I am wondering what you guys would do in this situation…

The other day, I was walking my 3 when I saw my neighbors pit bull had gotten loose and was running outside. I was far enough away that I decided to turn around by some trees and walk the other direction. The pit saw us and came charging at my 3 and started attacking us. Luckily we didn’t get bit, as one of them came running and pulled the dog away and held it while we walked away. The owner’s mother had left the door open by accident and apologized. This was the second time that dog had gotten loose and attacked mine, both times we were lucky. I don’t really want there to be a 3rd.

The problem is where I live my HOA actually bans pits AND huskies. I did not know this when I got mine as they never provided the rules to me (I had to get them from a neighbor). Also, there are 2 versions of the rules, one that does not ban huskies, and only pits and Rottweiler’s.

Another neighbor, who has a small dog that was attacked years ago (by a different dog), sent an email to the HOA. The HOA is sending a letter to my neighbor with the pit stating that they have to get rid of it and it is not allowed. I am afraid that they are going to tell me on as well, and they will try to make me get rid of mine (NOT HAPPENING!)

So I can either lie, and say they are Malamutes (not on the list), or say that I was never informed of the rules, and that my copy does not state they are banned. I may be getting ahead of myself, since this hasn’t actually happened but I am afraid it will come to this.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

I would get some halt or bear spray and avoid contact with the HOA. I think there is some legal grey area if there are two sets of rules, but that still won't protect you and your dogs when you're out in the mean time. Since they already know about the pit, I don't think you have to do anything else in terms of drawing attention to the issue.

Maybe once that situation is resolved, you could request an amendment to the rules asking to change them a bit. Instead of banning specific breeds, there could be a clause about dogs that are loose and unsupervised, or incidents of attacks and/or aggression and requesting a leash rule. A lab or golden can just as easily have aggression problems (i've know a lot of aggressive goldens).

Not sure how your area works but here HOAs have to record any of their rules and changes at the courthouse. You maybe able to go in and get a recorded date of each set of rules and find out which one is the latest version. Really, there should have been a date on the rules somewhere stating when they took affect, but that comes down to how formal they got when making the rules. If there is no date that can be proven then legally I'm not sure they can do much. I would try to quietly hunt down the answer to which copy is newest. If the copy excluding huskies is the newest then I wouldn't worry. In any case I wouldn't make waves with the HOA unless they specifically come for you.

The newest version of HOA rules is the one that also bans huskies. I am definitely not going to make waves with the HOA, in fact I did not even want the other neighbor to contact them, but she did anyway and there isn't much I can do now. Once my neighbor with the pit bull gets the letter I would not be surprised if she tells the HOA that I have 3 huskies, and then the HOA will have to act, since they cannot apply the rules to one person and not another. If I can not use the fact that my version did not mention huskies, then my next option is to tell them that they are not huskies, but Malamutes, or another breed. I'm not sure if they can force me to show them their vet's paperwork or do a DNA test.

I am seriously considering putting my house up for sale and finding somewhere else to live.

I don't know much about HOA or anything like that. However I'm just going to say this right now, don't lie to them. Not only is it dishonest, but if/when they find out (and anyone who knows anything about malamutes will immediately know you're lying since malamutes can't have blue eyes) couldn't they lay on more severe penalties?

I'm with Aidan about not knowing much about the HOA but if you bought your house with them not on the list can they really say anything when they updated their policy and then didn't even give you a copy? I don't see why in that situation you can't be like grandfathered in or something with your dogs.

No, there is no penalty for perjury.  The ban does not state anything about mixes, so I could say they are mixed breeds.  I think that the people on the board know my dogs are not dangerous.  First, they give you a notice to correct the violation, and if you dont dispute it they start fining you 50.00 per day until it is corrected.  Also, they cannot come inside my house to inspect anything, and I doubt they can legally obtain vet records to prove they are huskies.  

