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Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Meeting the neighbors!

Yesterday, after Mikey came home from the fire, I will admit that I left the front door open, and Colt (the dog) ran out. Other times when Colt has made a dash for it, we usually find him down the alley hanging out by a fence, visiting with our friends dog Bowzer. Mikey needed to have a shower, and Colt wasn't in the yard, so I decided to walk down the alley to see if he was in his usual spot.

Not our immediate neighbor, but the second one over, was in his driveway watching me walk by, calling for Colt. I continued down the alley until I got to our friends yard, Colt wasn't around. There is another dog down the way, and I could hear him barking, so I thought he may be further down. But just for good measure, I looked back to see if Colt was running back to the house already. The neighbor man was standing in the middle of the alley way, looking at me, so I thought maybe he was waiting to tell me that he has or saw my dog.

I decided to walk back and see what he had to say - if anything. I walked up and he said "Looking for your dog?" I nodded, and he said "My name is Jack, and I live in this house right here." He pointed to his house, and I said "Oh yeah?" and he turned and looked at me, and said "...and if your dog is ever on my property again, I'll shoot him."

I was a bit thrown off guard, but did a quick observation... he was a bit swaggery... and had a beer in his right hand! OK, its Tuesday, noon-o' clock, and he has a beer - so hes probably a drunk. Anyways, I looked right at him, and without even flinching and I said "Why would you do that?"

He continued on saying my dog of attacked him twice in his own yard. I was blown away by these accusations! Colt is a 2 year old Lab, and only wants to be everyone's friends! If you have hands, that means you can scratch his belly, therefore, he's you're best friend. The only time I have ever seen him snap at someone, was when our friends 2 year old daughter yanked on his tail. But he simply warned her, and moved on. So... unless this guy was provoking him or trying to grab him... but I never saw anything, heard anything, there were no marks on this guy, and he was probably drunk.

Anyways, he told me to come into his yard to look at something. (Creep alert!) I asked him what it was, and he replied "Just come here and look!" in the kind of tone as if I were his disobedient kid or something. I said "Why, do you have my dog or something?" and he said no, and pointed towards my house and said "He ran off over that way." I turned and looked over at him and said "Well thank you, for being such a nice a friendly neighbor" and walked home.

When I got in the door, Mikey was out of his shower, and I was getting very upset, I asked Mikey if he saw Colt. He said, yes, that he ran in all scared and then hid a few minutes ago.... I couldn't hold it back, and just burst into tears. I told Mikey that some guy named Jack just threatened to kill Colt. I sat down on the front porch, and told Mikey where I was and what happened. Mikey decided to go over there and talk to him. I went inside and yelled at Colt, he just curled up under the coffee table, and stayed there all night. He didn't even eat his food (weird).

When Mikey got back, I was still distraught. Mikey told me that he accused Colt of shitting all over his lawn, said that when we are gone during the day, everyone complains that he barks day and night, and of course told him about how he "attacked" him. There were a few other crazy accusations/stories. Mikey said to him "We'll, that's funny. Because our dog in an indoor dog, doesn't run free, my girlfriend is always home during the day, and if he is outside, he's always tied up. Not to mention, if we leave, he normally comes with us. Oh, and my dog would never "attack" someone."

Seriously - what a jerk. I was so upset for at least an hour, and we were supposed to go into Edmonton, but we never made it. Instead, we just got to Drayton Valley, and bought some new patio furniture, but I'll talk about that another day! So all in all, I hope to NEVER have to deal with this guy again. If there was a strange dog in my yard (and there has been) I've just yelled at it and it has either run away, or just kept moving on. Colt also has his name and our phone number on his tag. There is no reason (not to mention its illegal to shoot a gun in town) to shoot my dog.


My innocent Colt-eee (awe)

5 comments:

  1. Jeez! What a terrible neighbour! It's obvious that he was drunk and tried to pull all those typical excuses about Colt barking all day, but it's impossible because you're always home.
    I think we all inevitably have a jerky neighbour, and I hope you don't have to deal with him again!

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  2. Hopefully he doesn't even own a gun!

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  3. ... let alone many guns that would necessitate an entire rack!

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  4. M, that is entirely innapropriate and borderline chargeable. You were super professional in this situation, and level headed. You are right, he probably is an alcoholic looking to stir the pot. I would go to the local police office and ask them if anyone has put any complaints in on this douchebag or if there are any complaints on your dog. Then you can decide to write a complaint on him, so it is at least on file. Is your dog registered?

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  5. I did call the police the day after, and spoke to an officer who called him about the incident. She let me know that I do have the right to charge him with uttering threats, but I didn't want to take it to that step just yet. After the officer spoke to him, she called me back and advised me that he stated that he has a fear of dogs. I think that is a lie, because he comes onto our property to "correctly" cut our grass. I think that this guy thinks we're not home, but the dog is chained up outside, and barks at him, and he actually barks back... And, now I'm too terrified to approach him (especially when he has a weed whacker in hand) and tell him to get off my property.

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