Rant from a very upset and worried doggy mom!

[Saint and Mal mom]

Okay, let me start this off. Yesterday, a neighbor boy who lives 2 houses away is throwing rocks into our yard, and they are big ones. They are hitting a roof that we have built over the dog houses to protect the dogs from rain, snow, etc. He's like 9 or 10 years old, so he's old enough to know better, but young enough to play dumb. So my mom saw him and told him to stop and not come on our property anymore. Well, when I came home from school and she told me about the incident, I told her she should go to his house and tell his mom about it. So she did, and his mom apologized for it and scolded him. So we though, hey! Problem solved!

NOT SOOOOO!!!!!     

Today during school, I was in the middle of one of my classes and I am told to come to the office. My mom was on the phone and told me one of our nice neighbors had called and said both Zoey and Dolly were running loose, but she had managed to catch Dolly, but Zoey was GONE! So I leave school, come home, put Dolly in the yard, and look for Zoey a little bit. Then I came inside and checked the anwering machine, hoping the ID tag on Zoey's collar had come in handy. It did.  I am so happy it did. But animal control had her at the shelter, so I had to go get Zoey and pay $10 since they had to pick her up. Turns out the dog's had both been running loose since at least 9:15 this morning, and I came home to get Zoey at 1:00!!! So they had been out for awhile. But they are safe is the main point.

Here's the thing. Does anyone think that it's a coincidence that the very day after we tell this boy to stay off our property that our dogs are running loose?!?! There is no hole in the fence and the gate is working properly. That little boy let them out on purpose, I'll bet you anything!!!!  If either of them had gotten hit by a car, errrrr!!!!! I don't know what I'd do!!!  I'd be so sad. But I'm glad they're safe, but I'm upset that now we have to deal with this kid!!! How can people be like this?!     

[Kermit]

I am SOOO SORRY you had to deal with that!!! Sounds to me like the kid was involved!!!! I don't trust kids! The ones on my street throw things at my dogs and tease them. It is so frustrating.

Thank goodness your babies are safe. That must have been so scary to get that call. I'm just so glad they are safe. I hope something can be done about that kid. Maybe some kind of padlock on your gate?

I hope everything works out!!!

[amylynn]

I'm so sorry! I'm really glad they are both OK & are safe.

[chaos270]

OMG I'd seriously hurt that kid if he's the one responsible.  I agree that you should put a lock on the gate.  It can be annoying but it's worth the peace of mind.  We always lock the gates away from the house while our horses are out because idiots kept leaving the gates open.

[Saint and Mal mom]

Here's the latest from today. We put a chain and lock around the back gate. No one can get in the yard through a gate now. But I started thinking of all the mean things a 10 year old kid could do and came up with thousands of things to keep me awake, worrying about my dogs every night! High on my list of worries was poisoning. It just made me so sad and angry to hear what happened to Jen's dogs, that I knew I was dumb to think it couldn't happen to my girls. So I moved the food bowls and water bowls as far away from the fence as possible. But I'm still worried because this kid could just walk right up to the fence and feed them something. So I came home from school in the middle of the day to check on the dogs and they are fine. But I'm just so scared for them right now. It makes me want to cry, thinking of all the things he could do to them!    Oh guys! What do I do? 

[BarkleysMum]

I have no advice - just wanted to let you know I'm thinking about you.  I'm glad you've padlocked the fence.

[Saint and Mal mom]

Thanks everyone for all your encouragement. I know there's no way we can prove he did it, but I really do think he did. Yes, he knows the dogs wouldn't bite him and barking doesn't matter becaues if he did it, it was right after he watched us leave. My neighbors who have a clean view of our yard where at work or school then. Darn it! And we have been considering the no trespassing sign thing, but can't that sometimes seem like a dare to people? It seems like sometimes with the kind of sign it's almost a suggestion to trespass! I try not to think this kid is so bad he'd deliberately try to hurt the dogs. But I'm just not too sure. I feel better about it now, though. We'll just have to be a bit more careful.

On kind of a side note, when I went to pick Zoey up from the dog pound, I put her in the car and we drove home in silence. Usually I talk to her or pet her or she puts her head up by me for some petting. She didn't even look at me! It's like she knew I was happy to see her but she had done something bad! I felt like a parent driving their kid home from jail or something!  I was so happy she was safe but kind of mad that she had run away. So now today and yesterday she's been giving me these looks that say,"Mom, I'm sorry! I love you!!!!!" So she's been getting some extra love too. And Dolly will be forever the genius around here because she found her way home from 3 blocks away. What a smart girl!

[mtaig12]

Just wanted to say that I have a 9 year old daughter, and spent Thursday chaperoning a fourth grade field trip. So let's just say I have a lot of recent experience with 9 year olds of all kinds, good and bad. 

Throwing rocks and opening the gate are things that a boy of 9 would think to do (although he shouldn't have actually done it). Poisoning is not, unless he is some kind of sociopath. I think that you should discuss this gate opening incident with his mother, and ask HER if a no trespassing sign would be effective with her son. Approach her as an ally rather than an adversary and I would hope she would be helpful (especially since she reacted positively toward the rock throwing incident). Also, given the way he is acting toward the dogs, I wonder if it would be helpful for him to see what it's like to have a pet. Perhaps as his "punishment" he should come over and feed and groom them (with some playing of course). That way he'll see that they are not "just" animals, but more like little people.

Hope this helps!
Tracy

[Saint and Mal mom]

Tracy, thanks for your suggestions! In fact, those are a lot of the same things my mom suggested too. He does have a dog of his own. A bullmastiff female, pretty little thing. My impression is that the family doesn't value their own dog very much, but I could be wrong. They feed her and water her and care for her, but they don't play with her, walk her, and they let her run loose. So I'm not sure I can convince him to care about someone else's dogs given that he doesn't really seem to value his own. But if I ever catch him doing something again, I would be tempted to let him pick up the dog poop in our yard for awhile!  That might teach him something. I don't think this boy is cruel and vicious either. I think he's a bit stupid and sly. But we have told him and his mother that he is not allowed on our property at all anymore, and if he's on it again, for any reason, we will call the police.