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Post by katlady on Jul 20, 2022 21:09:38 GMT
There was this video that popped up on my FB page. Some teenagers were approaching a front door. The owners opened the door to greet the kids, you can hear him say “Welcome”. A yellow lab flew out the door and really scared the first teen and he (the teen) took off running.
The comments that really surprised me were how many said that strangers shouldn’t be coming to the front door, and the dog was “protecting” his home. The teens were trespassing, he deserved it, etc.
Do you feel the same? Strangers shouldn’t come to your door? What about delivery people? Someone who comes to the wrong house?
If a stranger comes to my door, I may or may not answer. But I don’t feel like a knock on the door equals trespassing. If the person didn’t leave, then I would consider it trespassing. We did have a teen knock on our door by mistake. He was looking for the house next door.
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Jul 20, 2022 21:11:35 GMT
I agree with you. I also have a peep hole to look.
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Post by christine58 on Jul 20, 2022 21:12:52 GMT
My yellow lab would have licked them to death
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Post by birukitty on Jul 20, 2022 21:14:51 GMT
I don't think knocking on a door is trespassing. I think entering a home without permission, or entering a gated backyard without permission is trespassing.
I also think the homeowner is at fault for not controlling his dog. A dog can be protecting his home and owner by barking. If the teens had proceeded to do bodily harm to the homeowner than the dog might have continued to protect the homeowner by engaging with the teens either by biting them or scaring them away. Running out like a loose cannon past everyone isn't protecting anyone, and it sounds like the homeowner didn't need protection from these teens anyway.
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Post by 950nancy on Jul 20, 2022 21:29:24 GMT
People can knock. People can choose to open the door or not.
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Post by papersilly on Jul 20, 2022 21:31:18 GMT
i never open the doors to strangers unless i knew they were coming. i have dogs that are runners so i barely like opening the door as it is.
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Post by katlady on Jul 20, 2022 21:33:16 GMT
I also think the homeowner is at fault for not controlling his dog. There was a little back and forth about this too in the comments. Some felt that since the dog was on his own property, he did not need to be controlled.  |
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Post by monklady123 on Jul 20, 2022 21:34:47 GMT
Knocking on a front door isn't trespassing, in my opinion anyway. But I would consider it trespassing if someone went into our back yard (would have to open a gate to do it) and knocked on the back door. lol. That said, I never answer the front door anyway unless it's self-explanatory who's out there. Like the police officer who knocked last week to tell me that he was alerting the whole block about a gas leak.  -- Or if it's a neighbor who I recognize. -- Or a young child. Not teens though because fairly often we get small groups of them who are going door to door selling something. Those I report to the police because they asked us to. Apparently sometimes those are "businesses" that exploit children. -- Otherwise, nope. I don't answer my phone either, not ever, unless it's a family member or a friend whose name I recognize. I'm anti-social, what can I say...   |
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johnnysmom
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,682
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:33 GMT
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Post by johnnysmom on Jul 20, 2022 21:41:27 GMT
My yellow lab would have licked them to death Right?!?!? Mine would have gotten so excited he peed 🤣 (possibly on them, running away is probably a good idea 😆) ETA: knocking is not trespassing 🙄. And my dog is actually trained to stay out of the front room (where the front door is) unless he’s invited in, labs are very trainable. |
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Post by scrapmaven on Jul 20, 2022 21:43:19 GMT
I always go to the door, so that someone will know that we're home, but I NEVER open the door. It's too dangerous. I let people know that I don't open the door for people that I am not expecting. Then I walk away. The security camera shows me who's at the door, anyway.
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Post by mnmloveli on Jul 20, 2022 21:43:27 GMT
We have a small “No Soliciting” sign on our front door. Very visible if you approach our door to knock or ring the bell. In our town, if a sign is posted, it’s illegal and considered trespassing.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 15, 2024 21:46:14 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2022 21:44:36 GMT
I don’t think the teens were at fault. The home owner shouldn’t open the door if their dog isn’t under control.
I will say that I hate it when someone opens my storm door & proceeds to knock on my inside door. We have a doorbell camera & it’s in full view. You can’t miss it. Use the doorbell, people! I had to start locking the storm door as well because it was happening too often with random solicitors.
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Post by lucyg on Jul 20, 2022 21:49:17 GMT
No dog here anymore.
I have a peephole, but it was always borderline too high for me, and now that I’ve shrunk a few inches, forget it, I can’t reach it even on my tiptoes.
My son ordered a doorbell/video/speaker thing for me, but it’s backordered in China or something, so who knows when it will arrive.
That said, when my doorbell rings, I just answer it. It’s always packages getting dropped off, or a neighbor or family member, or someone at the wrong house. I live at the end of a court off a bigger court in a quiet neighborhood in a small, safe town. Sure, something bad could happen, but it’s very unlikely.
