The girls had spring break so I decided to take a day off of work and spend some quality time with the family. I took the girls to Skateland with some of their friends and then we went to a movie. At about 5:30 I was beat so while the girls played in the backyard I went upstairs and found my favorite spot in the house, my comfy sofa and facing my HD widescreen TV. I had been relax’n for a few minutes when I hear some animals going at it in the front of our house so I got up to check out the fight – thinking that it was someone else’s problem – not mine. Then to my amazement I see Kristine holding on to Roscoe (our dog) and a neighborhood lady picking up her Chihuahua and yelling at Kristine – you are going to pay for this @#%&. I quickly headed down stairs and ran outside – by then a lady in a black SUV had pulled up and offered to take the other lady and her dog home. Good thing they accepted the ride and got in the car and drove off. I followed Kristine into the backyard to find out what happened. I asked Kristine if Roscoe bit her dog and Kristine said no.
Some background – there is an older couple that walk their dogs everyday. He walks a German Shepherd and carries a golf club in his right hand – she walks a Chihuahua and follows about 10 feet behind him. They both are grumpy and I have never seen them smile. When we first moved in three years ago I said hello to them twice and got nothing back so now I pretty much ignore them. Although their German Shepherd is pretty consistent in peeing on my bush every time they walk by which ticks me off – but I have not said anything like “give my bush a break and walk on the other side for a change”.
The grumpy old man is on the HOA and walks the neighborhood to check and see if anyone is in violation of our CC&Rs. What a life. About six or nine months ago Kristine was playing with Roscoe in the backyard and she said that he put his nose in the air to sniff something and then ran around the house and through the open gate and down the street after the old couple and their dogs. He ran past the old lady and the small dog and to the old guy to say hello to the German Shepherd. The old guy poked Roscoe with his golf club and then Kristine got a hold of Roscoe and took him home. The guy said something mean to Kristine – I can’t remember what it was but Kristine doesn’t like him.
Back to the current story – Now we have a problem in our house with telling the truth. No one under 12 can seem to tell the truth even when you have an eye witnesses (sometimes multiple eye witnesses). So I ask Kristine what happened and she said that they were playing tag in the backyard and Nichole ran down the side of the house and Kristine was chasing her (and Roscoe was chasing Kristine). Nichole ran out the gate (which was closed) and then Kristine and then Roscoe – whereby the lady just so happened to be walking her dog in front of our house. The grumpy old lady was flying solo – no grumpy old man. So Roscoe ran up to the taco bell dog and it started to bark. So Roscoe did the same thing. Kristine said the old lady start to yell at Kristine. I asked if Roscoe bite her dog and Kristine said no. So I thought – what’s the big deal. But she was pretty upset so I asked again – and again - and again – then finally Kristine said that Roscoe bit her dog on the back. I asked if there was any blood - “no Dad I looked really hard”. So I thought crap we are in trouble. Then I asked Nichole what she was doing when all this when down. She said that she was in the garage and couldn’t see anything – I said you couldn’t have helped Kristine get Roscoe and she said no Dad he is too big of a dog. I will edit out what I said next. I only want to be portrayed in a positive light.
So the next day I call my friend in the neighborhood to see if knows the couple’s name and where they live because my friend was the past HOA President and had a lot of run-ins with the old grumpy guy. He couldn’t remember his name.
So this happened on Thursday night. I drive up and down the street to see if I can see where they live and looking for that black SUV because they sounded like they knew each other. I also called the police department to see what trouble we have ourselves in. They basically wanted to know if the dog bit a human and since it was dog on dog crime it was no big deal. So I felt that we dodged a bullet. I would just have to pay medical bills because I am sure that they took that little taco bell dog to the dr.
