Last a Friend

[BrothersMule]

Well i hate to be a downer but we had an unfortunate event occur last weekend that i never thought would effect me the way it has. Our Lab/Plott Hound mix was killed by a 16 year old punk for no apparent reason. We had her since she was a pup and she was truly part of the family. My wife and I have been together about 6 and a half years and Millie was with us for 5 of them. She was a very loving dog, well mannered, and had never shown any aggression towards humans or other dogs.

She got loose Saturday morning and had not been gone 20 min when he shot her. No one was there to witness and he claimed she charged him. I don't want to be the guy who says his dog would never but i highly doubt she did. Other neighbors had seen her and interacted with her that same morning with no issue for one. Another issue is the kid knew the dog, knew where it lived, and had interacted with it in the past. After talking with neighbors seems that this kid has caused lots of trouble in the past. He actually called the law and i spoke with them. i understand i am responsible for my pets and if she did charge he had the right, i do not dispute that.. There are just so many ways he could have handled this without her getting hurt. I know he had to go in the house to get the gun which is another issue all on its on. We are in a crowded neighborhood and there is no direction he could shoot without aiming towards another house and other neighbors were in their yards at the time. He could have called the law before he shot. He could have even gotten in his truck and came to my house. He is underage to posses a firearm in NC with out supervision and come to find out is living in the house by him self. I even believe if he had been a man and called me after the fact instead of calling the law and letting them tell me i may not have been as upset. I know i would not have even call the cops.

I'm not one for revenge and truly believe people like this will get what they deserve in time. I believe the event has already sparked an investigation by Child Protection Services i just hope the kid learns a lesson. It sounds like there are some other issues with this kid and this event just brought everything to light.

Most of all we just miss our friend. I have lost dogs before but this is the first i was fully responsible for and i guess i was more attached than i thought. Wish i had a picture to show but that was one thing funny about this dog, she hated cameras and would hide as soon as you got it out. Thanks for listening. BM

[Raider Bill]

Wow, WOW! First I'm sorry you lost your Friend especially under these circumstances. Second my impression all things being as stated we all know some people get their kicks with guns, playing god, the big man and or mistreating animals that leads to other more dark paths. If he was able to go in the house without harm then come out and shoot it then in a populated area I hope Law Enforcement stomps down hard on him.

[BrothersMule]

That is where Child Protective Services (CPS) will have to come in. The cop i spoke with didn't seem to concerned with anything. No citations were given to him or myself. It also has to do with the fact no one witnessed it so no one can counter his claims and he is allowed to protect himself. That said the cop seemed to have no issue with him shooting in a neighborhood. One of my other neighbors who was in his yard at the time also spoke with the cop. He even told the cop the kid was living alone and had fired shots off before. Still no concern. He asked what the law said about the kid living alone and his response was " as long as they are not causing trouble no one would enforce anything". Sounds to me like he has caused plenty of trouble but i guess that's why i sell equipment and am not a cop.

I think CPS is investigating since they called my wife for a statement and another neighbor has seen them at the house.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

BrothersMule, I am not going to get into the legal aspects of what happened because I have been there with a pet,  we had,  and it just upsets me and really makes me mad to think about it. This kid evidently has no parents who have raised him the right way.

My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your wife. I know what you're going through.

David

[MrPete]

I agree with everything you said and respect you for accepting responsibility.  With that said, it may be true the dog did not like him,  they are very good creature for judging character!  I am truly sorry for your loss.

[Mooseherder]

Sorry for your loss.  That is really sad.  That kid is headed for trouble. :'(

[blackfoot griz]

Brothers Mule,
More than 23 years ago, I rented a trailer house on a small horse ranch. I was just out of college, nearly broke and had two horses and a dog. My dog never caused problems. He had a run and dog house behind the trailer.

I came home from work one day and he was gone. Fearing the worse, my roomate and I  saddled up and started looking. Hours later, we found his squashed body-upon closer inspection--full of 22 bullet holes more than a mile away down on the edge of the highway. Shortly after that I moved out of that place.

For months, we sought answers but found none. Several more months later, at a rodeo, a young teenaged boy with his parents approached me and asked me my name and I told him. He started crying. Through tears, he told me the story. He was in the pickup when the "foreman" wanted to have some "fun" and just "scare" my dog with a 22 shot. He shot near the dog but hit him instead. My very gun shy dog bailed over the fence and started to take off. The "foreman" had a semi automatic and just unloaded as my dog tried to escape across the pasture. He told me that the "foreman" drove out in the pasture and the pickup finished the job.

The poor kid was was really upset and really had a meltdown. I got down on one knee and looked him in the eye.  I put both of my hands on his shoulders, thanked him for telling me and assured him that he did the right thing by telling me what happened and that I was so sorry he had to witness such an horrific event. He then gave me a big hug. There wasn't a dry eye amongst us. I shook both parents hands and thanked them. The father got me aside and thanked me because his son had kept the event inside for quite a while and he was pretty sure that talking with me about the ordeal would help his son with some closure.

