Moving into a new place should come with a basic understanding that you do not get to make the rules about spaces that were never yours.

A homeowner with an elderly dog found that memo had not reached her cranky new neighbors, who took issue with the dog using the garden to pee, sunbathe, and occasionally just sit outside while her owner read a book.

So when the neighbor’s objections escalated into yelling and personal insults, the homeowner decided she wasn’t going to tolerate it any longer.

Keep reading for the full story.

New neighbor doesn’t want my dog

So we live in our own house, while our neighbor lives in an apartment.

We have a garden — not that big — and the neighbor apartment’s top floor door opens to our garden. They have their own space, though.

So new neighbors brought new problems.

Recently our neighbors moved out and new neighbors came in.

I also have a Dachshund and Golden Retriever mix dog.

She is an old lady, about 13 to 14 years old.

Sometimes when I’m ill or it’s late at night, I take her out in the garden to pee instead of going for a walk, because there are dogs roaming at night in our neighborhood.

This is a huge problem for this new neighbor.

Every time the new neighbor sees this, they start complaining about her peeing and such.

Once they even complained about me taking her out in the garden just to hang out while I read a book.

I suppose they hate dogs overall and are trying to use the “we have kids” excuse.

They’re acting like they own the garden.

So when it happened again, the neighbor threw another fit.

This morning my period cramps were horrible, so I took her in the garden to pee and the neighbor saw this.

She started yelling about how shameless I was and such.

After she peed, I took her inside and didn’t reply to anything she said because it was nothing but insults.

So the neighbor’s bad attitude escalated even further.

She also threatened she would let her kids play in our woodshed, which is right next to our house and still connected to the garden.

At this point I can’t even take my dog out to sunbathe without listening to complaints.

Plus, I have never taken her out while her kids are playing, because the children are scared of her.

This neighbor clearly needs to get taken down a notch or two.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an apartment tenant who is being called petty for blocking her parking space with trash cans.

Redditors chime in with their thoughts.

This commenter has a clever idea.

Better fences do tend to make for better neighbors.

There’s another big issue here that needs to be addressed.

Even a makeshift fence would be a big improvement.

The audacity of moving into someone else’s building and immediately developing strong opinions about their garden is wild enough on its own, but yelling insults at a homeowner on a pain day because her 13-year-old dog needed to pee outside is a completely different level.

She owns the house. She owns the garden. The dog was there before the neighbor unpacked a single box.

The “we have kids” excuse is not a zoning ordinance, and the woodshed threat is the kind of thing that needs to be shut down in writing before it becomes a pattern.

This poor dog is 13 and just wants some sun. Let her have it.