Dog Wars

Well, you all know I put up a lovely fence in front of the house -- this so I could enjoy our front porch and Kona could run around and enjoy the front yard.

And this was working perfectly, Kona and I just relaxing and enjoying the front yard until...

A couple weeks ago, when this jerk walking his dog comes by.

You know how dogs are, and Kona is no exception, so when someone comes by with a dog and Kona is in the front yard, she does what dogs do -- she runs to the fence, wagging her tail, barking.  Pretty normal dog-behind-a-fence reaction, if you ask me.

Anyway, this jerk comes by and he isn't even in front of our house yet, and Kona sees him and the dog and she runs to the fence wagging her tail, barking (friendly barking, you know the difference between that and 'I want to eat your face' barking) and this guy SCREAMS at me: CONTROL YOUR M-FING DOG!!!!

And I'm thinking "what?" though actually I'm not really thinking anything just sort of shocked at this guy's reaction to Kona, so I say something like "She's just saying hello, she's harmless" or something of that sort and the guy continues walking by the fence screaming at me the whole time calling me every profanity in the book and also screaming that I am the "RUDEST M-Fer IN THE WHOLE GOD DAMN WORLD!!"  Which of course, just gets Kona all wound up and makes her chase him down the fence line barking.

Oh-kay.

The whole situation was really upsetting and shocking to me. I mean, I am a long time dog owner and dog walker, and I see dogs behind fences all the time when walking with a dog -- and Kona's not doing anything scary or unusual, she's not lunging the fence or trying to leap the fence or even growling. And as I long time dog walker, if I don't want to deal with a dog behind a fence, I cross the street.  I mean, duh.

So I'm upset and shaking and go in the house. Because so much for that "relaxing" evening.  And it takes me a few days even to get the gumption to go back out on the front porch, but three days later I do. Everything is fine again until a couple days pass and then here comes the same jerk.

Doing the same the thing, yelling and screaming profanities at me and my dog.

So the next day, I call the non-emergency police number and talk to a very nice police officer who tells me that I and Kona are doing nothing wrong, that the dog is "controlled" as she is behind the fence and she is not "nuisance" barking because it's before 11:00 p.m. and that, in fact, he is harassing me and next time it happens I should call the police on him. And I say, well, by the time the police arrive he will be long gone and the cop says "how far can get, walking a dog? we'll patrol the area and find him."  So OK.

But I am now afraid of this guy and am afraid to sit on my own front porch.... and thinking, do I need to buy a gun? what's this guy gonna do next?

But then I think, damn it, it's my yard, my porch and I have to reclaim it. So I begin sitting out for one hour (I time it) each night, but I'm nervous as all get out, watching for this jerk....

And one day, to my surprise, I go out my back gate and who do I see? but this jerk and he lives right behind me across the alley!  Oh crap.

Now, I'm afraid to go out the front door and the back door!  So here I am, stressed out as hell, each time I go out, checking out windows, is he outside? behind me? in front? and if he is, I go out the other way.... jeepers, what a way to live.

But this does end here --- no.  Because then there is the neighbors' dog -- not the same dog, but the doggie next door who just last week BUSTED through the glass of the neighbor's window trying to get at Kona who was in my front yard.  And that is the same dog who is trying to bust through the fence to get at Kona in my side yard....

And add to this, the neighbor (a known drunk) on the other side of our house, who came out one day and screamed at me to "keep my damn dog quiet, because his kids were trying to sleep" -- this as 7:30 p.m. and his kids are like 10 and 7 years old....  

So I'm surrounded by Kona haters....

And Kona is the only thing really keeping me alive these days.  I've had a hard enough time dealing with the loss of Bob, (add Chris, add Boomer, add Zenith) and especially over the holidays and Bob's birthday and jeepers --- I just don't need this.

That's what's been going on here at The Pink House.  Sorry I've been so quiet.  I'm just having a hard time dealing with all of this....