So on Monday I get a note left on our door from Animal Control to contact them. I call them back and speak to the same person that I had talked to in the previous week. She was going to have the officer that took the report call me back. The officer called back and said that the couple wanted to press charges and classify my dog as a vicious dog and that the lady was afraid to walk the neighborhood because of my dog. I wanted to say she didn’t look that scared when she walked by my house on Monday night, but I held back. The officer said that I am now looking at a criminal misdemeanor charge punishable by a $2,500 fine and 60 days in jail. I said what happened to not a big deal - her response was the other dog’s owner wants to press charges and normally that does not happen. We suggest that you contact the owner of the other dog and work it out with them. I am screwed…………….
I am sure that we are no different that any other family - so just like any household I bring Penni up to speed. And I hate to say it by guys know what I am saying – I am sure that I am not alone here – her response was that this is ridiculous and we will just go to court and so on ….. then I say to her – That is sure aggressive talk - who is the dog’s owner than???? You or me…… cause I don’t want to do any time in tent city in the middle of the summer…. Plus I am white and have good skin you don’t think that I will be like the prettiest girl at the prom…. I can’t do hard time ….. I know what goes on in those places. Plus you are better at making friends than I am. You can only imagine the look I got at this point.
So it comes down to the facts – let’s take drama and emotion out of it. Roscoe got out without a leash and bit another dog. All are against the law and the couple (even as much as I don’t like them) have a right (I guess) to walk their dogs. So now it’s time to get strategic – I know a judge in Mesa and there is a 50/50 chance that I would go in front of him. Next, I am a pretty good negotiator so I have that on my side. My best bet is to try to contact the dog owner and get this handled one-on-one. If that doesn’t work my chances in court are excellent because I can show that I tried to work it out and the other party wanted no part of it. So now we are wasting the court’s time and that looks better for me.
So Tuesday I am driving home from work – the Animal Control officer gave me the old guys address and I know what has to be done. He is going to get upset and exaggerate what happened. In the end we can settle this or we can go to court. The worst will be taking some verbal abuse – no sweat.
So I get home and walk down to his house. Knock on the door and their two dogs start barking. The old guy answers the door and invites me into his house – no wait he comes outside and shuts the door. I apologize for what Roscoe did and genuinely feel sorry that it happened. And he reacts just like I predicted – he exaggerates the story – he has Roscoe dragging his dog into the middle of the street, grabbing the dog in his month and shaking him violently side to side. Or as he puts it - your dog beat the hell out of my dog. My goal is to be humble and let him vent because I was at fault. Then he gets upset at me for not coming over that night – I did respond by saying you know where I live, I have no idea where you live. Then he wants to re-live the first time that Roscoe got out and his version of what happened – surprise here – is totally different then what Kristine told me. That Roscoe ran down the street and luckily his wife grabbed their dog and that Roscoe put his two paws on his wife’s chest to get at the dog. I didn’t say anything other than - did you ever come talk to me about this? – You knew that I was not there. Of course the answer was no. Plus there are other things wrong with his story – the only way Roscoe is putting his paws on her chest is if she has a biscuit in her mouth and is patting her hands on her chest. Then the guy tells me that this was a felony and that there is not much he can do now that he has reported it to the police. Again he doesn’t know what he is talking about. So I say call the animal control office and tell them that we have worked things out. I gave him a check for $300 (for the full medical exam his dog got) and tell him that I am going to security Roscoe in with another fence. Then for the cherry on top of the evening – let me set the stage. He is 30 years older then me, 100 lbs. lighter, and a foot shorter. He basically ummm tells me that there will be real trouble if this happens again. Then I ran home to change my clothes because I got so scared and soiled myself. In some way I had to admire him, he didn’t have much to work with but he wanted to get his point across and did his best with what he had to work with. It was a little funny.
So now I have to Roscoe proof my back yard so this doesn’t happen again. Because I told Kristine if it does, we are taking the dog to the Hales so that they can have fresh meat as part of their food storage plan.
If you come by the house now – my vicious dog is behind two fences. And the old couple still walking their dogs. I you can probably find me relax’n on the couch but now I keep the window closed.