On the other hand (and here comes my Cassandra warning that no one ever listens to): if you’re at home and the doorbell rings unexpectedly, please don’t just ignore it. If it is a would-be burglar (lots more likely than a home invasion or some other physical threat) and you don’t answer, they will think there’s no one home and that it’s safe to break in.
You really don’t want to be inside the house alone or with kids or with anyone, really, when someone breaks in and then realizes there are actually people inside. People who can ID them.
Answer the door or use the speaker or call through a window, something to let them know people are at home.
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Post by gizzy on Jul 20, 2022 21:51:24 GMT
No, I don't consider knocking at my door to be trespassing. I won't always open the door, sometimes I'll speak thru the glass. My dog, on the other hand, considers someone at my neighbors house across the street to be trespassing.
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pinklady
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,534 
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Post by pinklady on Jul 20, 2022 21:55:43 GMT
I have no problem with delivery people coming to my door. I have a HUGE problem with solicitors and proselytizers. In my opinion they are trespassing on my private property. I HATE them coming to my door and if I had the guts, I'd open the door nude!
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pilcas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,919
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Post by pilcas on Jul 20, 2022 22:12:01 GMT
I don’t think ringing a doorbell is trespassing. Many different reasons why someone can be ringing your door that have nothing to do with soliciting. Walking into your backyard would be.
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Post by gar on Jul 20, 2022 22:50:59 GMT
I think it’s really weird when people say they don’t answer the door if they’re not expecting anyone. I don’t give it a second thought unless I can see that it’s JWs or Nottingham Knockers.
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Post by Jamie on Jul 21, 2022 12:30:32 GMT
Unless it's an officer or someone I was expecting (and they go to the back door), I won't open it even if they can see me sitting on the couch. We have a no soliciting sign, which per city code prohibits them from knocking on our door, but that doesn't seem to work. Our screen door is always locked, actually on both doors, so if someone did try and open it on the chance that one of us decided to answer the door, they wouldn't be able to gain access immediately if they tried. We're in a small city, but with being minutes outside of North Minneapolis, I prefer not to take my chances.
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Post by littlemama on Jul 21, 2022 12:41:25 GMT
Coming up and ringing the bell or knocking is not trespassing ffs.
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Post by compeateropeator on Jul 21, 2022 12:44:40 GMT
I answer my door if someone knocks even if it religious in nature or a solicitation. I just say no thank you.
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SweetieBsMom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,611
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Post by SweetieBsMom on Jul 21, 2022 12:46:29 GMT
Ringing the bell is not trespassing. I won't open the door for someone I don't know. One of my favorite remodel things, if not my favorite, is my bay window in the living room. The 2 smaller windows on either side open so I can just open the window and talk the the person at the door. I love it.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jul 21, 2022 13:43:25 GMT
well, we have a gate with a No Trespassing sign at the end of our driveway, so if someone made it to the front door, they really *would* be trespassing, since they would have had to climb over the gate/fence to get there, lol. (we live out in the country.) So, I can see the 'trespassing' viewpoint. Technically, someone uninvited IS trespassing on your private property in order to get up to your front door. It's just a matter of whether or not you're okay with it (if it was a friend or relative) or not (solicitor).
But still- the dog should have been controlled before the homeowner opened the door.
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Post by fruitysuet on Jul 21, 2022 14:00:21 GMT
Really? Trespassing by coming to the front door? I don't get that. Surely it would be as soon as they came onto your property unasked (ie for me that would be walking down a long a steep drive).
Luckily, we have a glazed front porch, so I can open our front door and see who is there without actually opening the outer door. I've never had dogs either so wouldn't ever think anything of that. You can get door chains that allow you to just open the door a crack if you want to see who is knocking if you haven't got another option.
ETA we always get delivery people, meter readers, etc, coming to our door when they are looking for someone else. Our property shares a postcode with several others over quite a wide area and the SATNAVs often default to our house. I have, in the past stuck a map up in the front porch indicating where the other properties are situated.
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Post by Merge on Jul 21, 2022 14:21:40 GMT
I really wish people would not knock. I will not buy anything from a door to door salesperson nor donate to a charity soliciting that way. If you're delivering something, just leave it on the porch. My heeler flips out every time someone knocks and it's a pain in the ass to get her calm again (yes, we've done training for years - there is no stopping the excitement over a new human with this dog). I have tried putting a sign on the door asking people not to knock and they do it anyway. No soliciting signs also get ignored by lots of people who believe it doesn't apply to them, or they're trained to say they didn't notice it, blah blah.
That said, if I do have to open the door for some reason, I make sure the dog is behind me and then go out and close the door behind me. People are freaked out by the crazy barking dog and I have to tell them she's barking because she wants her belly rubbed by a new person, which is true, but she stays inside because we don't want to encourage that behavior.
I wouldn't say someone knocking is trespassing in the legal sense, but damn I wish they'd stop. Our friends know to text us when they get here.
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iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,133
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Post by iowgirl on Jul 21, 2022 14:27:07 GMT
I live out in the country, so I usually hear someone drive up.
