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Q: I always dread the 4th of July holiday as my dog suffers extreme anxiety due to the fireworks. This year I politely asked my neighbors if they would forego shooting them off for the sake of my dog; however, not only did they ignore my request, they kept up the fireworks for hours. As a result, I had to take my dog to the vet the following day for treatment - he was then monitored for 48hrs. I feel like my neighbors should be responsible for the bill. Do I have any legal standing in such a situation?

A:There is an old saying that “all is well that ends well.” When one is confronted with a neighbor dispute, the saying should be, “all is well that simply ends.”

The best approach in any dispute with a neighbor is to work it out between neighbors and attempt to avoid legal action. Legal action against a neighbor is rarely forgotten and normally invites some sort of retaliation or hostility.

In this situation, maybe you could reach an agreement that your neighbor would only shoot off fireworks during a certain timeframe and arrange to take your dog to a park or friend’s house during the agreed time-period.

As to what has already occurred, the best approach, most likely, would be to move on and not attempt to force your neighbor to pay the vet bill. If, though, you must then I would suggest contacting law enforcement and just inquire about filing a police report to document the event so later you would have a paper trail if the disturbance were on an ongoing basis. If the disturbance is limited to fireworks once a year on the 4th of July, I suspect there is not much that can be done.