Ugh. This scared the crap out of me. It happened around 1:15 PM this afternoon, but I was too shaken up to post about it until now.
When I give my dogs raw bones, I usually corral Axl, Pepito, and the puppy in the kitchen. I send Ogre outside on his tie-out, since the other dogs will *not* stop stealing his bone, and he lets them. This way he can enjoy his bone in privacy without being bothered. Our back door has a screen door and a main door, so when Ogre is outside I leave the main door open and the screen door cracked, so I can hear what's going on outside. The computer is right by the door, and I'm on it or in that room most of the day, so I'm always literally feet away from where Ogre is tied out.
Well, he had been outside for about 10 minutes, contentedly crunching his bone, when he started barking. No big deal, I figured the neighbors were probably outside or he saw a squirrel or something. I yelled an "Ogre, leave it!" out the door and kept doing what I was doing. Usually, that's enough to quiet him down. This time, he kept barking. In his distinctive "I see someone who should NOT be here" voice- much different from the puppy barks he gives when he sees a squirrel or a neighbor. So, I started to get up to see what was up. Just as I stood up, I heard someone whistling, as if they were calling a dog...and then a "C'mere dog!" At that point, I RAN out the door.
Our backyard is huge (our house is on an acre lot), and partially wooded. It's also unfenced. Near where the grass ends and the wooded area begins, there's a creek that seperates our yard from the neighbor's behind us. There was a REALLY scruffy, shifty looking man standing on the back of the creek, still technically in the neighbor's yard but just feet away from mine. I was standing on the deck, which is MUCH higher up than the bank he was standing on, so he couldn't see me at first. I stood there for a moment, not really knowing what to do, (I was home alone and this is the type of stuff I have nightmares about...so I was pretty scared) and he continued whistling and trying to get Ogre to come to him...all the while looking around like he was worried someone would spot him. Ogre was still a good 30+ feet away from him, bristling and snarling and acting VERY unhappy. I couldn't believe the guy was still trying to get him to come to him. I would have been scared to death. [&:]
At that point, I came to the railing of the deck, where he could see me. As soon as he saw me, he turned and started walking away quickly, but not running...like he was trying to pretend he hadn't been doing anything wrong. I don't know how I managed, considering I'm a huge weenie under normal circumstances, but I yelled "HEY! C'MERE!" and surprisingly, the guy stopped and turned around. Before I could say anything else, he said "Oh, ah, I was jus' readin' your meter!!" (Right. I know the guy who reads the meter. Apparently, meter readers have reason to stand in the middle of the neighbor's wooded backyard, about a zillion miles away from said meter, with no vehicle, and no uniform. They also look like they haven't showered in about a zillion years and dress like bums. The guy looked homeless. [8|])
I yelled "No, you weren't. And you have about 5 seconds before I call the cops." He yelled back, "Man, F*^% you!!" and ran for the street. I grabbed Ogre, ran inside, locked the door, and called my husband.
I probably should have called the cops, but I was NOT even thinking at that point. I have serious anxiety problems and I pretty much live in fear of being robbed or assaulted somehow by someone. Even if I had, the guy would have been long gone before anyone showed up. I just called my husband, and then my mother, and freaked out and had a full blown panic attack.
The worst part is, if I had stepped out of the room for even a second, this guy could have stolen Ogre, or hurt him, or whatever the hell he had been planning on doing. Now, I'm afraid to put Ogre out on his tie out...which is a problem, because even with regular walks, he gets REALLY difficult to control if he can't go outside for a while to blow off steam. I guess from now on he's only going to be able to go out with me standing right there watching him the whole time. [&o]
And the other creepy thing is that there is NO way you can see my backyard from the street, at all. This guy was obviously just walking thorugh people's yards and either scoping out houses to break into or for things to steal...there's no other reason he would have been back there. I'm terrified now. I may call the cops and give them a description and let them know this guy is up to no good.
Sigh, I'm just so upset that this happened. With how paranoid I am already (I won't even leave the house alone. Without my husband, I'd be a total shut-in.) this just puts me over the edge. I'm not going to sleep for weeks.
And this just makes things so difficult now. Ogre eats outside, plays outside, and goes potty on his tie- out. Having 4 dogs in the house is rough...that's also the only way I can ever have a little bit of a break. Axl and Pepito won't go farther than a few feet from the deck, so I let them outside to go potty on their own, and on nice days they go out on the deck to sleep in the sun. The only dog that I actually have to supervise 100% of the time is the puppy. Now I'm afraid to let Ogre go out on his tie-out, and afraid to let Axl and Pepito go out on their own. I feel like I'm completely under seige in my own house. [&o]
Sigh, I can't wait to move. This house is in a nice neighborhood, but the projects are nearby and we get alot of shady people over here because there are fewer cops. This isn't the first time I've been approached by someone with ill-intent (we've had a bicycle stolen, and a group of teenagers once tried to bully me into selling Axl to them for $20 while on a walk....they almost got physical with me) but for some reason this scares me so much more.
Now I'm afraid to take my dogs outside. I'm so glad I only have 7 more months to go in this town. [
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