As I left the rodeo, my plans had changed and on the hour drive heading toward the scene of the crime, I became more angry about what that poor kid had witnessed and with each mile, my anger was building. When I got there, there was a "for sale" sign our front. Nobody around. Looked like a ghost town.

Looking back, it was probably a good thing for me that the "foreman" was gone...moved to another state.

I wrote my rent checks to the "foreman". I know his name, face etc.

All of these years later, I still wonder what might happen if we ever meet face to face. For me it is a lot easier to forgive than forget.

[T Welsh]

BrothersMule, Sorry you had to go through this! I truly feel for your lose. I have had a dogs all my life and when one go,s its hard,but to happen this way. it double hard. Tim

[BrothersMule]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Its just one of those things in life we all go thru and it is never easy.

[sandhills]

I'm very sorry to hear about your dog, and I think you're right about revenge, nature WILL eventually take it's course and what goes around comes around.  At the same time I don't know if I'd have your patience, I'd have to stay a LONG ways away from that punk. 

[Taylortractornut]

Brothers Mule I went through this a few years ago, actually  3 times.  The first time I was just a kid about 13 and   I had one of my last White German Shepherds of my bloodlines at the time.    I had  my older male and a  his daughter went out on a morning hunt in the summer.     Its really rural here and thi was in the 90s.     The male came home and the female didnt .   We walked the woods and everything.      Dad asked a local trapper that was known to snare.   He swore he didnt see the dog but would be glad to tell us if he did.     Well we wrote her off and the  not knowing really  got to me.     Later dad and I were in the Midway truck stop and  the trapper was in there.    He had seen dad in there earlier and  thought he had walked out.  We were at the back and   The trapper bragged that the  female got caught in his  illegal snare and he thought he would teach her a lesson and shot her and dumped her in a gully. 


Dad  blessed him out then but I was about 15 by then.    I made it my lifes goal to terroize him.      He couldnt keep a fence up and  one time his old truck got stuck behind the house and  he  had to walk out. He didnt get a ride from us.     While he was walking some one thought it would be fun to    target practice on a 74 chevy. 


Till the day he died I made sure that  he  paid for the dog.

A few years ago I had to run to the Vet with my old dog Lily as I had given her the wrong  wormer and she had a reaction to it.     Leaving I didnt latch the gate and  Her daughter that was like her had gotten out.    Comming home from the Vets office with  a sick dog and nervous dad met me in the yard with some bad news,    Lillys daughter was  run over by the nieghbors son who was also my vets  grandson.   

He said that the dog ran across his drive way when he turned in and he couldn t sopt.  No skid marks  in the gravel.     I looked and found hair in the road.       He also gunned his car at my dogs in the road one day we were moving  the tractor.        Well about a year an a half later I was plowing a field and my wife calls me in for supper.   I had  put my dogs in the the pen because the neighbors dogs were up here causing a rukus.      I had to stop a few times because she was digging my 2 dogs out.        Eating supper  I here dogs barking and   a shot.       I grab my shotgun and  see Bella running up the road with blood on her  face and chest.      I get down there and Vets granson is standing out in the yard on his phone in shorts.      I got  out and asked what happened.     He said He was sick with the flu and tired of hearing the dogs barking and was about to shoot his parents dogs.           


I was about to  beat the  holy heck from him but I heard Amy screaming shes bleeding to death.  I told him if  she died or I had to put her down he was going to die and I meant it.     I  get in the truck and shoot back up the hill and see that he shot her through the  snout.     It had ruptured and artery and  she had run in the house past Amy and to the spare room and  bled on the the bed.          We called our vet and  he was at his MIL s  wake.    THe boys step dad  was first to show at the clinic and the vet.        I had to hold the artery shut while the doc clamped it off.      The entrance wound was 1.4 inch but the other side a golf ball would fit in easy.      THe next day they all came out to apologize but he never came.  He wasnt one bit sorry.    His mom and step dad are great people.    The vet made his grandson work out the bill in part.   But Bella s  nose isnt right.  SHe lost alot of her sense of smell and her nose has to be rubbed with lotion since it wont stay wet.      Her upper front teeth and jaw were weakened and later broke from the damage.   

I didnt sue as at the time  He had a chance to go to college.     He never showed any remorse or  would even look at us.      He never even apologized.     His step dad  took his car from him and   his oter grandparents got him a truck for  Graduation.      He left eac trip  burning rubber in front of the house.   My wife  just told me she wished he could go through what the dog did.       I told her I was a firm believer in what goes around comes around.      Not a year later in the spring  Dad called and said that Docs  grandson was in a bad accident the night before.      He had been on a popular stretch of road for teens to run wild on.   He wrecked the new truck and was thrown out and paralyzed from the  chest down.   

My wife is now a firm believer in that adage .
Griz after that I would probably  make it my hobby to find that sob.     I bet hes getting paid back every day.   

[two tired]

 first, sorry for your loss, neighors that treat other peoples animals in that manner sure make it hard to not have ill feelings in the neighborhood. it is hard to look someone that has harmed a companion and pet, but if you can be nice to the ones that does those deeds, you pile coals of fire on their heads, yessire tis hard.