New Neighbor & Noise Complaints
My partner and I got our first place together and have been loving it. We live on the 2nd floor and had zero issues for months. Our old downstairs neighbor had two dogs that would normally bark and play but it never really bugged us. For context we are fresh out of college so we are conditioned for apartment living I’d say. As the months went on we got a dog ourselves. A beautiful boy who does weigh around 70lbs. Our apartment is pet friendly and there are dogs everywhere, dog park, etc. Recently, our downstairs neighbors moved out and a new neighbor moved in. Like I mentioned our dog is a big boy. He does not bark at all even when we are gone. His play is always supervised and doesn’t jump for toys. He rarely runs and doesn’t get zoomies like you would normally expect. I credit this to the fact that he goes on about 4 miles worth of walks everyday and the occasional dog park play. However, we have gotten a string of 1x/week noise complaints the past 3 weeks from the new guy. The first time we assumed it was the dog so we made sure we took extra care (dog plays on rug, etc.). However the second time the neighbor submitted a video to management and it turned out that it was us vacuuming at 6pm (slightly annoying). And last but not least, the third time I was making dinner after work and my dog came over (because food) and laid down on the vinyl floor. About 30 seconds later we got a knock at our door and our neighbor confronted me about the thuds throughout the day. He mentioned that we need to come to an understanding and asked if my dog weighs 300lbs and stormed off. We have a relatively new build apartment and we experience bangs and voices on a day to day but nothing major. When he lays down he can be a little clumsy. But now I kinda live pretty paranoid and it has somewhat soured my ability to live comfortably. I built us a new bed frame that is about 6in from the ground so he’s not jumping as high, placed down another area rug, got a camera. But occasionally my dog still just lays on the hard floor because it’s been hot out. I’m not going to punish him for that obviously. We’ve spoken with management, and they have been helpful. But being the kind of person I am I hate that I’m upsetting our neighbor. Am I just being too paranoid? Should I move bc I’m the inconsiderate one with the big dog? It’s just been weighing a little heavy on my mind I guess because I’m still learning what is the norm for adult living in apartments.