I have one neighbor who refuses to keep her intact male under control, what I mean by that is that he sleeps in the house with them at night, but she lets him run the neighborhood all day. If any of you remember me mentioning the complete lack of AC in our town you can understand why this is an ongoing problem. THe police have issued her a ticket, but she pays it and goes right back to her routine! I have also spoke to her, and she spouts off to me and walks away.
Well, last Saturday was the last straw! I ran in the house from the back yard to get the phone. I stood by the back door watching out at my 3 year old son playing . Everything was fine and dandy when I walked away to hang up the phone. As I headed back toward the back door to go out again I heard a commotion out in my back yard. The dogs were barking and my son was screaming so I shot out the door to find the neighbors dog "mounting" my son! I panicked of course, and ran to my son. I gave the dog a boot and grabbed my son out from under him and headed for the house. I called my dogs and they folowed me in too. I gave my son a quick once over and realized he was terrified, but not otherwise injured, so I went back outside with the pellet gun to scare the dog off. He was already gone, which is good because I normally wouldn't hurt an animal, but I was furious enough to this time and was ready to give him a few shots to the hind end.
After things calmed down a bit I went out into the yard to see how the dog had gotten into my fence and there it was... a brand new big gaping hole in my fence. I know it wasn't htere earlier that morning, and have never seen my dogs as much as stand up against it, so I know this dog tore the hole to get in. I patched the hole with some boards to keep him out temporarily and called the police. I ended up filing a report on the dog and the damage done to my property. The cop said she's talk to the owner...TALK??? I wanted this woman to pay for my fence!! So I wrote a letter to her(attached below) and DH handed it to her personally later that day.
Hello dog owner, March 10, 2005
This morning, Saturday March 11th 2006 your brown male German shorthair, whom I believe you call either “Buddy” or “Bubba” destroyed the fence that encloses my back yard and keeps my young children and dogs safe. He managed to rip my fence apart in two different places and make his way into my yard, I know this because I saw him trying to do it several times before and shooed him away. But as soon as I would go back into the house he would go at it again and I came out once more to a commotion in my yard and your dog inside my fence trying to assault my special needs three year old son (your dog was trying to mount him and it scared my son to death). You are lucky I got there in time or else you would also be held responsible for any harm he could have caused my son! Since it was your dog who was running loose, your dog that destroyed the fence, and you that are in the wrong for breaking the law and letting your un-neutered dog run loose, YOU are responsible for paying to replace my fence.
You have seven (7) days from the date of this letter to contact me and either pay for the fence or work out an arrangement that works for both parties, or I will be contacting my lawyer, *name removed*. If you give me reason to get a lawyer involved and take this matter to court, rest assured that you will be responsible for those costs as well. If you would like to see the damage your dog has done, I would be glad to show you. I would like to have this matter taken care of as quickly and peacefully as possible. Below is a total cost to repair the damage your negligence has caused. I strongly recommend you think twice before letting your dog run loose and unattended again. The Police have been notified, and will be on the look out for your dog running loose from now on.
Cost for the fence: $42.99 x 3 = $128.97
Cost for Wire: $10.00
Cost for labor: (2 people, 5 hrs) $100.00
TOTAL DUE by 3/17/06: $277.94
Sincerely,
Meg ******
When the woman saw the bill for the fence she came over to see the damage and of course denied that her dog did it, and tried to blame it on my dogs, who had lived peacefully inside it untill today, and made all kinds of excuses why she wouldn't pay and insults toward me and the dogs. I told her to leave and she did, burning rubber in fron of my house in her anger...very mature.
Anyway, her brother came by later that day to inspect the damage, he's a contractor, and was shocked by the damage he saw...I think he knew that his sis was in the wrong because he asked "So if my sister pays for the fence, you'll be happy and let this drop?" I said "No, I want her to keep her dog under contro from now on too, what of my son had fought back and made the dog mad? You do know he was HUMPING him don't you?!? Loose dogs are against the law for a reason!! " Hew responded with a few choice words and something to the effect of "everyone breaks one law or another"... and I told him he could leave too....
AHHHHHH!!!I'm soooo mad right now! My dogs and kids can't go out and enjoy their own yard safely now, and my son is terrified to go outside, and these idiots......I saw the dog again this morning, running loose. I wish we had AC here.
Sorry for the long rant, I'm just sooo mad.