UnderTheRainbow
02-16-2006, 09:16 AM
Okay, first off... the story of Granny and her dog.
There's this house right across the street from us, on the corner. It's a white and blue house with a front gate, chain-link fence across the front, and the sides are fenced with wood, painted-blue wood with about a ft. or white lattice on top. Sounds like a lovely little house, eh?
The lady that lives there is an older lady, probably in her 70's or 80's. Everybody calls her Granny. She's hard into the drug business. You call almost anybody in this town to get coke, and you'll hear "Okay, I just have to stop at Granny's house". She has a dog. It's a dark brindle, looks like some kind of pit bull mix - definitely too big to be purebred. She's out in the yard fairly often, which is why Granny has the fence. Of course, she has the dog because she sells coke to dealers. Every time someone wakls by, it's garanteed, if the dog (I call her Princess Bitch) is outside, she'll come charging to the front fence, jump up and bark like a madwoman. Now, I have no problem with dogs like this, as long as they're kept on a leash in public, or in a fenced yard when they're outside at home.
Problem? She doesn't stay in the fence. It's a 6ft. fence all around, and she jumps the thing. At the wood part on the side, there are spots where she's charged and jumped forcefully enough to put her head through the lattice.
Now, Princess Bitch is only around a year and a half old. She was okay last Summer, mean and barky as ever, but she just recently figured out that she could jump the fence in the front, at parts where it's a bit flexible. I've seen her - she charges towards the fence and uses it as sort of a springboard to freedom. This also wouldn't be a problem with me, if she were escaping just to escape (my dog has done it plenty of times)... but she escapes because of people walking by, and she wants to attack them.
The first time I heard about it was when we had lived there with a roommate... she moved into our own place and he stayed there, and my fiance's brother was going to visit the old roommate. She jumped the fence and charged, then bit his arm. Lucky for him, the house is right across the street, so he was out of danger. We recently moved back into the house, right after things started going bad with our landlord and the old roommate was moving out - he moved everything out and we helped him clean up, the landlord there checked everything out, and we moved in that night. Since we've been there, I've seen her jump the fence planty of times.
The first time I saw her get out, there was a stray black dog. She jumped the fence and went after it... the dog was lucky that someone was at Granny's house and they went out and got Princess Bitch back into the fence. Later that day, I was going for a walk with my dog, Kodos, and she jumped the fence and tried to go after him. That was the day that I learned all you have to do is yell at her, and she backs off. Most people don't know that.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I was seriously considering reporting Princess Bitch, but she has a lot of good-dog potential, being trained to back off from anybody that yells at her (because she is a coke-house dog and all) and just being a bit over a year old. I didn't want to see her put to sleep.
One day, I was sitting in our bedroom. It has a window that faces the road. Suddenly, I heard barking, more barking... figured Princess Bitch was yapping at some innocent passer-by... then I heard even louder barking, and screaming. Of course, knowing how the dog is, and since it's a tiny town and we're close to schools and parks, my first instinct is to practically go flying out the front door. She was charging at a 10-12 year old boy. Not knowing to just yell at her, he's extremely lucky he had a skateboard, and probably even more lucky that I was home at the time. She was charging at him, back and forth, trying to bite and grab onto his arms or anything that she could. He just kept trying to block her with his skateboard, and it worked well until I got out there. I yelled at her until she ran back towards Granny's house, and someone came out and took her back inside. I went in to let Kodos inside, and then went back out to make sure the boy was okay. Poor kid... Kodos went charging out the door as soon as I opened it, and the kid sorta jumped back, but I told him it was okay, he's just a big playful puppy and he wouldn't hurt anyone. So he stood there petting and playing with Kodos, which showed that he wasn't too incredibly shaken up about Princess Bitch, and I asked if he was okay. He said she almost got ahold of his arm, but didn't do any damage. After the short conversation, and having to convince Kodos that he isn't allowed to follow strangers home (he thinks the entire world wants to be his new best friend, haha) I went in and called to report her.
The officer called me back later that night, said she was sitting right outside the house, and asked me to look out the window and make sure it was the right house - sure enough, it was. Then she continued with "The dog's outside, and I'm not going up to the house because I know she has this dog to keep people like me off of her property". She said they would keep sending her tickets and fines, and if nothing was done, they would eventually send someone in to deal with it.
This is not acceptable, to me. It wasn't just that she had escaped and ran around freely several times - she had tried to attack a few people, including a young boy.