The bottom line is I am NOT giving my dogs up.  If they end up fining me, they can go ahead and do it because I will find any way I can to keep my dogs with me, and if that means lying to them I have no problem with that.  It was MY dogs that were attacked, not the other way around so it is not fair for me to have to worry about this because of someone else that can't control THEIR dog.

When I bought the place I never received a copy of the HOA rules. It wasn't until recently (after I had my dogs) that I noticed it had huskies on the ban list. Then, I received another copy of the HOA rules that did not include them. However, I don't think that will be an argument because the rules without huskies was dated about 6 months prior to the other set of rules

HOA's can do some seriously dick things, so I agree with Aidan and Erica not to lie to them. That's probably not going to end well for you, and they really will have grounds to go after the dogs at that point. Your best bet is going to be to push the angle where you never got the updated bylaws and push to be grandfathered in. Can you prove when they were updated? You'd definitely have more ground to fight on if you got the dogs before the rules were updated.

My dad was president of their HOA in Plainfield, IL for a long time. Indiana might have some different rules, but when I talk to him this afternoon I can bounce this off of him and see what he says. I know he really hates BSL and worked really hard with their HOA about not banning certain breeds (they have a pit mix themselves, he's the biggest baby).

That's probably not going to be a valid argument regarding the by-laws. I moved in there in December 2011. The first set of docs have a date of May 2004 without the additional breed bans included, and the second set has a date of August 2004 that includes those bans.

I might be worrying ahead of things, but if the neighbor that has the pit does tell them about my dogs, and the HOA sends me a letter that I have to get rid of them, I will have 2 options.

1) Lie about their breed.
2) Let them assess fees and put a lien on the property

And put the place up for sale in the mean time.

Also, I think all of the board members know my dogs and have not said anything about it before. If they were banned, then it would be crappy of them to do something about it just because of this incident. I am not going to just roll over for them because I was the one attacked. If it were not for my neighbors dog I would not have to even worry about this.

If the board members know your dogs and have been okay with them then I would politely push for an amendment to be made to the bylaws. If huskies aren't on the dangerous breeds list for your state or your insurance then I would think that would help to back them in deciding to remove them from the HOAs banned breeds list. Seeking an amendment I think would be your best option should a fit be pitched about your dogs. As for why you got huskies when they were banned you have the other set of bylaws to explain that to them.

When we were looking to buy a house in an HOA we had to seek an amendment to have a privacy fence before we even put an offer in on the house. When we explained everything out as to why we needed the fence and they met Kenzi they were totally fine with it. We didn't end up buying that house but being courteous and having good reasons for every amendment we wanted really went a long way to getting the board to side in our favor.

That could be an option if it came to it to push to have an amendment added to the by-laws. I know I should just take it one thing at a time, as it may not even come to this. I just tend to over-think things and worry about what could happen.

I think its good that you are thinking of your options so that way if this does happen you have thought out what your best plan is! I mean it might end up being nothing, but it could end up being a big deal so I think better to be prepared then to have it sprung on you and have to make a decision in a rush.

Don't know much about this stuff - but go over all and any documents that you signed when you first moved into the house... if you didn't sign anything about the no husky rule, or state anywhere that you were provided & read the by-laws, then they shouldn't have grounds against you.

It has worried me to the point that I don’t feel good the last few days, so I am not going to worry about something that may or may not happen. We did figure that if the neighbor does call the HOA, and they do send us a letter stating that we have to remove them, my only response is that they cannot choose what rules that residents have to follow, because there are about 10 other rules that are constantly being broken. Also, the fact that my set of rules says something different I would point that out too. I don’t want to have to lie, but if it comes down to it and that’s my only option I will do everything to keep my dogs, because they are not taking my family away.

Plus my neighbor with the pit has a boyfriend that lives 5 minutes away, and he has another dog that hers plays with, so for her to have to keep the dog there shouldn’t be a big deal. For me, I would have to move.