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I first noticed this mean little dog (not the one pictured here) when I was heading to the bus stop one afternoon and my son had already been dropped off and had started walking up the hill toward home.  As I came around the corner I saw my son bent over in the middle of the road holding his lunch box between himself and a barking dog.  The dog looked like an over grown “hot dog” with long hair.  I pulled up and he got in the car and I sat there for a moment expecting to see the owner come out and apologize or at the very least call the dog in.  No one came out.

Since that day, I have terminated my walks as I approach the house where the dogs run loose much of the time.  Sometimes they – three of them – would be on the porch and inside so it was “safe” to walk by.  I have walked to the bus stop on nice days only to find that I would have to deal with the dog to get there and then again to get home.  I had heard from a reliable neighbor that a friend has been bitten by the dog about a year before and the owner had lied, saying that the dog was up to date on it’s shots.  My son’s friend also had his pants torn as the dog tried to bite his leg!

Last Friday I picked up my son at the bus stop and drove 2 of his friends home too.  As we started up the hill a young girl who was walking home met up with the dog.  Sure enough he came out snarling and barking – right into the road and I stopped the car so she could get in and get away from him.  It was the last straw for me.  I went home and called the town offices and they told me to call the police.  The officer said he would give the owner a warning and then he would get fined if it kept up.

The next day I went for a walk and as I passed the house all was quiet.  The day after that a sign went up in front of the dog’s house that says, “thanks a lot neighbor, the dogs are gone”.  It’s the buzz of our tiny neighborhood, but general consensus is that it was one too many complaints on an animal that needed to be tied up.

As for the owner blaming the “neighbor” for the trouble, well, you be the judge.  I pity dogs that have fools for owners.