Doggone it!

Sally runs free, so fast, so happy, so beautiful. Bounding with joy, a blur whizzing around. I have never known a dog that could run so fast and jump so high. The problem is, she is not my dog. Yet she thinks that my yard and the entire neighborhood is her territory. Her freedom of course is not her fault. It is the fault of her irresponsible owner, my neighbor.

Today I spent nearly an hour trying to corral Sally and had to go over to her house twice as Sally was running loose, chasing all the wildlife, harassing the mailman, upsetting all the other neighborhood dogs stuck behind fences, causing them to bark. I should add that we and many neighbors have not received our mail on occasion as the mailman felt too threatened by Sally. She can be perceived as threatening; barking insanely, growling, baring her teeth, approaching aggressively.

In our immediate neighborhood, there are to my knowledge, some 15+ dogs. Most are little house dogs or are kept inside a fence. One can hear a dog barking usually at anytime when outside around here. Two of my other neighbors have been attacked by dogs while working in their yards, and the mailman has been attacked also by the dog that used to live in our house. Several people in the greater neighborhood carry bats or sticks to defend against roaming dogs when out taking a walk.

There are laws against dogs being unrestrained in the city, the entire county, and the whole state. But ignoring such laws is a problem everywhere apparently. I see loose dogs nearly everywhere I go. There have been several stories this last year in Springfield about people being attacked by dogs, including a barber and a child. Of course, if you see someone letting their dogs run loose and you say something to one of these law breakers, you usually get cursed, threatened, or accused of being a dog hater. I am hoping the dog fad of recent years fades away. Darla