s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

So, events of the last week.

Last Friday the dog control officer dropped by. He put an official “uncontrolled dog” complaint form in our box, for us to fill out. He also dropped by the neighbor’s place. Neighbor was not there, but his dogs were, his un-licensed and un-registered dogs- off to the pound they went! He has since gotten them back, but it would have cost a rather big pile of money ($300 per dog fine, plus the cost to license/register, plus impound fees). We are probably not his favorite people in the world.

We are currently trying to contact the people who live and graze horses north of him, as apparently they have not been pleased by his dog-handling in the past, to see if they want to add to the complaint.

In talking with other neighbors, I discovered in the last few months there have been a two dog attacks in the valley, both within a kilometer of our place. Across the vallley from us they had about 20 sheep torn apart by dogs. They caught those dogs in the act, and shot them. A bit up the valley from us they lost 13 sheep that were “herded to death”. The mob of 30 sheep was herded down into a steep gully against a defunct earthen dam, and they piled up until the bottom ones smothered. In that case it had to be loose working dogs, as the sheep were not bitten, just methodically herded into a corner. The fact that this place is basically across the road from our problem neighbor and his wild herding dogs has not escaped my attention.