I was inside the other day (I need to get out more), and the children all tumbled in, talking over one another excitedly. Before I can get out a 'what in the world?', they drag me outside because "you **MUST** see this"!!

I'll admit, I thought that it was going to be bad news, like the fence was broken, etc.. But I was wrong... it was this:


This picture is not Photoshopped. And in person, it was a real showstopper. I was speechless (and, if you know me, that's not an easy thing to do)!



After I gathered my wits, we took the photo, and I told the crew, that they were right... this absolutely was a must see!

We watched the sun go down, and took some more pics:














The lights in this photo are my nearest neighbors' (about 2 acres away) power pole lights... it was about 7:30pm.

I did.

This past Saturday, while doing some yard work, I walked out of my fenced-in yard, and as I slipped through, Joey, my black Lab,

and Jadzia, my chow

shot out past me into the front yard. Before I could blink, they were gone. My two eldest daughters went looking for them, only to find out from my neighbor that they had had a short scuffle with one of *their* dogs, and headed for the highway behind their house.

We got into the van, and looked for them, but did not see them.

Later that afternoon, we got a call from my neighbor. It turns out that her daschund, who was in the scuffle with my dogs, had been found under the house, with a bad bite. In fact, her intestines could be seen through the wound.

Oh. No. ....

So, we got the numbers to the nearest animal hospitals with weekend services (good luck with that on a Saturday), and the neighbors were off. Daisy Mae (the daschund) was cleaned up, and bandaged up, but needed surgery. That was done on day before yesterday (Wednesday), and if all goes well, Daisy Mae was none the worse for wear (whew!) I paid the vets bills/expenses, and my neighbors were gracious and understanding about the whole thing.

SO, all's well that ends well, you say?

No. This was the *second* time that one of them had gotten out; that time Joey had eaten three of their chickens before I discovered what was going on. It seems that I have (unknowingly) been harboring menaces. And both my neighbors and I have small children.

So, the only logical course was: the dogs had to go.

Animal Control came and got them yesterday. It was one of the most difficult things that I had to do.

But, what was even worse, is the reaction of others. It seems that it is better to have dogs that attack other animals (and potentially people), than it is to get rid of them. I don't understand this. Why is it more important to keep the dogs, rather than keep people safe?

Don't misunderstand me: I loved my dogs. But I know that after chaining them up, then building a fence (around almost one and half acres) to keep them in (lots of $$$ there), and still having them get out and cause mayhem, for the sake of my conscience (what if their baby was walking around and got caught in the dogfight?), and peace with the neighbors (we *do* live here, after all), it made sense to get new dogs (puppies, that hopefully will not have the overtly savage traits of their predecessors).

I have discovered, in the past few days, that Chows, in particular, can 'turn', and cause the problems that I have had. And, no, these dogs were raised with my children from puppies, and they were not abused, etc.

So, it's to the Internet (gotta love it) for research on family-friendly, gentle dogs that will be content with a large, fenced-in yard, and not keep trying to escape.

I miss my dogs.