Many of us see our homes as our sanctuaries - places where we can unwind, relax, and feel safe. An unfriendly neighbor can throw that comfort and safety into disarray.

Yesterday, I had a troubling experience with a neighbor. I live in a condo development, so all of the homes are in close proximity to each other and many on the street are friendly with each other.

On my street, there's a young couple with two dogs, one of which is a pit bull. I've always exchanged pleasantries with them and have never had any kinds of confrontations.

They tend to let their dogs roam, and sometimes run off of their leashes, which is not only illegal in almost all municipalities in New Jersey, but residents are reminded of the local leash law by quarterly mailings from the condo association as well as highly visible signs throughout the community.

While it annoys me, I've never made a big deal out of it for the sake of keeping my living situation drama free. However, last night was different.

I got home and took my dog out for her nightly walk. I saw that, once again, my neighbors dogs were roaming around off-leash, so I began to walk in the other direction to avoid them. But, my dog caught the pit bull's eye. She came running over at almost mach speed. I immediately picked up my 15 year old, arthritic dog to protect her from the large, muscular pit bull puppy.

My neighbor called to his dog, but didn't hurry over to get her. He finally got control of her, and I began to walk my dog in the other direction. I was exasperated, annoyed, and in fear for my dog.

As I walked away, he called out, "sorry". I waved my hand and kept walking. He, a bit more aggressively, called again "I said I'm sorry!". Again, I waved my hand and continued to walk so as to avoid any further stress to anyone involved. This time, he angrily yelled, "did you hear me? I said I'm sorry!".

Frustrated by the repeated encounters with his dogs, annoyed that my dog was in danger, and exasperated by the fact that he wasn't letting the situation defuse, I finally turned around and calmly said, "you really should keep them on leashes, it's the law".

This was when things got really ugly.

My neighbor began to launch into a profanity laced tirade while other neighbors (including children) looked on.

I did my best to keep my cool and said, "you are always letting your dogs run off the leash". His only response was to engage in another curse-ridden diatribe. I finally told him that if it happens again I won't hesitate to call Animal Control. Which, of course, only raised his blood pressure even more.

I finally decided that it was time to remove myself from the situation and left the area while he continued to scream.

Now, because of my work hours, I don't see my neighbors very much, so it's not like this is someone who I'm going to have to interact with on a daily basis. But, the fact remains that we all have the right to feel safe and comfortable in our neighborhoods and our homes.

So how do you handle neighbor conflicts? Have you ever had an unpleasant experience on your street? Tell us in the comments.

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