Man Yells at Dogs for Whom the Bell Tolls; Neighbor Sues Him

A Hancock Park dog owner filed suit Monday against a neighbor he says resorts to ringing a loud bell and cursing loudly whenever dogs bark in the neighborhood.

Paul H. Nankivell II says in his suit that shortly after moving to his property on Lucerne Boulevard, “we began hearing at all hours of the day and night a loud ringing of a school-type bell, together with the loud screaming of words which were typically: ‘Shut up . . . dammit, shut up!’ ” whenever dogs barked in the neighborhood.

Called on Neighbor

After calling on his next-door neighbor to try to persuade him to cease this form of protest, Nankivell says, he agreed to keep his Labrador retriever in the house at night. He said he told the neighbor that most of the barking was from a dog south of their adjoining properties.

Despite this, the bell-ringing and screaming continued, the Los Angeles Superior Court civil suit claims.

Then, Nankivell alleges, on May 2 the neighbor, octogenarian Gene Glenn, went to Nankivell’s front gate, berated his 5-year-old son and told the boy that his dog, Joshua, would be taken away if the barking did not stop. He further threatened that another family dog, a schipperke named Woolfies, also would be taken away if it got into his garbage again, the suit says.

Nankivell, a lawyer, alleges that the defendant’s conduct constitutes a nuisance. He is asking the court to order Glenn not to ring any bell or scream when dogs bark and not to talk to his son about it.

Glenn was not available for comment Monday. His wife, Mercedes, said the Nankivells “really created the nuisance. My husband said he certainly wouldn’t ring the bell if they would keep the dogs quiet. The dogs would bark at 2 or 3 in the morning, and we couldn’t get any sleep. We are the ones who have been imposed upon.”