After I wrote this I remembered one thing. The night that this happened I told Kristine that she had to do a better job of taking care of Roscoe – that I was not going to jail for some dog and if it happened again we may have to get rid of Roscoe. So the next day as Penni and the girls were going to dance (they were all in the garage getting in the van) Roscoe comes walking up (now he is outside in the front yard). Penni is like why is Roscoe not in the back yard and who let him out the gate. To make the story short I will skip to the end - Zoe let Roscoe out of the back yard to get Kristine in trouble. Now I have to Zoe proof the gate. Such is our life!!!
Some background – there is an older couple that walk their dogs everyday. He walks a German Shepherd and carries a golf club in his right hand – she walks a Chihuahua and follows about 10 feet behind him. They both are grumpy and I have never seen them smile. When we first moved in three years ago I said hello to them twice and got nothing back so now I pretty much ignore them. Although their German Shepherd is pretty consistent in peeing on my bush every time they walk by which ticks me off – but I have not said anything like “give my bush a break and walk on the other side for a change”.
The grumpy old man is on the HOA and walks the neighborhood to check and see if anyone is in violation of our CC&Rs. What a life. About six or nine months ago Kristine was playing with Roscoe in the backyard and she said that he put his nose in the air to sniff something and then ran around the house and through the open gate and down the street after the old couple and their dogs. He ran past the old lady and the small dog and to the old guy to say hello to the German Shepherd. The old guy poked Roscoe with his golf club and then Kristine got a hold of Roscoe and took him home. The guy said something mean to Kristine – I can’t remember what it was but Kristine doesn’t like him.
Back to the current story – Now we have a problem in our house with telling the truth. No one under 12 can seem to tell the truth even when you have an eye witnesses (sometimes multiple eye witnesses). So I ask Kristine what happened and she said that they were playing tag in the backyard and Nichole ran down the side of the house and Kristine was chasing her (and Roscoe was chasing Kristine). Nichole ran out the gate (which was closed) and then Kristine and then Roscoe – whereby the lady just so happened to be walking her dog in front of our house. The grumpy old lady was flying solo – no grumpy old man. So Roscoe ran up to the taco bell dog and it started to bark. So Roscoe did the same thing. Kristine said the old lady start to yell at Kristine. I asked if Roscoe bite her dog and Kristine said no. So I thought – what’s the big deal. But she was pretty upset so I asked again – and again - and again – then finally Kristine said that Roscoe bit her dog on the back. I asked if there was any blood - “no Dad I looked really hard”. So I thought crap we are in trouble. Then I asked Nichole what she was doing when all this when down. She said that she was in the garage and couldn’t see anything – I said you couldn’t have helped Kristine get Roscoe and she said no Dad he is too big of a dog. I will edit out what I said next. I only want to be portrayed in a positive light.
So the next day I call my friend in the neighborhood to see if knows the couple’s name and where they live because my friend was the past HOA President and had a lot of run-ins with the old grumpy guy. He couldn’t remember his name.
So this happened on Thursday night. I drive up and down the street to see if I can see where they live and looking for that black SUV because they sounded like they knew each other. I also called the police department to see what trouble we have ourselves in. They basically wanted to know if the dog bit a human and since it was dog on dog crime it was no big deal. So I felt that we dodged a bullet. I would just have to pay medical bills because I am sure that they took that little taco bell dog to the dr.
So on Monday I get a note left on our door from Animal Control to contact them. I call them back and speak to the same person that I had talked to in the previous week. She was going to have the officer that took the report call me back. The officer called back and said that the couple wanted to press charges and classify my dog as a vicious dog and that the lady was afraid to walk the neighborhood because of my dog. I wanted to say she didn’t look that scared when she walked by my house on Monday night, but I held back. The officer said that I am now looking at a criminal misdemeanor charge punishable by a $2,500 fine and 60 days in jail. I said what happened to not a big deal - her response was the other dog’s owner wants to press charges and normally that does not happen. We suggest that you contact the owner of the other dog and work it out with them. I am screwed…………….
