We were dogsitting today and had Emma (our dog) in the yard with her playmate while we were at work. It was only a few hours we figured they would be fine. Our neighbors are all super friendly and if a dog gets we all politely return the animal.
At 10am Animal Control called to tell me that Emma was picked up by Animal Control. We needed to pick her up, pay the $40 impound fee and then pay $15 licensing fee. So $55 total, we had $66 in our bank account as it was a few days before payday. Talk about bailing your dog out of jail.
We get there and the lady politely told us that Emma was turned in by a neighbor who was tired of rescuing dogs and believed there was a containment issue. We were floored. Emma has gotten out once before and we were home when it happened. She jumped off the deck and ran the next door neighbor's yard (who also has two dogs). The neighbor called us, we picked her up end of story. Well, this time, the neighbor deciding to teach us a lesson, chose to call Animal Control, cost us $55 and eternally piss us off. We paid the fee. Took Emma home and did a little research.
After talking to the neighbors that live directly behind us they informed us that the elderly couple that lives next door to us has some issues. They once called the cops to tow our neighbor's car who was parked in front of their house. After some more investigation, it came to our knowledge that the same couple were the ones who turned Emma in. Now, for the fun part.
That couple has two dogs, both 80-pound labs that are uncollared and untagged. They got out one day and came to our yard. We very nicely put them back in their yard. Two week later, they got out again, we put them back in their yard. Who has the containment issue?
I just don't understand why someone who lives next door would call Animal Control instead of doing the polite thing and calling us or simply putting the dog back in the yard. Emma has tags, we are always around, how hard is it to call?
Dale really wanted to go over there and give them a piece of his mind but he refrained in the end. Now, Emma is on a tie-out in the backyard, barking and whining because of her unhappiness. We are not irresponsible pet owners. We love our animals and we take care of them well. Sometimes, you cant control your dogs behavior, if they see a squirrel they may chase them to Neverland, you just never know.
I feel guilty keeping Emma on a short-leash. So thank you neighbor for making me feel like a jerk to my dog. And by the way, the $55 would have been nice to save being has we are expecting a child, that could have been $55 toward food, clothes, or hell, maybe a college fund.
***This was just a rant, I really am trying to decide what to do about this situation. I don't know whether to confront the neighbor or let it go. Dale wants to sneak over in the night and let their dogs out....just kidding! I am just perturbed by the situation. What's worse is that their are 8 dogs between our 4 houses, every week, one gets out. We always do the polite thing, return the animal. Emma may have just been the last straw but nonetheless, confront me before calling Animal Control.
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