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Getting a noise complaint in your new neighborhood is one of those things nobody prepares you for in the moving process.

A homeowner who’d been in her house for exactly three days let her kids play in the backyard with the sprinklers on while the dog ran around with them.

They were outside for 17 minutes before heading in for bedtime. Half an hour later, there was a cop at the door.

A neighbor had called in a complaint claiming the dog had been barking non-stop for over an hour. But when she reviewed her Ring camera data, it showed they had only been out there for 17 minutes.

Now she’s three days into homeownership, wondering whether her dog is ever allowed to exist outside again, and trying to figure out how to handle a neighbor who’s apparently comfortable wildly exaggerating to the police.

Keep reading for the full story.

Just moved in… neighbors called cops on us

We have lived in this house for a grand total of 3 days.

Our kids were playing in the backyard. We had turned the sprinklers on beneath the trampoline and they were having a fun time playing as our dog chased them and the water beneath the trampoline.

But soon the family was in for quite the rude awakening.

We came inside to put our kids to bed (it was 7:45 PM) and 30 minutes later a cop pulled up saying our neighbor had called in a noise complaint against us, citing our dog had been barking non-stop for over an hour.

The homeowner was able to quickly disprove this.

I checked the time stamps from our Ring camera system, and we were outside for 17 minutes total. 17 minutes!!

She’s not denying her dog can be loud sometimes, but she thinks she deserves a bite more grace from her neighbors.

Our dog does enjoy barking when he’s playing hard with our kids, but he was in no way barking non-stop for over an hour.

What a welcome to the neighborhood.

This incident has totally hampered her enjoyment of the new neighborhood.

Now I feel like we can’t play with our dog in our own yard without the fear of getting the cops called on us.

Now she’s at a total loss about what to do next.

What do we do? Bake cookies and bring them to every neighbor and hope they don’t call again?

Let them call the cops and risk getting a citation every time we play outside? Never let our dog play outside again?

Get a bark collar?

I’m torn between being ticked and wanting to be considerate neighbors. But I just don’t know what to do.

Surely her neighbors could have at least come over to talk to them considering it was their first offense.

What did Reddit have to say?

This user shares what the law is like where they live.

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There’s a way to be outside without causing excessive barking.

This user wouldn’t trust the cops in this instance.

At least the neighbor in this scenario gave a bit of a warning.

This homeowner isn’t being unreasonable for feeling blindsided, because getting the cops called on you three days in over a 17-minute backyard session does have a way of making someone feel unwelcome.

Her own data showed the dog wasn’t barking near as much as the neighbor claimed it was.

There’s a small possibility the neighbor may have filed in good faith, but in all likelihood, they’re the type of person who had an opinion about dogs before the moving truck was even unloaded.

One thing’s for sure: these neighbors have set the tone — and it’s not a good one.

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Author

Benjamin Cottrell

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.