So, I let it go. This was a few weeks ago. Fast forward to this past weekend. I was home alone, and Kodos was chained outside while I did housework (if I let him stay in, he's right under my feet constantly). I heard a lot of barking, followed by Kodos barking (yes, I know my own dog's voice). I looked out, and he was still on his chain... again, my first instinct is to go running out the front door. This time, Princess Bitch was after an older man and his yellow lab. He would turn and yell at her, and as soon as he'd turn back again, she'd charge towards them. He yelled and she ran back, got close to my house, and then turned to charge at them again. I walked out onto the road and yelled at her, enough to chase her back towards Granny's house so the man and his dog could get a safe distance away.
Now, I know within a week from now, she'll get out again. She'll probably go after someone, or a dog, or someone and their dog. Hopefully I'll be home, I'll hear the barking, possibly some yelling or screaming, and then go flying out the front door to keep Princess Bitch under control. I'm getting so sick of this.
In a tiny town with no animal control, where the cops are scared of the dog and the people she's associated with, what can you do? I don't know. I figured this would be a good place to ask (and it isn't the only place I've asked). What would you do? I've thought about calling PAWS about her, but I don't know what they would do... if you have a PAWS in your area, do you know if they'll deal with this sort of thing? I've even thought about calling Kodos's vet and asking him what we can do about it, since the cops won't do anything. It worries me SO much, because like I said, we live close to schools and parks, in a town where parents trust everyone enough to let their kids walk to and from school alone. There are kids, older folks, older folks with dogs, and even people my own age and a bit older, and I worry about all of them. I honestly wouldn't care if yelling at her didn't stop her, and I had to throw myself in her path and get hurt, to defend someone else... at least then I'd have a better report, complete with injuries to show for it, and hopefully THEN they'd do something about her. But I don't want that. What is it gonna take? A more serious attack? The dog getting hit by a vehicle? I don't know.
Any ideas on what I can do about this? I can't see small-town cops putting up much of an effort, because she listense to her owner, and the fence is required height... it looks good on paper, but it doesn't stop her from jumping the fence and trying to attack.
I guess until I figure out what I can do, I'll just hope she gets out while our old roommate is over... he has Kodos's brother, Thor, and at least I know if Princess Bitch tries to attack them, they could definitely take her down...their protective of their people, their territory (we still lived together when we got the puppies, so neither of them are territorial towards each-other, it's both of theirs) and each-other.
But, then we'd probably be the ones in trouble for having "vicious, uncontrolled animals".
UGGGGGHHHH.
There's this house right across the street from us, on the corner. It's a white and blue house with a front gate, chain-link fence across the front, and the sides are fenced with wood, painted-blue wood with about a ft. or white lattice on top. Sounds like a lovely little house, eh?
The lady that lives there is an older lady, probably in her 70's or 80's. Everybody calls her Granny. She's hard into the drug business. You call almost anybody in this town to get coke, and you'll hear "Okay, I just have to stop at Granny's house". She has a dog. It's a dark brindle, looks like some kind of pit bull mix - definitely too big to be purebred. She's out in the yard fairly often, which is why Granny has the fence. Of course, she has the dog because she sells coke to dealers. Every time someone wakls by, it's garanteed, if the dog (I call her Princess Bitch) is outside, she'll come charging to the front fence, jump up and bark like a madwoman. Now, I have no problem with dogs like this, as long as they're kept on a leash in public, or in a fenced yard when they're outside at home.
Problem? She doesn't stay in the fence. It's a 6ft. fence all around, and she jumps the thing. At the wood part on the side, there are spots where she's charged and jumped forcefully enough to put her head through the lattice.
Now, Princess Bitch is only around a year and a half old. She was okay last Summer, mean and barky as ever, but she just recently figured out that she could jump the fence in the front, at parts where it's a bit flexible. I've seen her - she charges towards the fence and uses it as sort of a springboard to freedom. This also wouldn't be a problem with me, if she were escaping just to escape (my dog has done it plenty of times)... but she escapes because of people walking by, and she wants to attack them.
The first time I heard about it was when we had lived there with a roommate... she moved into our own place and he stayed there, and my fiance's brother was going to visit the old roommate. She jumped the fence and charged, then bit his arm. Lucky for him, the house is right across the street, so he was out of danger. We recently moved back into the house, right after things started going bad with our landlord and the old roommate was moving out - he moved everything out and we helped him clean up, the landlord there checked everything out, and we moved in that night. Since we've been there, I've seen her jump the fence planty of times.