I did get a driveway alarm, so I get a ding-dong when someone comes up my lane. I like that. I don't open the door to JW or salesmen.
I get hunters, and they are always non-local. I politely tell them no, that our ground is not open for public hunting. Most are polite and leave. If they give me a hard time, I just shut the door and tell them the laws coming if they don't leave.
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Post by disneypal on Jul 21, 2022 14:28:49 GMT
I don't have strangers come to my door often, but if I am home, I generally answer. I keep the storm door locked and talk through the storm door. It is the kind that has a screen you can open so I usually do that so we can hear each other well.
In the case you mentioned...I am sure the man knew his dog was probably likely to bolt out the door when opened so he should have been thinking of this before opening it.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jul 21, 2022 16:00:46 GMT
No, I don't consider knocking at my door to be trespassing. I won't always open the door, sometimes I'll speak thru the glass. My dog, on the other hand, considers someone at my neighbors house across the street to be trespassing.  My dogs think anyone else on our entire BLOCK is trespassing. And that would include squirrels, rabbits, birds, the wind… We have an Invisible Fence and there’s a sign to that effect out by our street. It’s very possible, and highly likely, that our big dog could be somewhere out in our yard at any given time. If someone comes up to our house, it’s kind of at their own risk. Our dog is typically pretty friendly and curious but if he felt threatened he absolutely could be more aggressive. He’s totally BFFs with all the delivery people because they always bribe him with treats. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jul 21, 2022 16:06:57 GMT
I really wish people would not knock. I will not buy anything from a door to door salesperson nor donate to a charity soliciting that way. If you're delivering something, just leave it on the porch. My heeler flips out every time someone knocks and it's a pain in the ass to get her calm again (yes, we've done training for years - there is no stopping the excitement over a new human with this dog). I have tried putting a sign on the door asking people not to knock and they do it anyway. No soliciting signs also get ignored by lots of people who believe it doesn't apply to them, or they're trained to say they didn't notice it, blah blah. That said, if I do have to open the door for some reason, I make sure the dog is behind me and then go out and close the door behind me. People are freaked out by the crazy barking dog and I have to tell them she's barking because she wants her belly rubbed by a new person, which is true, but she stays inside because we don't want to encourage that behavior. I wouldn't say someone knocking is trespassing in the legal sense, but damn I wish they'd stop. Our friends know to text us when they get here. That would be so annoying! In our community there’s an ordinance against soliciting stuff door to door like that. Maybe that would be something you could ask about at a city or town council meeting? I usually hold my big dog back by the collar right at the glass storm door so if anything goes sideways I can just let him loose. I don’t know that he would actually hurt anyone but he’s pretty big and has a scary sounding loud bark so most people take a few steps back when they see him there with me. |
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Post by melanell on Jul 21, 2022 18:12:11 GMT
I never heard such extreme reactions to people simply coming to your door until the internet became a thing.  Growing up, it was perfectly ho hum, no big deal if someone came to your door. It happened regularly for all different reasons. Now it happens very infrequently (in my own experience, I mean), and I wonder if it's partly due to other people seeing similar reactions online that I saw back in the day. Personally, I don't view ringing someone's doorbell as trespassing. If they stick around after receiving no answer or being asked to leave, then I view it as trespassing. We do still get the occasional knock at the door--typically from people wanting to offer a service---snow shoveling, lawn services, etc.---and typically high school/college students offering those services. When we have lived in situations where our home looked very similar to others right around us, we used to get "wrong house" door bell rings/door knocks. We once lived in units that were all the same, for instance, or another time our house was in your basic suburban neighborhood where a bunch of houses were built together, and not only was our house originally identical to the neighboring house, but both houses were the same color. So we used to get a lot of people at the wrong house then, too. Especially when someone new would move in and people were coming over for the first time. We've also had people come to our door to be helpful---someone noticed our car lights were left on, or once, when we were in a condo/townhouse situation, we left our keys hanging out of our door. I've knocked on a door to let people know their pet was loose or because I received their mail or package. It'd be a shame to scare off, even accidentally, someone who was trying to help you out. I can't imagine considering someone to be trespassing if they took time out of their day to try to help you with a problem you possibly didn't even know you had yet. |
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Post by bossymom on Jul 21, 2022 18:19:28 GMT
I don’t think it’s trespassing. But I generally don’t answer the door if I’m not expecting company. We have a ring door bell camera so I can see who it is. I hate solicitors. And I have my religious needs set, thank you.
Go away.
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-- Or if it's a neighbor who I recognize. -- Or a young child. Not teens though because fairly often we get small groups of them who are going door to door selling something. Those I report to the police because they asked us to. Apparently sometimes those are "businesses" that exploit children. -- Otherwise, nope. 
My dogs think anyone else on our entire BLOCK is trespassing. And that would include squirrels, rabbits, birds, the wind…
Growing up, it was perfectly ho hum, no big deal if someone came to your door. It happened regularly for all different reasons.