It never crossed their minds?

The new renters are a pain. They tear up the greenbelt and lawns with their motorbikes, and golf cart. The intact bitch wanders around the neighborhood with her pups in tow. They defecate wherever they please. Now tell me where are the owners? Why they are in the house ignoring what they please.

This weekend was a trying one. Friday midafternoon, I ran an errand and came back to their dog on my property. It moved off the driveway before I drove up and luckily it didn't go into the garage when I pulled in. It did stay on my lawn and barked at me. I yelled at it to go away, and Stinky went so far as to grab a pack of firecrackers to scare it off the property. Well it didn't send the dog running away, but it was frustrating enough. I called Animal Control to make a complaint.

Saturday morning it was out and about again wandering around the cul de sac. Goof yelled at it to go away, and the renters just slammed their garage door shut. Gee, forget about the dog? Again, we called and complained. Sunday it was another day of disrespect. The bitch was out again and this time digging in Babymama's front garden. I'm not talking a little scratching in the dirt. This was full on dog intent digging! A big hole in the yard, and the man was ignoring what was going on dancing like a fool and talking on his cell phone, not more than 15 feet from the dog.

At one point Goof looked out the windows and saw the very quiet neighbor next to the renters talking quite emphatically to them. It seems they knocked the headlight loose on her son's car. They must have come to an agreement, because I saw that car leave and come back with a new headlight.

Later in the day, the man and his child were in the street playing while the dog was moving about the houses. Goof yelled out the window to the guy to keep his dog off our property. The man replied they were only playing. Which Goof, interrupted telling him, it didn't pertain to the issue. Dog off our property. Stinky and I left the house right after, and the guy even waved at me! You gotta be kidding right? I just gave a curt nod and left. Later that evening we noticed they were looking for the dog. Even got Big Red to join in the search. We think the dog finally was found or came back late in the evening, as we heard barking but it wasn't Babymama's dog.

A little sidenote here. Goof was really frustrated with it all, and we knew that Animal Control was not coming out to talk to them until Monday about loose dogs. Goof wrote a scathing two page letter to the renters. Basically telling them, that we own our home, and want to keep the neighborhood as nice as possible, no wandering loose dogs against city ordinances, and the peeing and pooping in on property not occupied by renters is not free toilet areas for the dogs. If the dogs persist, they will be held liable for a new lawn installation by us. He cited several ordinances from the city website. A formal letter to the renters that we would be notifying the city and the landlord for every infraction. He ended it by telling the cautionary tale of renters on the main street, who were just as bad as these people, and the result of forced eviction by the landlord following pressure from the city.

We were planning on putting this letter in their mailbox last evening, but since the dog was missing, we decided to wait and see. If they found their dog, would it change their behavior. Obviously, we want Animal Control to come out and remind them whether the dog is missing or not, they still do have the pups, and we don't want those mutts to continue in the bad habits.

This little cul de sac wasn't a bad place when we moved in. We checked it out at different times on different days to see what it would be like. It was quiet and there wasn't a lot of noise or tomfoolery going on. It seems the new renters are the problem. With the housing market the way it is, it's harder and harder for the landlords to unload the properties. Tenants coming in aren't the best ones. What's just difficult for us to see, are the different cars that come to the house all the time. So many people there, kids sitting on the roof. Seriously! I gather it's so crowded in there, the girl wanted some quiet breathing space. We joke that the house is relatively quiet during the day, but at night it's all coming and going.