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About once a year on one of my variety of blogs I talk about dog ownership. This year it is here. I live in a puppy mill state. Missouri is also big for other pet mills, too, like cats and chickens and stuff, but this is about dogs.
I live in a *nice* neighborhood, away from the city, but still a subdivision winding along a thickly wooded rocky bluff in the Ozark mountains. People spend a lot of money to move out here- lawyers, doctors, even a retired police officer lives up the street. They build nice homes and drive nice cars and bring their fancy expensive dogs. I have nothing against purebred dogs. They are beautiful.
I grew up with big dogs on a 200 acre farm. A neighbor's big dog (German Shepherd) once tore the flank out of one of our milk goats as it chased a valuable purebred milking flock around in a frenzied madness. My dad saw it happen. The neighbor refused to believe his dog could do such a thing. Shame he wouldn't come over and at least look at the bloody mess she was with a gaping hole in her hip. She lived, but ever after that her milk was no good and she walked with a limp. My own dogs have killed chickens after spending many peaceful months or years around them. It's hard to believe your own pet can be capable of such carnage. It's hard to remember that dogs' brains are wired to hunt, and if not trained to do so for food, will do it for sport. (Chickens are like video games to dogs, so people who get angry and want to kill their dog for killing their chickens are kinda stupider than the dog if they don't learn from that.) It's difficult to understand that your wonderful dog that never hurt anyone in his life can rip a child's face off or tear open an old lady's arm out of the blue one day. Or gang up and kill someone else's cute little dog. They don't see the world the same way we do, and they don't pick up on a human moral code just by being around us.
I'm not going to get into the politics of dogs. Just saying that when you move a dog out into an environment where you think you can let it run free, instincts start coming forward that you might never see, because you are in your house enjoying some spring cleaning and whatnot while your dog is two miles down the road terrorizing someone else's child or pets or tearing up property.
Yesterday a kid started screaming while I was inside my house working on my laptop. That's a horrible sound to hear. Don't worry, the kid is fine. But this happens every little bit, kids riding their bikes past, or walking up to the pool, and there you go, big dog in their face, and it's terrifying. Since my own dog (part collie) once mistook me in the dark for a stranger when I accidentally woke him and he bore me to the ground and ripped my leather coat, I'm sure ANY dog can react with surprise at ANY time and do something regrettable. (That was many years ago at a different house, I haven't owned a dog in about 15 years.)
Ever since spring popped, my neighbors have been letting their dogs out. Every day I see a succession of visiting dogs trot through my yard, around my house, around my chicken pen, in the neighbor's garden, etc. They do this every day roughly about the same time. One dog is a heavy thick furred scruffy thing a little higher than my knees. Another pair that always travels together is a black lab and a big yellow short hair with really long legs. Another one is a German Shepherd. Another one is a great big Pyrenese. I used to see a Rhodesian Ridgeback, but I think it got too old to come by. One guy that lives a mile away walks 5 Corgis by my house. A blind guy two doors up walks a little dog that I never see without him. Another black dog shows up sometimes, his owner is a Razorback fan by the looks of his mailbox. A couple up the road had a couple of beagle crosses that used to come over every day and terrorize my chickens till they completely stopped laying, until I put video on youtube and left him a note saying I could make his dogs famous. That abruptly stopped. I could go on and on, like the one that looks like a Mastiff, or the Bloodhound, Cocker Spaniel, Husky, etc etc etc. If you could see how far apart the houses are here you'd wonder how in the world I see so many dogs in my yard every day. The ONLY dogs I never see in my yard are the Dobermans across the street. They are professionally trained and always fenced or leashed. When that kid screamed yesterday, the owner immediately got her dogs onto leashes and walked them up and down the street training them to ignore it until everything settled down.
I think the thing that amazes me most is how much my neighbors spend on their pets and then let them roam around like it's no big deal. I've seen $1600 dogs trot past my house many times without an owner in sight. I live in a state that is having difficulty keeping underground dog fighting under control DOG FIGHTING RINGS FILL SHELTERS & IMPACT ECONOMY, and a LOT of people own pit bull type dogs. There is one next door, actually. That neighbor has kept a pitbull hybrid of some kind off and on for many years, and the poor dogs are rarely exercised or even interacted with in a kind way. Is it any wonder that one day their big pit bull managed to yank off what looked like a logging chain and went straight for a puppy in a girl's arms as she was walking by? Who wouldn't scream with a big dog bounding full speed at you to get to the pet in your arms? I know it wasn't mentioned to the police that the original owner had trained it to kill kittens when it was younger. That person now owns a LOT of cats. And a few dogs. Loves them all. But I was the one living next door to his first dog until it finally died. We used to sneak food over to it because it was so skinny, and sometimes take straw over in the winter because it had no other shelter besides a plain doghouse without any insulation. In a nice neighborhood.
Lately, this dog has showed up around my house.
