Man ‘harassing’ dog with his drone sued the owner after it was destroyed — until one heartbreaking detail in the vet report flipped the case

A dog owner was tormented by their neighbor flying his drone all over their yard to tease their scared pet. When they tried to deal with it civilly, the neighbor’s inconsiderate response left them with no choice but to ignore his triggering attempts. In a Reddit post, the dog owner, under u/DeadDrone999, opened up about their bizarre experience. It all started when the neighbor got a drone about seven months ago and terrorized the whole neighborhood with it. He would chase cars, fly it too low, and mostly annoy his neighbor’s dog by attacking it for fun. Until one day, the pup, a 70-pound Malamute, shredded the gadget into pieces. It launched a legal feud between the neighbors, but with a surprising ending. 

“He would hover in front of other houses and windows…worst of all he had a habit of flying his drone in my fenced backyard buzzing over my dog, diving low just over my dog's head before circling around to do it again,” the concerned dog owner revealed. Despite his big size, the dog was terrified of the drone. When they asked him to stop flying over the yard as it was scaring the pet, the neighbor reportedly “laughed” in their face. They even called the police once, but in vain. Around the end of the year, the pet dog let his instincts take over and caught hold of the buzzing drone as it charged at him, turning it into a “jumbled mess” of plastic and wires.

Though it seemed like a fitting reaction to his antics, he was angry about the "injustice." “He stormed over to my house, swearing and threatening me, which I ignored,” the post added. Days later, the dog owner was summoned to small claims court. Turns out, the neighbor had filed a case demanding compensation for the damaged drone. “He wanted $900 for the cost of his drone and an additional $300 for supposedly denying him access to his property.” The pet owner panicked initially but sought legal advice and had a solid case to counter-sue him. “Turns out, him suing me was the best thing to ever happen. When we got to small claims court, the judge basically laughed away his claims that I had intentionally trained my dog to attack his drone.” 

The pet owner had gathered all the evidence of the neighbor “harassing” the pet dog, including footage, photos of the high-fenced yard, and, most importantly, the vet bills. It was disheartening that the pup had to be taken to a vet because of the anxiety he developed from the ordeal. The medical bills included a $700 X-ray, $250 for sedation, anti-anxiety medicines, wet food for a week to help him recover from the drone incident, and $400 for tooth repair. The case was easily in the dog owner’s hands, and the cruel neighbor was ordered to pay $2,000 to them instead. Moreover, the FAA was also asked to investigate his flying behavior and drone registration, as he was found to have violated multiple FAA regulations.