shais_mom
10-23-2001, 12:25 PM
I feel this person needs our advice too, if anyone can help, or has had a similiar situation and knows what to do, please post it here!! I am sure Logan and Terri and other Golden Retreiver board members can maybe give you more of a history on Susie:
Susie H (Original Message)
Sent: 10/22/2001 9:36 PM
It has suddenly come to our attention that a man who walks past our yard HATES
dogs and now I'm worried about Belle's safety. I wondered if anyone has any
suggestions on how to deal with this. We have a corner house, so the depth of
our backyard has a sidewalk beside it - our yard is fenced with a sturdy
ivy-covered chain link fence about 5 feet high. Belle likes to sit by the little gate at
the the "beginning" of the fence where she can see who's coming, and usually
barks when they get to be about 10 feet away, follows them the depth of the yard,
peeking through the ivy along the way. She never jumps on the fence - she's not a
jumper at all (too plump?). Some people she doesn't bark at, others she barks
alot at. Most people like her, barks and all.
A couple of months ago my family saw a man taking pictures of our fence - I
thought we were going to get complaints about the ivy over-growing the sidewalk
and didn't think about the fact that the dog was in the pictures. My husband
asked him what he was doing - he didn't answer so my hubby tried to draw him
into conversation and asked if he was taking pictures for a magazine or
something. The man snarled "None of your business" and went across the street
to the next house that has big dogs behind a fence and snapped a couple of
quick pictures there too. Again, that house has a lumpy sidewalk and I was
thinking he was photographing the dangerous walk. This last Friday the kids and
my husband were in the backyard with Belle when the same man came along. He
paused at the gate where Belle was barking at him and yelled "Shut up Stupid
Dog!" and then went a little farther along the ivy-covered fence, stopped in the
center of it and peered over the top at Belle, yelling at her some more - almost as
if he was daring her to jump up at him. At this point my husband saw his face - he
said the man looked as though he'd like to kill Belle - he seemed oblivious to the
fact that there were people in our yard too. He kept shouting as he went by and
finally was gone. My husband was too shocked to think of the right thing to say to
him - this guy is scarey! This man must have some problems beyond just a
dislike of dogs. We have no idea where he lives or where he walks to - the kids
reported that they'd heard him yelling at Belle before. Now I'm terribly worried that
he might poison Belle - it would be easy to toss something over the fence. The
only thing I can think of doing is trying to get a photo of him when he pauses by
the fence and yells at her so we would at least have record of what he looks like -
but he doesn't seem to pass by at a regular time. I've alerted the folks across the
street from the fence to keep an eye out for him and try to notice if he does
anything weird. I don't understand why this man insists on walking on our side of
the street - if he walks on the opposite side there are no dogs right beside the
sidewalk! If anyone has a bright idea on how to remedy this situation, I'm open to
suggestions! I love Belle - she's just like one of my human children to me. I'd be
devasted if she met foul play.
Worry-wart Susie H & Belle (who doesn't worry about anything - the fuzzy-wuzzy!
Susie H (Original Message)
Sent: 10/22/2001 9:36 PM
It has suddenly come to our attention that a man who walks past our yard HATES
dogs and now I'm worried about Belle's safety. I wondered if anyone has any
suggestions on how to deal with this. We have a corner house, so the depth of
our backyard has a sidewalk beside it - our yard is fenced with a sturdy
ivy-covered chain link fence about 5 feet high. Belle likes to sit by the little gate at
the the "beginning" of the fence where she can see who's coming, and usually
barks when they get to be about 10 feet away, follows them the depth of the yard,
peeking through the ivy along the way. She never jumps on the fence - she's not a
jumper at all (too plump?). Some people she doesn't bark at, others she barks
alot at. Most people like her, barks and all.
A couple of months ago my family saw a man taking pictures of our fence - I
thought we were going to get complaints about the ivy over-growing the sidewalk
and didn't think about the fact that the dog was in the pictures. My husband
asked him what he was doing - he didn't answer so my hubby tried to draw him
into conversation and asked if he was taking pictures for a magazine or
something. The man snarled "None of your business" and went across the street
to the next house that has big dogs behind a fence and snapped a couple of
quick pictures there too. Again, that house has a lumpy sidewalk and I was
thinking he was photographing the dangerous walk. This last Friday the kids and
my husband were in the backyard with Belle when the same man came along. He
paused at the gate where Belle was barking at him and yelled "Shut up Stupid
Dog!" and then went a little farther along the ivy-covered fence, stopped in the
center of it and peered over the top at Belle, yelling at her some more - almost as
if he was daring her to jump up at him. At this point my husband saw his face - he
said the man looked as though he'd like to kill Belle - he seemed oblivious to the
fact that there were people in our yard too. He kept shouting as he went by and
finally was gone. My husband was too shocked to think of the right thing to say to
him - this guy is scarey! This man must have some problems beyond just a
dislike of dogs. We have no idea where he lives or where he walks to - the kids
reported that they'd heard him yelling at Belle before. Now I'm terribly worried that
he might poison Belle - it would be easy to toss something over the fence. The
only thing I can think of doing is trying to get a photo of him when he pauses by
the fence and yells at her so we would at least have record of what he looks like -
but he doesn't seem to pass by at a regular time. I've alerted the folks across the
street from the fence to keep an eye out for him and try to notice if he does
anything weird. I don't understand why this man insists on walking on our side of
the street - if he walks on the opposite side there are no dogs right beside the
sidewalk! If anyone has a bright idea on how to remedy this situation, I'm open to
suggestions! I love Belle - she's just like one of my human children to me. I'd be
devasted if she met foul play.
Worry-wart Susie H & Belle (who doesn't worry about anything - the fuzzy-wuzzy!