy sports equipment, usually for schools, and with my dads help bought 200 tennis balls.

Once they arrived, my plan could begin.

Step 1. Ask her for my dogs ball again. No surprise, she was mean and wouldn’t give it. “Any ball that comes into my yard, is mine and I’m keeping it.”

Fine then, time for step two.

Here’s how step 2 went…

Step 2. Every day, go into the yard and throw a tennis ball over the fence. Each day, increase the amount.

Day 1, one ball. Day 2, two balls. Day 3, three, etc. And each day before doing this, ask for my dog’s ball back, each day getting a no.

By the time we got to day 19, we only had 10 balls left, and that’s when step three came into play.

They eventually got the ball back.

Step 3. She had an old rubish bin she kept all our balls in, and at this point it was overflowing. So that week’s bin night, we watched her haul out two large black bin bags.

Once it got dark, me and my dad went put, and low and behold, it was every single ball of ours that had gone over the fence in the past few years. In total around 300 balls, including the 200 balls.

Even my dogs ball was in there!

To say my dog was really excited is an understatement, she would’nt put the thing down and even started sleeping with it.

I’m really glad the dog got the ball back.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

They don’t have to stop throwing the balls over the fence!

This mom doesn’t mind tossing balls back over the fence.

This person wonders if the dad tried talking to the neighbor.

A dog owner weighs in.

Being a grumpy ball keeper can make your life worse.

Not all neighbors know how to be neighborly.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.