The first time I saw her get out, there was a stray black dog. She jumped the fence and went after it... the dog was lucky that someone was at Granny's house and they went out and got Princess Bitch back into the fence. Later that day, I was going for a walk with my dog, Kodos, and she jumped the fence and tried to go after him. That was the day that I learned all you have to do is yell at her, and she backs off. Most people don't know that.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I was seriously considering reporting Princess Bitch, but she has a lot of good-dog potential, being trained to back off from anybody that yells at her (because she is a coke-house dog and all) and just being a bit over a year old. I didn't want to see her put to sleep.
One day, I was sitting in our bedroom. It has a window that faces the road. Suddenly, I heard barking, more barking... figured Princess Bitch was yapping at some innocent passer-by... then I heard even louder barking, and screaming. Of course, knowing how the dog is, and since it's a tiny town and we're close to schools and parks, my first instinct is to practically go flying out the front door. She was charging at a 10-12 year old boy. Not knowing to just yell at her, he's extremely lucky he had a skateboard, and probably even more lucky that I was home at the time. She was charging at him, back and forth, trying to bite and grab onto his arms or anything that she could. He just kept trying to block her with his skateboard, and it worked well until I got out there. I yelled at her until she ran back towards Granny's house, and someone came out and took her back inside. I went in to let Kodos inside, and then went back out to make sure the boy was okay. Poor kid... Kodos went charging out the door as soon as I opened it, and the kid sorta jumped back, but I told him it was okay, he's just a big playful puppy and he wouldn't hurt anyone. So he stood there petting and playing with Kodos, which showed that he wasn't too incredibly shaken up about Princess Bitch, and I asked if he was okay. He said she almost got ahold of his arm, but didn't do any damage. After the short conversation, and having to convince Kodos that he isn't allowed to follow strangers home (he thinks the entire world wants to be his new best friend, haha) I went in and called to report her.
The officer called me back later that night, said she was sitting right outside the house, and asked me to look out the window and make sure it was the right house - sure enough, it was. Then she continued with "The dog's outside, and I'm not going up to the house because I know she has this dog to keep people like me off of her property". She said they would keep sending her tickets and fines, and if nothing was done, they would eventually send someone in to deal with it.
This is not acceptable, to me. It wasn't just that she had escaped and ran around freely several times - she had tried to attack a few people, including a young boy.
So, I let it go. This was a few weeks ago. Fast forward to this past weekend. I was home alone, and Kodos was chained outside while I did housework (if I let him stay in, he's right under my feet constantly). I heard a lot of barking, followed by Kodos barking (yes, I know my own dog's voice). I looked out, and he was still on his chain... again, my first instinct is to go running out the front door. This time, Princess Bitch was after an older man and his yellow lab. He would turn and yell at her, and as soon as he'd turn back again, she'd charge towards them. He yelled and she ran back, got close to my house, and then turned to charge at them again. I walked out onto the road and yelled at her, enough to chase her back towards Granny's house so the man and his dog could get a safe distance away.
Now, I know within a week from now, she'll get out again. She'll probably go after someone, or a dog, or someone and their dog. Hopefully I'll be home, I'll hear the barking, possibly some yelling or screaming, and then go flying out the front door to keep Princess Bitch under control. I'm getting so sick of this.
In a tiny town with no animal control, where the cops are scared of the dog and the people she's associated with, what can you do? I don't know. I figured this would be a good place to ask (and it isn't the only place I've asked). What would you do? I've thought about calling PAWS about her, but I don't know what they would do... if you have a PAWS in your area, do you know if they'll deal with this sort of thing? I've even thought about calling Kodos's vet and asking him what we can do about it, since the cops won't do anything. It worries me SO much, because like I said, we live close to schools and parks, in a town where parents trust everyone enough to let their kids walk to and from school alone. There are kids, older folks, older folks with dogs, and even people my own age and a bit older, and I worry about all of them. I honestly wouldn't care if yelling at her didn't stop her, and I had to throw myself in her path and get hurt, to defend someone else... at least then I'd have a better report, complete with injuries to show for it, and hopefully THEN they'd do something about her. But I don't want that. What is it gonna take? A more serious attack? The dog getting hit by a vehicle? I don't know.
Any ideas on what I can do about this? I can't see small-town cops putting up much of an effort, because she listense to her owner, and the fence is required height... it looks good on paper, but it doesn't stop her from jumping the fence and trying to attack.
I guess until I figure out what I can do, I'll just hope she gets out while our old roommate is over... he has Kodos's brother, Thor, and at least I know if Princess Bitch tries to attack them, they could definitely take her down...their protective of their people, their territory (we still lived together when we got the puppies, so neither of them are territorial towards each-other, it's both of theirs) and each-other.
But, then we'd probably be the ones in trouble for having "vicious, uncontrolled animals".
UGGGGGHHHH.