Post by lochbuiepits on Jul 1, 2009 21:58:58 GMT -5
We live about 30 miles outside of Denver, CO. As some of you know Denver has passed BSL and has murdered hundreds of innocent dogs in the last three or four years. Other towns in the surrounding area have also passed BSL and as a result the shelters are full and communities like ours have a large pit bull population. (thought this was necessary back ground info).
So we bought a house about a year ago (first one yea!) and had no problems with any of our neighbors, lots of kids for our daughter to play with and life was good.
March 2009 our next door neighbor decided to move into Denver and rent her house out. Renters move in.
2 weeks later our dogs got out, they broke a few of the pickets on our six foot privacy fence. The new neighbors cat was out and they killed it. My husband is allergic to cats and our dogs have never been socialized with them so I don't think they saw it any different than a squirrel or rabbit.
We live in a small town and our code enforcement officer wears several hats, he's animal control, building inspector, code enforcement, and issues all permits. Animal control should not be one of his responsibilities. He was called to control the dogs (we were at work when this all happened). He used his catch pole to "heard" the dogs back into the yard (with the big hole in the fence) by whacking them. STUPID Also, our male and female had a litter of puppies in December and we still had two left on this day. Well, they immediately ran to the hole and came back out at him, he got scared and called the police. Three squad cars arrived and blocked the dogs in the front yard with their cars and guns until my husband arrived.
The dogs were quarantined for 10 days at the pound, temperament tested and returned to us (after 450.00 in impound fees) and we were served a ticket for three vicious dogs court date of June 19. We secured the fence and put in tie outs for the dogs. We also found a new home for our male on a few acres with a friend. He was becoming very destructive and we thought we would look better before the judge.
A few weeks later one of the dogs got out again I put them out to potty while I put the kids to bed. We had four days of constant rain and our fence was weakened and pulled apart at the corner. She barked at a neighbor in her car. The police were called and we were cited with a dog at large ticket, court date June 19.
A couple weeks after that we were served a 72 hour "Notice to Abate" which stated that a complaint had been made against us and combined with the two times they had been out they had been deemed nuisance animals. We tried to fight it but in the end relinquished the dogs to a no kill shelter, which was not easy because not may accept pit bulls now and those who do are full.
We asked for additional time 72 hours isn't enough to find homes for dogs, we were denied. We were denied several requests to see the "complaint" that was filled so I have no idea what claims were made against us, our dogs have only been out the two times so I don't see how there could be any validity to the complaint.
A few weeks later I found out the neighbor who lost her cat was telling people our dogs had killed two of her cats and fought her Doberman, injuring it so severely it had to be put down. ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE!
Then the story changed to I went ballistic the day we got the notice, was yelling and screaming in the street AGAIN UNTRUE and we poisoned her dog, I got scared of her at this point. I called the police and they blew me off told me to pay no attention to her. So that's what we did.
Went to court June 19 and paid our fines, which the Judge generously reduced. As we were leaving she was arriving and an hour later my husband and I were served temporary restraining orders. I have no idea what she told them to get this order but we have to go to court on July 17 to argue why it should not be permanent. Now I'm hearing she is planning to sue for damages and pain and suffering at this court date. Like I said - this is a small town, so there are few secrets.
I have no idea how outlandish her stories have become but all our neighbors act differently now, they do not allow their children to play in our front yard and there is a lot of tension.
I know there's not much any one can do to help, I guess I just needed to vent and share my experience. I'm pretty sure things would not have gone this far if we owned three labs or cocker spaniels that got out that day. The thing that really bothers me is I took her flowers and a sympathy card the day after she lost her cat and she was extremely cool about it and said she understood these things happen, and I believed her. In fact she was so understanding after we were served the abatement notice she was the last one suspected.
So we bought a house about a year ago (first one yea!) and had no problems with any of our neighbors, lots of kids for our daughter to play with and life was good.
March 2009 our next door neighbor decided to move into Denver and rent her house out. Renters move in.
2 weeks later our dogs got out, they broke a few of the pickets on our six foot privacy fence. The new neighbors cat was out and they killed it. My husband is allergic to cats and our dogs have never been socialized with them so I don't think they saw it any different than a squirrel or rabbit.
We live in a small town and our code enforcement officer wears several hats, he's animal control, building inspector, code enforcement, and issues all permits. Animal control should not be one of his responsibilities. He was called to control the dogs (we were at work when this all happened). He used his catch pole to "heard" the dogs back into the yard (with the big hole in the fence) by whacking them. STUPID Also, our male and female had a litter of puppies in December and we still had two left on this day. Well, they immediately ran to the hole and came back out at him, he got scared and called the police. Three squad cars arrived and blocked the dogs in the front yard with their cars and guns until my husband arrived.
The dogs were quarantined for 10 days at the pound, temperament tested and returned to us (after 450.00 in impound fees) and we were served a ticket for three vicious dogs court date of June 19. We secured the fence and put in tie outs for the dogs. We also found a new home for our male on a few acres with a friend. He was becoming very destructive and we thought we would look better before the judge.
A few weeks later one of the dogs got out again I put them out to potty while I put the kids to bed. We had four days of constant rain and our fence was weakened and pulled apart at the corner. She barked at a neighbor in her car. The police were called and we were cited with a dog at large ticket, court date June 19.
A couple weeks after that we were served a 72 hour "Notice to Abate" which stated that a complaint had been made against us and combined with the two times they had been out they had been deemed nuisance animals. We tried to fight it but in the end relinquished the dogs to a no kill shelter, which was not easy because not may accept pit bulls now and those who do are full.
We asked for additional time 72 hours isn't enough to find homes for dogs, we were denied. We were denied several requests to see the "complaint" that was filled so I have no idea what claims were made against us, our dogs have only been out the two times so I don't see how there could be any validity to the complaint.
A few weeks later I found out the neighbor who lost her cat was telling people our dogs had killed two of her cats and fought her Doberman, injuring it so severely it had to be put down. ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE!
Then the story changed to I went ballistic the day we got the notice, was yelling and screaming in the street AGAIN UNTRUE and we poisoned her dog, I got scared of her at this point. I called the police and they blew me off told me to pay no attention to her. So that's what we did.
Went to court June 19 and paid our fines, which the Judge generously reduced. As we were leaving she was arriving and an hour later my husband and I were served temporary restraining orders. I have no idea what she told them to get this order but we have to go to court on July 17 to argue why it should not be permanent. Now I'm hearing she is planning to sue for damages and pain and suffering at this court date. Like I said - this is a small town, so there are few secrets.
I have no idea how outlandish her stories have become but all our neighbors act differently now, they do not allow their children to play in our front yard and there is a lot of tension.
I know there's not much any one can do to help, I guess I just needed to vent and share my experience. I'm pretty sure things would not have gone this far if we owned three labs or cocker spaniels that got out that day. The thing that really bothers me is I took her flowers and a sympathy card the day after she lost her cat and she was extremely cool about it and said she understood these things happen, and I believed her. In fact she was so understanding after we were served the abatement notice she was the last one suspected.
and a little upset that our animal control flat out refused to meet our dogs in a calmer situation and see the improvements we had made to our yard. We've just had a run of bad luck. 
I look forward to learning much here