<Today I saw a dog in the yard with 6 feet of cable hooked to it's collar.>
Was thinking about this story when I was speaking to a neighbour this morning. She was asking me if we've been having trouble with a certain stray dog coming around our farm. That's the kind of thing that makes me grouched out... dogs running loose in the country. They either end up getting hit on the highway, or they get into trouble chasing or killing livestock. Big problem around our neck of the woods and it seems like nobody takes it too seriously including the township bylaw dudes.
A couple of years ago, I drove into the yard here just in time to see a lab-type dog running away from the barn with a dead duck in his jaws. He took off down the highway and then into a forest, so there wasn't much chance of doing anything about him. When I got out to the barn, I discovered that there were several other "casualties" as a result of his visit...some dead, some still half-alive. I called around a bit to quite a few neighbours' places, but nobody seemed to know the dog. (But that's always the way with stray dogs... nobody wants to admit that they own them...;-}
Anyhow, about a week later, I came home and caught the same dog in the middle of another killing spree. This time I managed to catch him and get him tied up. I did a bit of calling around again, but once more, nobody owned him. And yet, here was this fairly nice, well-fed dog with a good collar and a brand-new flea collar, but seemingly without any owner. Well, I don't usually like to call the dog catcher, but I was feeling annoyed, so that's what I did (or attempted to do). For after calling the township office and speaking to about a half dozen different people, I was told that the Bylaw Enforcement Officer (that would be the dog catcher to you and I) had "gone home early for the weekend"... so would I mind just keeping the dog at my place until it could be picked up on Monday.
Well, the prospect of looking after a dog that had just killed off about a dozen ducks and chickens didn't appeal to me too much. But, I'm a dog-lover more than a chicken-lover, so there was no question of doing what a lot of other farmers wouldn't have blinked an eye about. But, if I just let this dog go and didn't do anything, I knew for sure I'd find him back in my yard killing birds again.
The whole thing was making me pretty cross, but then I struck on a plan that seemed to have some merit.... or at least it was better than no plan at all.
I took a big heavy chunk of cardboard and made a large tag which I tied to the dog's collar. On it I wrote in big, bold black printing...
Your dog has been here at my farm killing ducks twice this week.
This time I'm letting him come home to you. Next time I won't.
(illustration -- cartoon of a dead dog with feet up in air)
Then I sent the dog on his way. Never saw him back in my yard again.
End of story --- well, not quite. For you see, when I was tying the tag on the dog's collar, I happened to notice a big patch of what looked rather suspiciously like ringworm on his back. Turns out that I was right about that... because a few days later I developed a real nice patch of it on my leg (I'd been wearing my shorts while handling the dog).
Didn't make me feel any better about that dog and it's just a good thing he never came back this way again....(-: |