I got that video yesterday. Isn't that sad? Someone dumped this dog off, assuming that someone wonderful in this nice neighborhood would take it in, because we have so many nice dogs running around. No one cares. While Missouri encourages the killing of feral cats, there are laws against killing dogs (especially with a collar on), even out here in the woods where rabies and other diseases and parasites are prevalent. I've tried taking dogs into shelters, but they are so full around here that there was a mandatory $25 drop off fee a few years ago, might be higher now. Simply dropping a dog off anonymously near a shelter can get a person fined. There are so many dogs, even purebred dogs, in shelters that can barely afford to take care of the dogs themselves that volunteers spend their paychecks on dog food to bring in and feed the dogs. These dogs sit in cages for long periods of time or even the rest of their lives because no one wants them.
Dogs can be wonderful companions. Dogs can also be scary when owners think how nice they're being to dogs by letting them run around the woods and fields. ~squeeee~ We don't live on farms here, most of the neighbors own 2-4 acres, and dogs will range up to 5 miles in a short time. I'm not sure what these people think goes on in their dogs' heads, but I know what they do in my yard and around my house. They pee all over my tools, buckets, whatever equipment I have out. They throw themselves against my chicken pen until I think the door is going to snap in half, and my chickens nearly destroy themselves freaking out. They knock things over and trample stuff in the garden. They scare away the local wildlife that I moved out here to be part of. They ruin deer season and terrorize little kids. They trot right up to my house like they live here, and one dog even thought I was inviting it in when I opened the door to tell it to go home.
Think of it like this- nice guys who work in offices like tearing up the town bar hopping once in awhile, right? Well, if humans have the urge to 'go wild', what do you think dogs have after being cooped up in a house or yard for months?
I have toyed with the idea of making my place the coolest hangout along the ridge and getting all the dogs to come here and never go home. Wouldn't it spite the neighbors to see me sitting on my deck surrounded by all their dogs on a lazy summer day. It would look ridiculous. But seriously, all I would have to do is get the grill going and accidentally drop a little meat on the ground once in awhile. Wouldn't be long till my yard looked like a dog zoo. Would be easier if I just slaughtered my chickens and strewed them around the yard, less stress and bitterness.
For those of you questioning leash laws or neighborhood coventry 'laws' or whatnot, no such luck. There is NOTHING legal I can do about this unless I call the police, and by the time they get here the dog is long gone. We even asked about restraining a stray dog and calling the neighbor to come get it, can't do that. Dogs are like ambassadors from other countries, exempt from the law. They aren't citizens that can be held responsible, the owners aren't taxed on them like property, and unless you have proof that the dog actually hurt someone or caused significant damage to property, there is no recourse for continually being harassed by the neighbors' dogs.
I'm biding my time. Might have the opportunity to make someone's dogs famous on youtube.
I live in a *nice* neighborhood, away from the city, but still a subdivision winding along a thickly wooded rocky bluff in the Ozark mountains. People spend a lot of money to move out here- lawyers, doctors, even a retired police officer lives up the street. They build nice homes and drive nice cars and bring their fancy expensive dogs. I have nothing against purebred dogs. They are beautiful.
I grew up with big dogs on a 200 acre farm. A neighbor's big dog (German Shepherd) once tore the flank out of one of our milk goats as it chased a valuable purebred milking flock around in a frenzied madness. My dad saw it happen. The neighbor refused to believe his dog could do such a thing. Shame he wouldn't come over and at least look at the bloody mess she was with a gaping hole in her hip. She lived, but ever after that her milk was no good and she walked with a limp. My own dogs have killed chickens after spending many peaceful months or years around them. It's hard to believe your own pet can be capable of such carnage. It's hard to remember that dogs' brains are wired to hunt, and if not trained to do so for food, will do it for sport. (Chickens are like video games to dogs, so people who get angry and want to kill their dog for killing their chickens are kinda stupider than the dog if they don't learn from that.) It's difficult to understand that your wonderful dog that never hurt anyone in his life can rip a child's face off or tear open an old lady's arm out of the blue one day. Or gang up and kill someone else's cute little dog. They don't see the world the same way we do, and they don't pick up on a human moral code just by being around us.
I'm not going to get into the politics of dogs. Just saying that when you move a dog out into an environment where you think you can let it run free, instincts start coming forward that you might never see, because you are in your house enjoying some spring cleaning and whatnot while your dog is two miles down the road terrorizing someone else's child or pets or tearing up property.
Yesterday a kid started screaming while I was inside my house working on my laptop. That's a horrible sound to hear. Don't worry, the kid is fine. But this happens every little bit, kids riding their bikes past, or walking up to the pool, and there you go, big dog in their face, and it's terrifying. Since my own dog (part collie) once mistook me in the dark for a stranger when I accidentally woke him and he bore me to the ground and ripped my leather coat, I'm sure ANY dog can react with surprise at ANY time and do something regrettable. (That was many years ago at a different house, I haven't owned a dog in about 15 years.)
