Two Saturdays ago, I peeked out into the yard and noticed a large black pinscher mix in the yard.  I was on the porch, and thankfully, Coco wasn’t outside with me because the dog seemed to be truly unhappy that I was in her space.  I’m assuming her, I could be completely wrong.  Anyhoo, so I looked at her, she looked at me, and she began to growl and bark, seemingly guarding my own yard against me.

I put two and two together, and realized the dog belonged to a neighbor.  We’d had problems with these dogs before.  Often, when we’re working out in the yard, the dogs will run back and forth behind their fence, barking and growling.  It’s always made me nervous, but at the same time, I’ve trusted in the fence to hold the dogs back.

So the dog shows up in the yard, very unhappy to see me.  I sort of squealed for Austin, who was at work in the office.

“Babe!  Babe!  There’s a black dog in the yard!”

I heard him scramble to his feet, and run onto the porch where I was.  The dog continued to be nasty, but didn’t get any closer.  And as suddenly as the dog appeared, I heard a female voice call the dog back, and the dog was gone.  I was a bit rattled, but didn’t think much of it.

On Saturday, prior to me running around in the State Park, I let Coco out.  She’s old and addled with anxiety so she won’t go far.  And just as soon as I let her out, she turned around and began pounding the door.  I looked, and right behind here was his big black dog.  This time, mere feet from the door.

“Babe!  That dog is back!”

Austin was pissed.  The dog was pissed.  So he slipped by the dog, and went to the neighbor’s door to knock and ask them to bring their dog inside and not let it come back.  And of course, no one was home.

We were at a loss.  The dog was just being a dog, but was a potential danger to me, but more so to Coco, who, despite her wild amount of adorableness, is a senior dog, and would be killed.  I mean, she has like four teeth (we had to get a few pulled when we got her for her health), and that bitch had a full mouthful of teeth from what I could tell.  We shouldn’t have to deal with someone else’s dog coming into our yard where we pay our mortgage to make us afraid.

We called an officer down, who pounded on the door.  They first ignored him, and opened when they realized it was an officer of the law.  The officer asked us if we wanted to witness a citation, but we declined, hoping that the officer coming around would be enough to get the message.  But in reality, I’m not afraid of a lot, and I’m afraid that the dog will attack me, or worse, Coco.  I can take care of myself, but I’m supposed to care for Coco.  I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to her.

I’m not sure what to do.  I’m hoping the neighbors got the hint, and it won’t be an issue.  But I have some nagging worry that every time I’m out in the yard, that dog will show up.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this except to express my discomfort.  I’m uncomfortable with this situation, but don’t want the dog “punished” necessarily, but I need for them to step up.  I don’t want to do anything that will get that dog sent to the shelter, but I can’t be comfortable with her running around.

What do you guys think?