Some days, our dogs are not here when I leave for town. Sometimes I see them down the gravel road, by Farmer H and Buddy's Badly Blacktopped Hill. They take off running alongside T-Hoe. Scarlett can get ahead of me. Jack can't quite keep up once I get on the flat part. He often cuts through the fields rather than sticking to road and driveway. Pupsie sneaks off into the field and rejoins Scarlett at the garage.
I've told Farmer H that I don't like the dogs ranging so far. I know they probably did it before now, but they'd make their morning rounds like when my Sweet, Sweet Juno was here with Jack and Poor Dumb Ann, the black german shepherd. Gone about an hour, then lounging around here all day, and chasing rabbits in the evening as a trio.
"Yeah. It's getting to be a problem. I've gotten stuff on Facebook about them. Neighbor sent me a picture asking if Scarlett was my dog. Had a picture of Scarlett walking across her deck. She just said okay when I answered. Then a guy up the road seen it, and left a comment saying "That's bullshit! They're a pack!" I guess he meant because Scarlett and Jack and Pupsie were together."
The next week, the Up-Road Guy sent Farmer H a message that he saw our dogs out on the blacktop county road. Farmer H blamed The Pony who had come out Thursday to set up my TurboTax download.
"You might have lost your dogs. U-R Guy said they're all the way down by the guy we bought our old rental duplex from. It was about 12:45. I guess they followed The Pony."
"No. Because The Pony got here around 11:30, and didn't leave until after 2:00. In fact, I kept hinting that I usually went to town around 2:00, but I wasn't trying to rush him off."
"Oh. Well. They're not here now."
The dogs returned around midnight:30. I could tell by their barking and scuffling on the front porch. On Saturday, Farmer H sent me a text from his Storage Unit Store 2.5.
"HM, I guess we are going to have to do something with the dogs they are becoming a problem with the neighbors"
"I don't know what to do. Shock collar maybe. I won't tie them up. We could give Scarlett to somebody, and get Jack fixed. What are they doing that's so bad? They haven't killed 39 chickens like Neighbor's dog did to ours."
"Here's the text I just got: 'Hey Farmer H just wanted to let you know I've seen your dogs as far as [County Blacktop Highway] also the brown one was being bred. If u bring her asap to a vet they will give you medicine to abort the pups. They have also been down here in my front yard shitting and eating cat food.' That was from Neighbor."
"Well, Scarlett's fixed, so there's not going to be a pup issue. I don't know what to do. I shoot at problem dogs with my old BB gun if they are close enough to the porch. Scarlett is the main leader of our three."
"Yes she is I know someone who might take her ill check"
To be continued...
2 comments:
I can understand not wanting to tie them up, but what about constructing a very large dog run on your property where they can still gallop about but not escape from? Add in play toys and kennels for shelter. Something about half an acre fenced in, maybe a very tall fence, something they can see through like a chain link fence about 10-12 feet high?
River,
The problem with dogs and fences is that they DIG under the fence. Farmer H mentioned how it's a shame we couldn't use the goat pen, which runs over to the BARn, and partway down towards the creek. It's not tall enough, about 4 feet, and only goes to the ground. No concrete reinforcement below the soil to prevent digging out.
I don't want pets that have to be prisoners. It's the country, and in the country, dogs can roam. Just not as far as Scarlett has been going, which puts her at risk of being hit by a car.
We've had many dogs coming and going here over the years, and the only time it was a problem was Neighbor's chicken-killing Crazy Rottweiler and Killer Poodle. They could have been broken of killing chickens, but I'm not sure their aggressive nature could have been altered. They were rescue dogs, and she penned them up after all the chickens were dead. They would also chase our own dogs up onto our porch, snarling, and bit Juno on the butt once. Scarlett, though an annoying pest, is neither aggressive, nor a killer.
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