Rarely does letting your kids roam free around a neighborhood end well, especially if some neighbors own dogs. Still, one Mississippi parent decided their 6-year-old daughter would be fine as she let herself regularly into her neighbor’s yard and even into the house, without permission. In fact, the neighbor actively told the girl and her father not to do so because he owned a dog. Yet, the careless parent didn’t stop his daughter from trespassing until the day she finally got bitten.
The bite itself fortunately wasn’t even that bad, besides some tooth scratch marks and a little blood. Clearly, the dog was being protective of its family’s home, but the girl was too young and improperly supervised to know. However, context is important: the girl’s dad has been letting his young children go into the neighbor’s yard and home without knocking or permission to call the kids next door to come out and play. Even though the neighbor warned them not to, “they are kids and never listen.“
But now that his 6-year-old has been slightly injured, he went full Karen mode on the neighbor as though it’s his fault. “He said he was going to sue and have me pay medical and he mentioned getting animal control to put my dog down,” the neighbor explained on r/legaladvice. “I get he’s angry, but that feels like an overreaction. I tried explaining that she came into the house without knocking, but he didn’t care.”
Eventually, the Mississippi parent calmed down and demanded the medical bills for her hand. The neighbor surprisingly agreed, but is now second-guessing himself as the Karen parent did threaten to sue and even put down the family dog. Unfortunately, the initial decision to pay for the bills would mean the neighbor is technically admitting guilt, so things could get complicated. But if the dad lacks anything but verbal evidence, then the neighbor should be fine, according to the comment section.
One commenter strongly recommended calling off the “peaceful front” with the parent. First, getting a lock for the backyard would be in order, along with sending a formal letter to the parent letting him know his children are not welcome on the property without permission. And since the daughter clearly has an issue obeying adults, as the Redditor aptly puts it: “I would get into the habit of locking your back door.”
