Tuesday, May 29, 2012

PYHO: Neighbors







There once was a time that I enjoyed living on the dirt road near the rail road tracks. It was quiet, stress free and peaceful. A time before the housing market hit an all time low and people starting vacating their houses. Vacant houses replaced by a class of people that I really don't particularly enjoy living in the same neighborhood with, thanks to the crashing market. I'm stuck in my house for at least a few more years. Until all the houses left by those who "just walked away" are sold off by the banks.

For the time being, I'm stuck. It could be worse. I could be living next door to a drug dealer or a pedophile. But it's bad enough when your neighbor beats his wife and she comes banging on your door to help her. I really didn't appreciate that evening. I didn't need to get involved in their problems.

More recently they decided they "needed" a puppy. I guess after having kittens and then they "mysteriously" disappeared after a month or so, required them to get something larger. It would have helped if they actually kept the kittens inside their house until they were old enough to roam free. We live in the woods. With owls, foxes, bears and other critters that might decide your kitten is lunch or dinner. Sadly, this is the truth.

I only knew of the new puppy coming, through my kids who occasionally ride bikes with their daughter. 

The puppy showed up about two months ago. Every one loves a puppy. They're cute, cuddly and fun to play with. Until they become a nuisance and start eating your shoes, peeing and pooing on the carpet and scratching the kids when they jump on them. I'm assuming those are the reasons. I'm not boasting here, but no dog or puppy of mine, gets away with that behavior. Potty accidents do happen, but the rest is preventable if you train your dog.

So guess what happens when you don't train your dog, because you really didn't need it anyways. He finds himself outside. But not in a pen or a fenced yard. He is now running loose around his yard, your yard, the road, the woods, the neighbors yard and wherever else his little puppy mind takes him.

I let the fact that he's been a pain until he broke some plant pots on my porch and made a mess with the mulch and other items on my porch. My husband spoke to the wife about it. It started nicely. Until she called me a liar and said that her dog has never been outside unattended. That he is crated all day. She is obviously stupid because I'm not the only one who has seen her dog outside.

A few days went by without seeing him unattended outside. But it only took a few days.

Last week,  I went to leave the house and one of my husband's shoes was missing from our front porch. There was a mess on the porch, again. As the kids and I were heading down the road I saw the shoe. It was on the neighbor's front porch! And the puppy was wandering around in her yard. I had Miss K get the shoe and we headed to school. This was at 7:30am.

When I got back home at 9:00am the puppy was still outside and her car was home. So she was home, but had no intentions of dealing with her responsibility. I called Animal Control and waited for them to show up. Of course, since this dog wasn't the one who killed my cat (another story, which has pushed me to be pro active about dog owner responsibilities) they didn't rush out to deal with this issue. I left my house at 11:30 am and they never came. I wasn't sure if they came out and spoke with her later in the day, but by Sunday evening, I knew they had not.

The puppy, who is a doberman pincer that is about 4-5 months old, was out again. I watched through my front blinds this dog run in and out of my other neighbor's sprinkler's. I thought to myself hahaha, your dog is getting all filthy and when you call him in and he makes a mess on your carpet, I'd love to be a fly on the wall to see your reaction.

A little while later, I went outside to help my husband finish up the lawn chores, since the tropical storm bands were coming. By then, the puppy had decided to aggravate my husband by running alongside our mower and wouldn't go away. My husband had already gone over to the neighbor's house to see if they were home, so they could put their dog away. Of course not!

So I waited until Tuesday morning to call Animal Control again to report the dog running loose and question they never followed up on my call from Friday. The lady who I spoke with, didn't have a clear answer to why my complaint was not addressed, but she updated the information about the recent events and would send out an officer.

When I got home Tuesday evening, I saw my porch was wrecked again, telling me the puppy was out wandering again. I figured that the AC had not come out again.

 But to my surprise, I had two messages on my answering machine from the AC Officer. The first one was from the officer telling me why no one was out on Friday and that she was the officer who handled our part of the county. Second message was informing me that she came out to the residence for the doberman puppy and found that he was running loose and no one was home. Since the owner's of the dog were breaking the law, she issued them a citation and left it on their door. Woohoo!!

That worked out better than them coming on Friday! They caught her "red handed", so to speak. Later on Tuesday night, I heard the puppy barking his crazy head off. Wondering why he was barking incessantly,  I looked outside. The neighbors decided to tether him out back instead of walking him on a leash for potty breaks. I'm waiting to see how long that lasts. Especially since the line they have him on is about the the size of a clothes line, which in due time will not restrain a full sized doberman.

Idiot neighbors. Hopefully they don't think they'll leave him outside for hours tied up to that line without shelter or water. It's hitting the 90 degree mark here and that's not in direct heat. Like I said, they don't need a dog.



http://youtu.be/wF0bSddMIgg

Video of the Culprit

14 comments:

Robin said...

I was going to post about neighbors as well.....nothing like what you have here however.  This is horrible.  We moved 6 months ago into a neighborhood and it's taking me a while to get used to the lack of privacy..... we deal with the barking dog issue, and a few other minor inconveniences and annoyances.   Before we moved here, we lived in town with one house next door.  They moved off, left the house vacant and left their cat there. Oh, they came every day and fed the darn thing, so why not take it with them?  IDK but that cat sprayed his nasty "maleness" all over everything.  Not to mention digging in all my potted plants and flower beds and pooping.  Ah, yes, neighbors and all that goes with it...   

Angel Shrout said...

Irresponsible pet owners sicken me. We live in the country, so many of them let their dogs roam free. But not when there are cattle nearby. Dogs are dogs big or small. My neighbor behind me have more dogs than I do and they are constantly running loose. I have begun pelting them with BB's because they come here and steal my dogs food and want to tear out my trash. It is sad when what could have been good loving animals are neglected and left to their own devices. I hope that dog finds a good loving home.

shellthings said...

Yikes. They really don't need a dog!

CrazyKindofMom said...

Before we moved into our house, we lived in an apartment and I couldn't stand being in such close quarters with other tenants. I thought moving into my own house with give me peace and quiet, for the most part. But I have found out you can only control what goes on in your house, not on the outside. Unless I move to a subdivision, gated community next time with a HOA.

CrazyKindofMom said...

 Exactly my point! Irresponsible pet owners are sickening. I get so mad about how stupid people are with owning animals. I don't understand why they keep the dog, if it's a pain to take care of.?

CrazyKindofMom said...

 Nope. I don't like to judge others, but they leave me no choice.

Ilene said...

Not only was this a huge nuisance for you, but it's animal cruelty.  I don't get people who treat animals that way.  Good for you for calling them out. 

Julie said...

Oh you gotta love neighbors!  Sounds like yours really don't need a dog but then again who are we to judge.

Stopping by from Shell's PYHO!

Ashley said...

Ugh, some people should NOT have a dog!

Adrienne said...

Ugh! This all sounds like a nightmare to deal with. I'm sorry!

Carolyn (Hooked and Happy) said...

Oh, not good. Sounds like they shouldn't own a dog.

Kristen said...

That poor dog. It probably would've been better if AC just came and took him for a better home. I'm sure he will be tied up on that short leash in the heat. It makes me sick.
I'm sorry that this is something you have to witness every day. It would break my heart.

Emmy said...

Yes, they definitely do not need a dog! How annoying. Glad animal control caught them red handed.

Sorta Southern Single Mom said...

That's frustrating for you and heartbreaking for the puppy. A breed like that needs good training (as do all dogs)!