The title is kind of confusing, there’s a bit of context needed here. 

So to explain my living situation: I live on a small property where there is a main house, and the backyard has a few different sheds that are slowly being remodeled over time. 

The front house is rented out separately from the (currently singular) remodeled shed, which is where I live. 

My home is easiest accessed through a back alleyway, and as such, I have my own back driveway. There is also a front driveway. The entire property is fenced, and there is a fairly large yard.

I have lived here for a year and a half now. My previous neighbors (aka the people in the house next to my shed on the property) were problematic in their own ways, but nowhere near as frustrating as my new neighbors.

I was out of town for about a month in August, and when I came back, I found out I had new neighbors in the main house that came with two dogs. 

Mind you, I had no clue they were moving in or that they had dogs. Unfortunately, they had also not been told I lived on what they understood to be “their” property, and they didn’t  know I existed until I got home from vacation. Talk about an awkward first interaction. 

My landlord is definitely to blame for some of this, as she’s caused plenty of problems for me beforehand (utility payments are a whole other post I could make), and it’s on her for not communicating to them or to me that the other party lived on the property. 

I think this could especially be an issue if I was allergic to dogs. Luckily, I’m not.

The issue is that, having lived here for a while now, I’ve got my own way of doing things. I leave the gate open to my driveway, because there is no reason for it to be closed. My home is pretty secluded and the open gate doesn’t get in the way of my other neighbors, cars driving down the alley, etc.

Now that they live here, they constantly remind me to close it or keep it closed because they don’t want their dogs to get out. I personally think this is ridiculous. I was here first, I don’t have pets, I was never notified people with pets were moving in, and now I’m supposed to do things that inconvenience me because why?

Every time I leave or come home, I’m expected to get in and out of my car multiple times to open and close the gate. I’m usually in a rush (full time student with multiple jobs), and honestly, it’s the least of my problems, and incredibly irritating.

On top of that, the dogs are not trained at all. They will constantly jump all over me, get me dirty ( I live in a cold and wet state), run outside the yard and don’t come when called, meaning I then have to waste more of my time running around and getting their dogs back in the yard.

I have the sense that I’m the asshole, but also, why is it my job to take care of your dogs? Fence off a different section of the yard they can’t escape from. Train them so they’re not jumping all over me and my friends and ruining clothes with dirty paws. 

Let me hear your opinions. Maybe I’m being a prick and I’m just easily irritated, but I think the dogs shouldn’t be my problem and that I should be able to leave the gate open whenever, along with expect that my work clothes won’t be dirtied every time I step outside. 