Ever since spring popped, my neighbors have been letting their dogs out. Every day I see a succession of visiting dogs trot through my yard, around my house, around my chicken pen, in the neighbor's garden, etc. They do this every day roughly about the same time. One dog is a heavy thick furred scruffy thing a little higher than my knees. Another pair that always travels together is a black lab and a big yellow short hair with really long legs. Another one is a German Shepherd. Another one is a great big Pyrenese. I used to see a Rhodesian Ridgeback, but I think it got too old to come by. One guy that lives a mile away walks 5 Corgis by my house. A blind guy two doors up walks a little dog that I never see without him. Another black dog shows up sometimes, his owner is a Razorback fan by the looks of his mailbox. A couple up the road had a couple of beagle crosses that used to come over every day and terrorize my chickens till they completely stopped laying, until I put video on youtube and left him a note saying I could make his dogs famous. That abruptly stopped. I could go on and on, like the one that looks like a Mastiff, or the Bloodhound, Cocker Spaniel, Husky, etc etc etc. If you could see how far apart the houses are here you'd wonder how in the world I see so many dogs in my yard every day. The ONLY dogs I never see in my yard are the Dobermans across the street. They are professionally trained and always fenced or leashed. When that kid screamed yesterday, the owner immediately got her dogs onto leashes and walked them up and down the street training them to ignore it until everything settled down.
I think the thing that amazes me most is how much my neighbors spend on their pets and then let them roam around like it's no big deal. I've seen $1600 dogs trot past my house many times without an owner in sight. I live in a state that is having difficulty keeping underground dog fighting under control DOG FIGHTING RINGS FILL SHELTERS & IMPACT ECONOMY, and a LOT of people own pit bull type dogs. There is one next door, actually. That neighbor has kept a pitbull hybrid of some kind off and on for many years, and the poor dogs are rarely exercised or even interacted with in a kind way. Is it any wonder that one day their big pit bull managed to yank off what looked like a logging chain and went straight for a puppy in a girl's arms as she was walking by? Who wouldn't scream with a big dog bounding full speed at you to get to the pet in your arms? I know it wasn't mentioned to the police that the original owner had trained it to kill kittens when it was younger. That person now owns a LOT of cats. And a few dogs. Loves them all. But I was the one living next door to his first dog until it finally died. We used to sneak food over to it because it was so skinny, and sometimes take straw over in the winter because it had no other shelter besides a plain doghouse without any insulation. In a nice neighborhood.
Lately, this dog has showed up around my house.
I got that video yesterday. Isn't that sad? Someone dumped this dog off, assuming that someone wonderful in this nice neighborhood would take it in, because we have so many nice dogs running around. No one cares. While Missouri encourages the killing of feral cats, there are laws against killing dogs (especially with a collar on), even out here in the woods where rabies and other diseases and parasites are prevalent. I've tried taking dogs into shelters, but they are so full around here that there was a mandatory $25 drop off fee a few years ago, might be higher now. Simply dropping a dog off anonymously near a shelter can get a person fined. There are so many dogs, even purebred dogs, in shelters that can barely afford to take care of the dogs themselves that volunteers spend their paychecks on dog food to bring in and feed the dogs. These dogs sit in cages for long periods of time or even the rest of their lives because no one wants them.
Dogs can be wonderful companions. Dogs can also be scary when owners think how nice they're being to dogs by letting them run around the woods and fields. ~squeeee~ We don't live on farms here, most of the neighbors own 2-4 acres, and dogs will range up to 5 miles in a short time. I'm not sure what these people think goes on in their dogs' heads, but I know what they do in my yard and around my house. They pee all over my tools, buckets, whatever equipment I have out. They throw themselves against my chicken pen until I think the door is going to snap in half, and my chickens nearly destroy themselves freaking out. They knock things over and trample stuff in the garden. They scare away the local wildlife that I moved out here to be part of. They ruin deer season and terrorize little kids. They trot right up to my house like they live here, and one dog even thought I was inviting it in when I opened the door to tell it to go home.
Think of it like this- nice guys who work in offices like tearing up the town bar hopping once in awhile, right? Well, if humans have the urge to 'go wild', what do you think dogs have after being cooped up in a house or yard for months?
I have toyed with the idea of making my place the coolest hangout along the ridge and getting all the dogs to come here and never go home. Wouldn't it spite the neighbors to see me sitting on my deck surrounded by all their dogs on a lazy summer day. It would look ridiculous. But seriously, all I would have to do is get the grill going and accidentally drop a little meat on the ground once in awhile. Wouldn't be long till my yard looked like a dog zoo. Would be easier if I just slaughtered my chickens and strewed them around the yard, less stress and bitterness.
For those of you questioning leash laws or neighborhood coventry 'laws' or whatnot, no such luck. There is NOTHING legal I can do about this unless I call the police, and by the time they get here the dog is long gone. We even asked about restraining a stray dog and calling the neighbor to come get it, can't do that. Dogs are like ambassadors from other countries, exempt from the law. They aren't citizens that can be held responsible, the owners aren't taxed on them like property, and unless you have proof that the dog actually hurt someone or caused significant damage to property, there is no recourse for continually being harassed by the neighbors' dogs.
I'm biding my time. Might have the opportunity to make someone's dogs famous on youtube.
I better get on that.
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