I am sure that we are no different that any other family - so just like any household I bring Penni up to speed. And I hate to say it by guys know what I am saying – I am sure that I am not alone here – her response was that this is ridiculous and we will just go to court and so on ….. then I say to her – That is sure aggressive talk - who is the dog’s owner than???? You or me…… cause I don’t want to do any time in tent city in the middle of the summer…. Plus I am white and have good skin you don’t think that I will be like the prettiest girl at the prom…. I can’t do hard time ….. I know what goes on in those places. Plus you are better at making friends than I am. You can only imagine the look I got at this point.
So it comes down to the facts – let’s take drama and emotion out of it. Roscoe got out without a leash and bit another dog. All are against the law and the couple (even as much as I don’t like them) have a right (I guess) to walk their dogs. So now it’s time to get strategic – I know a judge in Mesa and there is a 50/50 chance that I would go in front of him. Next, I am a pretty good negotiator so I have that on my side. My best bet is to try to contact the dog owner and get this handled one-on-one. If that doesn’t work my chances in court are excellent because I can show that I tried to work it out and the other party wanted no part of it. So now we are wasting the court’s time and that looks better for me.
So Tuesday I am driving home from work – the Animal Control officer gave me the old guys address and I know what has to be done. He is going to get upset and exaggerate what happened. In the end we can settle this or we can go to court. The worst will be taking some verbal abuse – no sweat.
So I get home and walk down to his house. Knock on the door and their two dogs start barking. The old guy answers the door and invites me into his house – no wait he comes outside and shuts the door. I apologize for what Roscoe did and genuinely feel sorry that it happened. And he reacts just like I predicted – he exaggerates the story – he has Roscoe dragging his dog into the middle of the street, grabbing the dog in his month and shaking him violently side to side. Or as he puts it - your dog beat the hell out of my dog. My goal is to be humble and let him vent because I was at fault. Then he gets upset at me for not coming over that night – I did respond by saying you know where I live, I have no idea where you live. Then he wants to re-live the first time that Roscoe got out and his version of what happened – surprise here – is totally different then what Kristine told me. That Roscoe ran down the street and luckily his wife grabbed their dog and that Roscoe put his two paws on his wife’s chest to get at the dog. I didn’t say anything other than - did you ever come talk to me about this? – You knew that I was not there. Of course the answer was no. Plus there are other things wrong with his story – the only way Roscoe is putting his paws on her chest is if she has a biscuit in her mouth and is patting her hands on her chest. Then the guy tells me that this was a felony and that there is not much he can do now that he has reported it to the police. Again he doesn’t know what he is talking about. So I say call the animal control office and tell them that we have worked things out. I gave him a check for $300 (for the full medical exam his dog got) and tell him that I am going to security Roscoe in with another fence. Then for the cherry on top of the evening – let me set the stage. He is 30 years older then me, 100 lbs. lighter, and a foot shorter. He basically ummm tells me that there will be real trouble if this happens again. Then I ran home to change my clothes because I got so scared and soiled myself. In some way I had to admire him, he didn’t have much to work with but he wanted to get his point across and did his best with what he had to work with. It was a little funny.
So now I have to Roscoe proof my back yard so this doesn’t happen again. Because I told Kristine if it does, we are taking the dog to the Hales so that they can have fresh meat as part of their food storage plan.
If you come by the house now – my vicious dog is behind two fences. And the old couple still walking their dogs. I you can probably find me relax’n on the couch but now I keep the window closed.
After I wrote this I remembered one thing. The night that this happened I told Kristine that she had to do a better job of taking care of Roscoe – that I was not going to jail for some dog and if it happened again we may have to get rid of Roscoe. So the next day as Penni and the girls were going to dance (they were all in the garage getting in the van) Roscoe comes walking up (now he is outside in the front yard). Penni is like why is Roscoe not in the back yard and who let him out the gate. To make the story short I will skip to the end - Zoe let Roscoe out of the back yard to get Kristine in trouble. Now I have to Zoe proof the gate. Such is our life!!!
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