Thoughtprints

Had a very bad day yesterday. No sleep for over 24 hours, then when I FINALLY was able to fall asleep, I was awakened shortly thereafter by my phone ringing off the hook. It was my sister calling (she lives directly behind us). She told me 3 of my dogs had escaped the yard and someone had called to complain, and now the cops were out there and Humane Society was on its way over. Oh.My.God. I jumped out of bed completely dazed from my sleep-deprived stupor and quickly went to the back door, strictly out of force of habit. When I opened it and stuck my head out, I was greeted by an officer across the yard and in the alley, who immediately and very loudly said "GO TO THE FRONT DOOR!!", thrusting his pointy little finger in the direction of my front door. Geez, FINE! So I got to the front, opened the door, and without saying one word, my wonderful doggies all came running back into the house with a very pleased looked upon their faces. Then I heard this cop, who obviously had a predisposition to hate my dogs, inform me that they were reported as VICIOUS! What!!! I nearly laughed out loud! I said, "No, they are NOT vicious!", to which he replied very rudely, "With the new City ordinance, a dog doesn't have to actually hurt someone to be considered vicious". Huh???? Now, does that make ANY kind of sense??? Unbelievable! He was being a complete dick, so I basically ignored him until the Humane Society gal got here, who turned out to be the same girl who found and brought back Aries' body for David and Betsy the night he was run over and killed. She is SO nice. She told me that she knows what it's like living with dog bias, as she has a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and two Pit Bull Terriers, and everyone assumes they're man-eaters. Plus she said a couple of them get out of her yard all the time, like mine do, so she completely understood.

Well anyway, she said she was going to have to go talk to the guy who had called the cops - one of our neighbors! - to see if he wanted to sign a complaint. When she came back, she said he had been conflicted about it and had said "I don't want to get them in trouble, but I sure don't want anyone getting hurt", then signed the damn complaint! She tried explaining to him that Lily is an Aussie and they herd by instinct, and all she was doing to people was herding them away from her neighborhood, not chasing them with intent to attack! She doesn't chase - she follows like a typical herding dog, head lowered and stuff, so I can see how people unaccustomed to dogs might consider that menacing, but she would NEVER attack anyone - unless they were attacking us, of course. Oh, and get this - the cop actually told me that Cheyenne, my big, sweet black Lab who thinks she's a lap dog, was charging him! LOL!! I told him she'd sooner lick him to death! LOL! He didn't like that at all and was rude again. I told the HS gal how he was acting toward me, and she said she was going to talk to him to find out what his issue was. It is as frustrating for the HS people as it is for dog owners to have police who don't know the first thing about dogs to field calls like that. They're not even supposed to! The Humane Society is in charge of all that.

It all ended, after a very nice, long visit with Stacey, the HS gal, with me getting 3 tickets for at-large dogs and vicious dogs (she had no choice to put that on there since my very nice neighbor signed a complaint to that effect). She then explained to me what I would have to do, which includes going to court of all things, and telling the judge and City Attorney that I admit to my dogs being at large, but in no way are they vicious, and explain to them about Lily's breed, etc. She said she sees no reason why they wouldn't drop the vicious dog part of it.

So, that was my day, and it SUCKED! I am SO angry at my neighbor dude, AND at the jerk cop! Oh, and the dog-illiterate cop guy even called Pippin "that little shit", saying he saw with his own eyes her climbing the fence. Tony got really mad when I told him that. He said that police have no right to talk to citizens that way, and in fact a cop once charged a citizen for using profanity in HIS presence! And he's right, he should never have spoken to me like that. Totally unprofessional!

It is now almost 5:30AM and I have yet to sleep since being awakened by the phone call 12 hours ago. I've probably had at most a couple hours of sleep in the last 36. Insomnia bites the big one. I am literally walking around in a daze, unable to get comfy regardless of where I sit or lie down. So I came here, to my computer. Go figure. lol

I sure hope today turns out better!! Oh, and a very happy 2nd birthday to my beautiful girl, Daisy!

Dogs, Australian Shepherd, Cops, Dog-at-large, Humane Society