Owner Countersues For Vet Bills, FAA Investigating

A dog owner who was being terrorized by a neighbor flying his drone low and around the dog to scare it, posted about his experiences – and those of other neighbors being harassed by the drone – on Reddit and it ended up backfiring on the drone pilot in court, and the FAA ia apparently involved, according to the dog owner.

The dog owner said the problems started about seven months ago when the neighbor got his drone and chased cars with it, generally annoyed the neighborhood and tried to scare his dog.

“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,” he said.

He called the police, but nothing came of it. When the dog owner asked him to stop because the drone was scaring his pet, the neighbor just laughed in his face

This continued until the pup – a 70-lb Malamute – took matters into his own teeth, as it were.

The dog caught the drone as it was buzzing around his head and turned it into a “jumbled mess” of plastic and wires. The drone owner wasn’t too happy about it and sued the dog owner in small claims court. “He wanted $900 for the cost of his drone and an additional $300 for supposedly denying him access to his property,” said the dog owner.

After receiving legal advice, the pet owner gathered all the evidence of the drone harassing the dog, including footage, photos of his fenced yard, and most importantly—the vet bills. The dog needed a $700 x-ray, $250 for sedation, and $400 for tooth repair, for which the owner countersued in small claims court.

The judge easily decided in favor of the dog owner and ordered the rude and drone-less neighbor to pay him $2,000.

In addition, the FAA is now investigating the drone pilot’s flying activities and lack of drone registration to determine if any FAA regulations were violated.

FMI:  www.faa.gov/