Hi Ladies and Gentlemen....

I wanted to share something with you, and maybe Linda you can even put a little blog in your next newsletter since summer is coming and kids will be playing outside in the yards. This was scary for me as a dog/home owner.

Friday April 1st around 5:45 P.M. my neighbor's 11 year old son had some friends over to his back yard to play. I was at work so nobody was home at my house. Apparently not one, but two basketballs went over our 6 foot privacy fence into our back yard.  The kids that live on the immediate left and right of us KNOW NOT to enter our yard under any circumstances. One of our dogs is NOT stranger friendly and very protective of his yard.

 

Two of the kids who were playing were not our neighbors. They even had "some" (and I use that term mildly/loosely) common sense to go across the street and ask my brother-in-law if they could climb the fence to get their basketballs.  My brother-in-law adamantly told them NO...do not do it, you will get bitten. 

Well, shortly thereafter the first kid climbed the fence into the dogs' section of the yard to attempt to retrieve the ball, but couldn't because he was chased out by Dakotah. Luckily, he was not bitten. You would think that after being told NOT TO GO IN THE YARD and watching their first friend attempt and fail at getting the balls (and more than likely seeing how mad Dakotah was that they were in his yard), that they would NOT attempt it again, but they did! This time the second kid thought he could be "quick enough". We are talking an 11 year old kid versus a 55 pound purebred Australian Shepherd who is bred for herding and chasing down cattle/sheep! Can you guess what happened next??  The boy went in the yard, Dakotah charged him before he could even get to one ball. The boy jumped onto the fence, but not quick enough and Dakotah bit him right square on the butt cheek!  Thank God he got back over the fence and did not fall back into our yard. Geeeesh, can you imagine what could have happened if he didn't get out of the yard?  I could have come home from work and found a severely mauled or dead child in my yard! Not sure Dakotah would go that far, but you just never know. This was HIS YARD, and this child did not belong in HIS YARD. No one was here to stop Dakotah from attacking and who was going to help the boy if he was severely hurt?  Scary!

Anyway, the boys apparently did not tell their parents. When I got home at 7 P.M., the boys just casually walked over to me and asked if I could get their basketballs from the back yard. A couple hours later my doorbell rang, it was the mom of the boy who got bit. She started off by telling me how the boys' basketballs went over the fence (my first assumption was she was asking me to retrieve them)...and when I said, "Oh, I already threw them over to the next door yard", she stopped me and began apologizing for her son's actions. Then she told me what happened.  My heart was about to jump out of my chest until she told me he was OK. He had a quarter sized bruise on one of his butt cheeks and it did open the skin a little bit.  She said she wasn't here to complain or anything like that because her son had no business in our yard. She just wanted to make sure the dog had all his current shots (which he does of course).  We talked for a while, and she told me that she NEVER thought her son would be that much of a risk taker (and idiot) to do such a thing.  She was going to sit down with him and his friends (as well as their parents) and tell them under no circumstances do any of you enter a yard where there are dogs and especially without permission from the homeowner.  This could have been a LOT worse if the boy hadn't made it back over the fence.  He is lucky all he has is a bruised butt cheek!

About 4:30 P.M. yesterday an animal control officer pulled up in front of my house.  I rolled my eyes and thought NOW WHAT? The officer rang my door bell. She was very pleasant and friendly and she said, "I am sure you know why I am here."  The boy's mother had taken him to a clinic for a tetanus shot to be safe. The clinic had called animal control. The animal control officer said, "First off, your dog is not in any trouble whatsoever.  I just need to see his rabies certificate and verify he is current". I gave her Dakotah's papers and she proceeded to tell me how his parents were lashing into him at the clinic because they had no idea that we were going to get pulled into "possible" trouble with animal control! The officer continued telling me that his parents were so mad at him because now animal control was involved and they didn't want hard feelings with their neighbors...etc...etc...etc..  The officer also told me that she thinks (hopes) he has learned his lesson because he looked so embarrassed (he had to drop his pants and show his butt to the nurses and doctor and his mom wanted to video tape it and put it on YOU-TUBE to embarrass him some more!  He was very fortunate it wasn't much worse or God forbid fatal.

My dog is now on a ten day in house quarantine. Aggravation that I don't need from stupid kids that JUST DON'T THINK BEFORE THEY DO SOMETHING!  The boy came over later with his parents and they made him apologize for coming onto my property without permission and for getting my dog "in trouble" as he described it when he apologized.  His parents were very apologetic and said they didn't have a clue animal control would be called when they took their son to get a shot. When a dog bite is reported, it is going to be investigated. Anyway, what's done is done. It goes to show that kids just don't think around animals even when they were told NOT to jump our fence. Two kids actually did it anyway and now one is going to have a sore butt and trouble sitting for a few days! 

 Do you think that taught him a lesson?  Lord, I hope so! LOL

I just wanted to share my latest headache and STUPID people/kid story!

Have a great day!

Sincerely,

Jeanine