Twitch

What to do, what to do. I've received a few nuggets of advice on dealing with this monster. I blogged about him the other day in my Warning, Huge Rant Ahead entry.

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This dog has:

Tried to knock up our local Shetland Sheepdog breeders female when she was in heat. He had dug a nice hole around their fence when spotted and the breeder tied him next to the road with a sign that said, "Keep Your Dog Up!!!"

Ruined my new flowerbeds and garden. He dug up all the new plants or pee'd on them, thus making them die. Then he moved on to taking massive doggie dumps all over the place. I spent a week catching him in the act and screaming and yelling at him but he would just do it when I was inside with my children.

Knocks over our trash cans and digs out dirty diapers, etc. It's disgusting and I have to clean it. Once I had to do so when his owners pulled in and saw me. Yeah, thanks alot assholes.

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Now, I asked a few people on MUA what to do about this. The response was mostly positive but I was somewhat shocked at a few of the suggestions, ones like this:

"Get a garden fence and put it up, it will keep him out and won't hurt the doggie!"

"Get one of those little sensor alarms, it sets off a smell when they enter and it won't hurt the dog but it will save your garden."

"Try the spray that stinks to them, that will keep him out."

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There were a few of them that all agreed it wasn't the "poor dogs fault" and I shouldn't harm him or make him suffer for his owners ignorance. Yet when I mentioned taking dear old bag of fur to the shelter I got, "don't do that! he might be put to sleep or worse!"

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Yeah, ok, I'll just continue to suffer the next 10 years or so until the dog bites the dust.

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Please explain this to me. Why would I spend all kinds of money on a dog that does not belong to me? Does this strike anyone else as a bit, well how do I say this...stupid? I'm not an animal hater by any means but I don't have money to blow on Twitch. I looked into those options above and the cheapest method was damn near $50!

I.Think.Not.

Other than snatching him up one day when he is in my yard and taking him to the local shelter, I'm at a loss. I don't wish the dog harm but I want my yard back. I'm tired of it looking all nasty except for where the grass is cut.

Shouldn't I be entitled to a nice lawn and garden? I mean it is our home and property after all. We have a dog but he is kept in a nice large fenced in backyard, it's called responsible pet ownership. And his owners are well aware of the discord. They either don't care or can't understand, "Keep your dog up or next time you won't be able to just pick him up." (words from the kick ass dog breeder, you go boy!) This dog literally roams where he wants, they know it, they don't care.

I'd love to hear what others think about this. You should also know that we have no animal control in the county and there is no leash law. Those less kind than myself (aka my Grandmother and older relatives) would just use poison or a shotgun to be rid of him. That's what they did in their day.