What To Do? What To Do!

This is my dog. We have lived here and walked together in our neighborhood nearly daily for the past six years. It's why I call my blog Dogwalk Musings. He is always on a leash. No waste is ever left behind. It was our time together. He doofed, I mused. Until late this fall.

The problem began when neighbors got a puppy to be a companion to an older dog. The older dog has run at will since day one. Now they both do. It got to the point they snarled traffic at the intersection because they were always on the road instead of in their yard. It is especially bad now that it's winter and the roads often icy. When the youngster across the street waits for the school bus she often tries to contain the dogs as Bacchus and I pass. Not a good situation.

It didn't take long until they started coming after us. Now, I'm not a petite individual by any stretch of the imagination but I'm not as young as I used to be either. Containing Bacchus and shooing them became perilous to say the least. I tried squirting them with water, then lemon juice then shortened our walk.

Hub said enough of that. So for two weeks while things were slow and he didn't have to be in his office at the crack of dawn he took the walking chores. Every day it's the same routine. Animal control has issued a warning. It continues. Saturday the owner watched as Hub tried to pass, called the dogs into the yard then drove away. Needless to say they were right back out on the road.

We have covenants in the neighborhood against our pets running loose. The county has ordinances against the same. The owner of the dogs serves as a director of the homeowners association. I have personally talked with them about the problem - for years. Now they ignore my phone calls.

We've added Tabasco to the lemon juice mix. Nothing. The man in the pick up spoke with me this morning as I took pictures. He said, "Don't take pictures, shoot 'em!"

I talked with animal control again this morning to see what the next step would be. Did you know I could legally shoot them?

I wouldn't dream of taking such drastic action. But someone else might. All because the owners are too cheap, too lazy or just plain too contemptuous of their neighbors to be responsible owners.

The dogs are just being dogs. I understand that. But the street is not the place to play. I resent not being able to take a perfectly legal walk with my dog and I've come to resent the owners of the dogs who are the cause of it.

Mostly, having now vented, I resent that I don't feel one bit better about it at all.